Australia Wine Country
 

Visiting Australia in Feb. Would like to visit some wineries ...Penfolds is high my
list..anyone know of any special tours for them? Also what would you suggest
if you were putting together a day or two visit to wine country???

As you mention Penfolds, am I correct in assuming your enquiry relates specifically to South Australia?

We have wine areas in every State & Territory except NT,many accessible from the capital cities, so it would help to know where you're planning to visit.

This will give you a start: http://www.wineaustralia.com/austral...spx?tabid=4445

Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns

Hunter Valley is really nice for a winnerie tour, and not so far from Sydney....

If your in the Adelaide Hills area there are several. We liked the Napenthe wines the best. However along Jones Rd. where they are located there are 2 or 3 additional that were good.
There is also the Belahanna pub\hotel at the end of Jones rd. we had a quite good lunch there.

All alcohol in the Cairns area is produced from things other than grapes as far as I know. Some very interesting drops though. there are tours making a tasting of the wineries, distillery and coffee plantations.

Lot s of wine areas around melbourne-Yarra Valley, Mornington Peneinsula,Macedon ranges, Geelong area and many other areas around the state.depends on how much time you have, are you driving etc as to what , when and how.

If I wanted to do an interesting 2-3 day trip from Sydney with visitors, I'd do something like this:

Starting at The Rocks http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&s...91&ie=UTF8&z=9

Day 1: Sydney - Blue Mountains via Great Western Highway, overnight Blackheath or Mount Victoria. Diversion to Jenolan Caves if time permits.

Day 2: Mt. Victoria to Millthorpe, possibly morning tea or lunch there. Tonic is excellent. http://www.tonicmillthorpe.com.au/
On to Orange - see some wineries. Overnight in Orange. http://www.orange-nsw.com/OrangeWineriesMap.html

Day 3: Return to Sydney via Lithgow and Bells Line of Road. Stop at Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens.

The Central West is beautiful, has some superb restaurants and bistros which showcase local produce, and more than 50 wineries in the Orange region. I think an itinerary like this gives visitors a variety of experiences and a glimpse of areas outside the usual fare. Driving time Sydney - Orange if you go straight through is about 3.5 - 4 hours.

Book a dinner at Penfolds Magill Estate restaurant in Magill , Adelaide .Fabulous food with matched selection of premium Penfolds wines including Grange .

Oh my, kharrisonf, you're speaking my language. I've just today returned from a week in SW WA, where we continued our quest to try every drop in all of Australia!

We spent two weeks in South Australia in September and thoroughly enjoyed the wine regions. You might want to take a look at my very detailed food and winery trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...-australia.cfm

The Canberra wine region -

http://www.visitcanberra.com.au/Thin...nd%20wine.aspx

and the wine's not bad either -

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...?site=canberra

Woops - 'and the wine show's not bad either' - here are this year's results -

http://www.ozwinereview.com/2009/11/...wine-show.html