McLaren Vale (wikipedia) is a wine region approximately 35 km south of Adelaide in South Australia. It is internationally renowned for the wines it produces. The region was named after either David McLaren, the Colonial Manager of the South Australia Company or John McLaren (unrelated) who surveyed the area in 1839. Among the very first settlers to the region in late 1839, were two English farmers from Devon, William Colton and Charles Thomas Hewett. William Colton established the ‘Daringa Farm’ and Charles Thomas Hewett established ‘Oxenberry Farm’. Both men would be very prominent in the very early days of McLaren Vale. Although initially the region’s main economic activity was the growing of cereal crops, John Reynell and Thomas Hardy planted grape vines in 1838 and the present-day Seaview and Hardy wineries were in operation as early as 1850. Grapes were first planted in the region in 1838 and some vines more than 100 years old are still producing. Today there are more than 88 cellar doors in McLaren Vale. The majority are small family-run operations and boutique wineries. In February 2011, South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced that special legislation would be introduced to protect the unique heritage of the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Premier Rann said: “Barossa and McLaren Vale food and wine are key icons of South Australia. We must never allow the Barossa or McLaren Vale to become suburbs of Adelaide.” Legislation to protect the character of McLaren Vale was passed by the South Australian Parliament in 2012 and came into force in January 2013.

Climate and geography

McLaren Vale has a Mediterranean climate with four clear seasons. With a dry warm Summer, the area has dry weather from December through to March or April, giving an easy change between summer and winter. It is gentle with long warm days and short cool nights. Winter rains of 580-700  mm per annum flow into a fresh spring. The region rarely experiences frost or drought due to its close proximity to the sea. The region is bounded to the south by the Sellicks Hill Range and to the west by the waters of Gulf St Vincent. It extends east to the historic town of Clarendon and the area around the Mount Bold Reservoir. To the north it reaches to Reynella, named after the first winemaker in the area John Reynell.

Wines

The McLaren Vale region is well known for its dry red wines, especially those made from Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot are also grown. White wine varieties in the region include Chardonnay, Semillon, Sauvignon blanc and Riesling. In recent years innovative wineries have begun using less common varieties such as Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Barbera, Cinsaut, Vermentino and Viognier. Notable for producing Shiraz, the grape is by far the most important variety for the region, accounting for about 50% of the total crush. The area’s thin soils, limited water, and warm summers harness Shiraz’s natural vigor and produce intense flavored fruit, and wine with a deep purple color that can last decades in the bottle. McLaren Vale wines are distinguished by their ripeness, elegance, structure, power and complexity. McLaren Vale has 3,218 hectares of Shiraz under vine. Other major varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon with 1,288 ha planted, Chardonnay with 722 ha planted and Grenache with 402 ha- much of this dry-grown (non-irrigated) bush vines. (Statistics taken from the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board’s vineyard register as of May 2005.)     The Fleurieu Peninsula (wikipedia) is a peninsula located south of Adelaide in South Australia. It was named after Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, the French explorer and hydrographer, by the French explorer Nicolas Baudin as he explored the south coast of Australia in 1802. The name came in official use in 1911 in response to a recommendation to the South Australian Government from the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia following a representation from Count Alphonse de Fleurieu, a great-nephew of Charles de Fleurieu, that places in South Australia discovered by but unnamed by Matthew Flinders be given the names proposed by Baudin’s expedition.   13^th February, Friday We left late this morning as McLaren Vale is only 50 from where we are staying now. Hooray! We are back in the country and can breathe again. I must admit that we were over Adelaide and the caravan park 4 days ago and were feeling really stifled. This caravan park is gorgeous, we have a very spacious grassy site to park on and Hugo is in his element. People aren’t parked on top of each other although there a quite a few caravans and campers here. The caravan park is surrounded by vineyard and the wineries are a stones throw from here. Bev and Graham arrive tomorrow so we will wait until they are here to do the vineyards. We have decided to book in here for 7 days as we can do all the Peninsula and the vineyards from here, it’s a good base and why change it when we are staying in such a lovely spot. 14^th February, Saturday It was a stinker of a day today. We had the air con on most of last night and I think that tonight will be the same. We went to Wilunga which is about 10 minutes from McLaren Vale as there were 2 markets happening there today. The one market was a farmers market, it was a really good farmers market one of the better one that we have been to, lots of fresh locally grown produce, locally made preserves, breads, fish in fact you name it and it was there and the lovely thing about it was that all the stuff that was made was local. The craft market was across the road and that too was full of locally made crafty things, I spent a bit of money there, thankfully I have my market stash squirreled away HAHA. Bev and Graham arrived after lunch and we spent the rest of the day and evening chatting over a few bottles of wine. There is a family camping across from us who have 3 boys who have become very friendly with Hugo. They spend quite a bit of time at our van playing with him. They are nice kids and the baby of the 3 is called Hugo and he is so delighted that Hugo has the same name as him, he’s quite a cutie with a big cheeky smile. 15^th February, Sunday Ralph made pancakes for breakfast for all us and the 2 of the little boys from across the way came along and had some too. Graham was our tour guide for the day and we all travelled in their car. He showed us some of the Fleurieu Peninsula, there are so many gorgeous old little towns along the way all with the quant old little buildings and cottages. We took our own lunches and had it with a glass of wine at Second Valley beach, Hugo had his long deserved swim, poor puppy was so hot but he’s been so good and so patient with being carted here there and everywhere. We went to the Mypong (yes, that is what it is called) dam, beautiful scenery from the lookout. We crossed the dam wall and drove along the coast. From here you can see Kangaroo Island, which is bigger than what we imagined it to be, it is serviced by a ferry and Graham says that a big part of the island is farmland. The coast line along here is beautiful, a some of it is very rugged. There is a nudist beach here which is evidently the first nudist beach in Australia or so the sign says. Back to base and the wind has changed and all of a sudden it’s so much cooler.

