A taste of the Adelaide Hills

Posted 13 February, 2018 Lauren Reid

The Adelaide Hills makes a spectacularly scenic spot for a South Aussie staycation, and its food and wine scene is growing at an especially speedy rate. Here are some of our top tips for eating and drinking your way through the region.

 

The Adelaide Hills are bursting with unique food and wine experiences, so it’s worth dedicating an entire minibreak – and plenty of stomach space – to trying as many local goodies as you can. Autumn is a particularly picturesque season for a visit, thanks to the abundance of colour and the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot.

 

In Woodside, Melba’s chocolate factory and Woodside Cheese Wrights sit side-by-side and make a perfect morning-tea stop – which is especially handy if you’ve had a long drive to the Hills. The staff at Woodside can talk you through the many cheeses, chutneys and pastes on offer for tasting, and there’s a myriad of other local foodie delights and cookbooks to purchase too. For the real fromage freaks, Woodside also offers cheesemaking classes. At Melba’s you can watch every step of the chocolate-making process, with plenty of tasters along the way. The shop is also jam-packed with every variety of lolly and chocolate you could imagine. From sour gummy worms to choc-coated almonds or coffee beans, there’s something for the whole family.

 

 

Save some room in that separate chocolate stomach of yours (come on, we all have one) for Hahndorf Hill Winery’s ChocoVino experience. This indulgent tasting is based on the concept of ‘terroir’, which is all about imbuing food and wine with the flavours of the location it’s from. That means the cool climate of the Adelaide Hills is reflected in Hahndorf Hill’s sweet but fresh wines. Meanwhile, the palate-cleansing Cape Grim water gives you a taste of Tasmania, and the chocolates show off the flavours of Peru and Cuba.  

 

Over in Hahndorf, Beerenberg Family Farm is a real SA icon, and its strawberry fields are becoming more popular by the year. The strawberry season runs from November to April, so the first days of autumn are your last chance to try your hand at picking a punnet for yourself. However, the farm shop is worth a visit year-round to get your hands on the full range of Beerenberg’s jams, sauces, marinades, honey and more. On the Beerenberg website, you can even trace the provenance of the ingredients in the exact jar you take home.