JAH Trinity - Australian News

Last year I was invited on the Groovy Grape Bus to South Australia's famed Barossa Valley for the day, which happened to be on the weekend of the annual Barossa Jazz Festival, writes Milton Westcarr.

About 15 of us were on the tour, which left the city in the morning and made its way through the picturesque Adelaide Hills. We passed by the Chain of Ponds, before stopping at the world's largest Rocking horse at Gumeracha for a coffee break.

The journey then took us to the Amazing Whispering Wall, which is a large dam with a strange phenomenon. Some of us stayed on one side of the dam while others crossed over to the other side 200 metres away. We were able to have clear conversations with each other by talking into the end of the dam wall. Our voices were amplified, due to the curved design, which carried every word, even when whispered!

We arrived in the Barossa and stopped at the Orlando Winery and sampled numerous wines, including the world famous Jacobs Creek. Many bottles were purchased from the cellar door, before we visited other wineries at Richmond Grove and the Tarac Distillery. The latter served potent cocktails, which brought crowds to their doors! We had a three-course meal at the Tanunda Hotel and explored the historical town centre. I enjoyed the friendly atmosphere, while listening to the Jazz festival.

After lunch we travelled up to Menglers Hill lookout, where the whole valley could be viewed in all its glory. The rural scenery evoked memories of my old home of Gloucestershire, with its fertile farmlands and quiet villages.

Our final stop took us to Chateau Dorrien at Seppeltsfield, which produces excellent wines and mead. It also has an indoor market and artistic murals of the complete winemaking process. It was surrounded by a huge palm tree plantation and mini "castles" along their driveway.

The Barossa Valley is worth a visit when coming to South Australia, as is the Australian National Wine Centre, which opened in Adelaide last October 2000. The Centre is already becoming a major tourist attraction. It houses wine from every region across Australia and will be the headquarters for most of the wine industry organisations and governing bodies. I went along to the opening and was extremely impressed. The building is very unusual, and resembles a wine barrel. The architects used building materials, that are also used in the wine industry, such as zinc metal sheets which represent large wine vats, and plenty of wooden beams which were integrated into the structure, giving it that natural touch.

The centre has already picked up one major award, from the urban Development Institute of Australia, which named it the most "outstanding project of national and potentially international standing." There is a rammed earth wall, using soil from the local areas in South Australia, which adds to the ambience as pedestrians walk through the entrance hall. The Wine Centre has state of the art multimedia displays, exhibitions and educational facilities.

There are plenty of car parking spaces at the front, alongside vineyards, which have been planted specially for future visitors. The grounds are next door to the colourful Botanical Gardens. There is a tourist information desk, where visitors can find a range of wine areas to visit, both locally and nationally, and there's the ubiquitous tasting sessions in the cellars down below the main walkway where they can sample various bottles from each region.

The centre aims to promote awareness of more than 10,000 Australian wines and their regions, so it is well worth a visit when in South Australia.

Since this story was compiled and published in February 2001, the National Wine Centre has now been taken over by The Adelaide University and students can study winemaking courses.