16^th February, Monday Today was a much cooler day, it’s unbelievable to think that we have had the temps in the 40’s and then all of a sudden we are in the 20’s, not that we are complaining because we are enjoying the cooler weather it’s just the sudden changes in the temperatures that amazes us. Graham and Bev were our guides again today and the first port of call was Victor Harbour, it’s quite a large old town, quant again like all the towns we visit. There is a jetty that goes out to Granite Island and a rail line along the jetty with a double decker rail car pulled by a Clydesdale horse. The coast line of course is gorgeous. From there we drove to Goolwa and had an awesome lunch at the Goolwa hotel. Goolwa is another beautiful old town with historical buildings etc. Bev and Graham have a lot of family who used to live in this area. Goolwa have paddlesteamers which cruise up and down the Murray river and you can do a trip for a few days having your own bedroom. It looks awesome and we wouldn’t mind doing a little trip like that at some stage. Graham only has his sister here now (Brenda) who lives on Hindmarsh Island with her partner (Mike) on a houseboat. We have met Brenda and Mike before when we saw Bev and Graham at the Lions Den near Cooktown. We went to see Brenda on her houseboat but unfortunately Mike was at work so we didn’t get to catch up with him. Their houseboat is awesome and really big, 2 bedrooms with ensuite, lounge, dining, decent sized kitchen, patio in the front and at the back. Brenda has a houseboat 2 doors down but it sits empty as her and Mike live in his houseboat. We were sitting having drinks and just watching the whole world go by. There were huge carp fish (ugly things) looking for food and apparently the swans have a big go at them because they compete with them for food and you can see the bite marks on the back of the carps necks. Bev and Graham have to go back home to Port Adelaide tomorrow and it will be sad to see them go but we have had such a good time together again. We will do the some of the wineries from tomorrow as we have been given some advice of where to go and Bev has given me a 25% discount voucher for Rosemount. Watch out, here I come.

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17^th February, Thursday Veg out day today peeps. Bev and Graham left to go home at about lunch time and we did nothing else for the rest of the day. 18^th February, Wednesday Today we did the winery tour. There are about 170 wineries in McLaren Vale, we picked out 5 because it’s impossible to do so many and you do eventually get wined out. Once again the van is stocked and some wine bought with certain people in mind. We went to Rosemount and it’s not the huge vineyards, this Rosemount is a small traditional vineyard and was a pleasure to visit. I told you yesterday that we had a voucher for this vineyard so of course we had to use it. All the other vineyards we visited our not big concerns and only sell from the cellar door so the wines can’t be found in Dan Murphy’s or any of the big liquor stores. The area is so beautiful, rolling hills with vineyard planted up all along the hills. Some of the vineyards are bordering on National Park and from a couple of these vineyards you get a view of the valleys and the sea. It really is spectacular. One vineyard we visited today were doing vintage and their dog rushed out to greet us and wanted to play with Hugo. We closed the car door and he jumped out of the window and most of you know how high our ute is. We were so worried that he had hurt himself as his arthritis is playing up and he is not a spring chicken anymore although he sometimes thinks that he is. All is well and he seems to worse for wear. Hugh Hamilton was one of the other vineyards we visited and we got a bit confused as to where their entrance was and took the wrong turning only to find an old tiny cemetery and church in between the vineyard, to me this was the find of the century because it’s not mentioned in any of the sightseeing brochures and you all know how much I love old cemeteries.

19^th February, Thursday

It was a hottie today and the air con in the van has been struggling a bit. We didn’t do any wineries today and instead went to see the little historical towns around the McLaren Vale area. The first little town was Kangarilla founded in 849, it’s very small town with just a few old buildings. From there to the delightful sleepy hilly little town of Clarendon, founded in 1840 and home to a few old buildings and some churches. These little towns were originally settled as farmland and then later moved over to vineyard. We deviated off the road and drove through the Piggott ranges which has a mixture of cattle/sheep farms and vineyards. The views from there are magnificent and you can the town of Christies Beach and the ocean (Christies Beach is quite a large town, a lot bigger than McLaren Vale). Back to McLaren Vale and did our shopping as we are leaving here tomorrow, heading for Melrose. We had lunch at a charming little historical inn which is nestled among the vineyards. Things at this time of the year the vineyards are very busy, backpackers picking grapes everywhere and the big tanker trucks transporting the grape juice to whichever vineyards are doing vintage. Forget about meals on wheels, here we have wine on wheels. We have to go back through Adelaide tomorrow to get to Melrose which we are not particularly looking forward to but there is no other road we can take. It’s a bit of a long haul tomorrow so we will have a fairly early night. Catch you all in Melrose. xxxx