The McLaren Vale Day Trip We'd Send Someone We Love On

Here is a full McLaren Vale day trip we have mapped out for the people we would most want to send here. Two easy cellar doors before lunch, one long table in the middle, and an afternoon that ends at our place with a beer next door and a tent in the vines. It runs about 40 minutes south of Adelaide, and every stop is a short drive from the last. Book the two things that need booking, sort a driver, and give yourself permission to go slow.

The mistake most people make with a day in McLaren Vale is trying to fit in six cellar doors. You end up remembering the drive and none of the wine. This is the version we send friends and family instead: fewer stops, more sitting down, and a finish that means nobody has to drive home.

Morning: two cellar doors, and no rush

Start at Samson Tall, which opens at 11. The cellar door is an 1854 pug church on Strout Road, with a small cemetery out the back and a wine dog called Miller who will supervise. Paul Wilson and Heather Budich buy fruit from local growers and make the wine on site, and someone will usually carry your tasting out to you on the lawn. Try the Grenache and the Rosé. There is a piano if the mood takes you (we take no responsibility for the performance).

From there it is five minutes to Sherrah on McMurtrie Road, where Alex and Liz Sherrah share a restored stone cottage with a couple of other small labels. This one you book. The room seats eight, the tasting is seated and runs about 45 minutes, and it is the sort of Fiano and skin-contact white that rewards sitting still. Two cellar doors before lunch is plenty. Trying to squeeze in a third turns a good morning into a schedule.

Lunch: pick one long table

You have two very good options within a few minutes of each other, and you only need one.

The Currant Shed at McLaren Flat is a 1916 currant drying shed turned lunch-only restaurant, run by Hamish Maguire and Emily Dowie since 2011, sitting between a lime grove and the vines. The kitchen works with more than 50 local growers and the menu changes with whatever is ready. Ask for a spot on the verandah. It also sits on the way up toward the hills, which sets the afternoon up nicely.

Another favourite is the Salopian Inn on the corner of Main and McMurtrie, an 1850s homestead with Karena Armstrong’s Asian-leaning cooking, a garden that feeds the kitchen, and a gin list well past 200. Order the pork buns. Either way, keep it long and unhurried. The afternoon is the easy part.

The afternoon is ours

By mid-afternoon, come up to us at The Range. Our cellar door is a converted dairy at 97 Pennys Hill Road, with a fireplace inside, a patio out front, and the McLaren Vale vines dropping away below. This is the part of the day we built for lingering. Grab a cheeseboard, settle in, and taste across the three ranges we make: Sashiko for the easy, everyday drops, Contour for our single-vineyard small batches, and ICON for the estate wines we bottle only in the best years. If you do one thing here, sit by the fire with a glass and stop checking the time.

Then wander next door to Penny Red

The good part about ending here is that you do not have to leave to change it up. Penny Red Beer Co shares our site, so the beer drinker in your pair (there is always one) can walk thirty seconds to 13 taps brewed on the spot. There is wood-fired pizza, dog-friendly tables, and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. The Iced Coffee Stout has a following for good reason. This is where dinner tends to sort itself out.

Where to sleep: a tent in the vines

Here is the bit that makes the whole day work. The glamping tent and tiny house at our Alagna vineyard are a short walk from the cellar door, so once you have parked for the afternoon, you are done driving. The bell tent sits among the vines with a view straight down the rows; on a Friday night you can hear the live music drift over from next door while you sit out the front with a glass. You fall asleep in the vines and wake to birdsong.

The route, and a few things worth knowing

• Go on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Penny Red opens Friday to Sunday and Sherrah runs Friday to Monday, so a weekend day catches the lot. The Currant Shed closes on Wednesdays, and the Salopian covers you midweek.
• Book two things: Sherrah’s seated tasting and your lunch table. Everything else you can walk into.
• Sort a driver, or park at The Range after lunch and leave the car there. The whole afternoon is walkable from that one spot.
• Distances are short. Nothing is more than about ten to fifteen minutes from the last stop, and it is roughly 40 minutes down from Adelaide.

The short version

• Two cellar doors before lunch, not five.
• One long table: The Currant Shed, or the Salopian midweek.
• Spend the afternoon at Sew & Sew, with Penny Red thirty seconds away for beer and pizza.
• Stay the night in the vines so nobody drives home.
• A weekend day, two bookings, one driver.

Come and be the last stop of someone’s perfect day

Want the anchor of the day sorted first? Book a tasting at our cellar door, look at the Tailor Made wine club if you’d like our wines turning up at home, or join the list for the long lunches and Gather & Yarn nights we run through the year. We will keep the fire going.