Enjoying the history and special wines from Langhorne Creek

The Adelaide Club 2015 “Educational Visit” was a trip to the Langhorne Creek Wine District. Twenty members and partners took advantage of the opportunity and enjoyed sunny winter weather for the weekend staying at Strathalbyn.

On Friday evening members went by bus to Kanmantoo for dinner at Sanso’s Restaurant where they enjoyed a most delightful Italian dinner accompanied by Italian sparkling, white and red wines.

Saturday was all education! On the bus to Langhorne Creek where the first stop was the Bleasdale Winery. Here Rob Potts spoke of the history of the winery and the district and showed members the old wine press (see photo) in the historic part of the winery. The press, built entirely of local River Red Gum wood and with a beam weighing over three tonnes, was taken out of a long retirement to celebrate the centenary of the winery in the 1990’s with family and special guests watching. Then onto othe tasting room where Rob spoke about the wines we were able to taste and enjoy.

Then onto The Wine House where Ben Potts was our host. The Wine House is the cellar door for four local producers including Ben Potts and Ben Glatzer. Ben had arranged a tasting of nine wines which we tried in turn as he spoke about the wine maker, the vineyard source, style and wine characteristics.

We finally left for Bremerton Winery for lunch. Craig Willson had arranged a special meal in their upstairs dining area. During the meal he spoke about the winery, the district and the wines that we were enjoying.

The day finished with a casual dinner at Strathalbyn.