Where to stay in the Barossa Valley, S.A
 

My husband and I will be visiting South Australia at the end of September and would love to visit the Barossa Valley to do some wine tasting. Can anyone give us some ideas of cute, historic towns to stay in with a nice hotel or inn (not too expensive) and some good wineries to visit. Also any day trips from that area to see some sights. We don't have any itinerary yet, only that we will be flying into Sydney (we used to live there a long time ago), spend a couple of days around there and then make our way down south by car. We will probably stay for 4 days in the Barossa Valley.
Also, if anyone has any good ideas for stops along the way on our trip up to Brisbane that would be great!
Thanks!

We recently attended a wedding in the Barossa and stayed at a town called Tanunda. So beautiful! So many wineries including Penfolds, Wolf Blass....great country town and so pretty!

Hi sthudson225 -

We visited Barossa a few years ago and had a great time (also in Sept).

I've posted the link to my trip report below, it might give you some ideas.

Enjoy SA!

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

I'm slightly unclear on your intended itinerary - you fly in to Sydney and are then driving to Adelaide and then driving to Brisbane? Personally, I'd fly ...

We were in the Barossa a few months ago. We stayed at Lyndoch Hill, selected purely because it had a restaurant on-site (so no driving to dinner). It did the job, though not sure we'd stay there again. I certainly don't remember our room being as spiffy as the pictures on their website....
http://www.lyndochhill.com

Like Melnq8 in her trip report, we found Maggie Beer's to be totally underwhelming. I'm not sure what we were expecting but it was rather disappointing. You probably should go but it's now on our "been there, done that, don't need to do it again" list.

Some of the wineries are large and impersonal (Jacobs Creek, for one). However, at the other end of the spectrum, we really enjoyed Torbreck (well, the tasting room...). They're known primarily for their reds, though they have some good whites as well. The winemaker, David Powell, was not there when we visited but his dog Grace was, and gave us a warm welcome. Tasting room staff were very welcoming and we ended up having them ship us a case and we've been buying it locally (and drinking it...) ever since. Their top-of-the-line The Laird sells for more than Grange so, needless to say, isn't on the tasting room list (and wasn't in our case, either!)
http://www.torbreck.com

We had a decent lunch at Lou Miranda -
http://www.loumirandaestate.com.au

If you're there for a few days, I would also visit the Clare Valley, about an hour and a half further north.
http://www.southaustralia.com/regions/clare-valley.aspx

Centering in Tanunda is a good choice, IMO. The Langmeil and Peter Lehmann properties border each other, and they're within about two km of the center of town (walking distance?). Their wines range from very good to great. A bit farther out in Greenock is Murray Street Vineyards, also worth a look. Lehmann's has the largest cellar door of the three, but the ambience at all is intimate and very enjoyable.

Hi LMF,
Thanks for the info about Tununda, it sounds like a wonderful town, I will definetly check it out. Do you remember what hotel you stayed in?
Thanks, sthudson

Hi Melnq8,
Wow, your blog about your trip is great and I am only on day 2! Can't wait to finish it. Thanks, sthudson225

Good to hear sthudson225, I hope it helps.

I was reading through Fodor's best All Inclusives Awards and this was about number 2. It does look yummy albeit probably out of your budget sthudson225 but when you look at all the inclusives it's probably not too bad at all.

http://kingsfordhomestead.com.au/