Three days in the Barossa

Day one. Tanunda and the old vines.

Morning. Start in Tanunda, the valley's Lutheran heart, bakeries and bluestone churches built by Silesian settlers in the 1840s. Then your first cellar door: Rockford, where the basket presses still work and the Basket Press Shiraz is the valley's conscience. Afternoon. Drive past the Freedom vineyard plantings and stop wherever a sign says 1880s; the Barossa Old Vine Charter means the dates are real. One more tasting at a small family producer. Evening. Dinner in Tanunda. Order the Shiraz that confused you most today.

Day two. Seppeltsfield and the long game.

Morning. Seppeltsfield, the avenue of palms and the Centennial Cellar, where you can taste a tawny from your birth year out of the barrel it has slept in ever since. Book the Centenary tour; it is the single best wine experience in Australia. Afternoon. Lunch at Seppeltsfield's restaurant or a picnic among the palms, then Maggie Beer's farm shop for provisions and humility. Evening. Sunset at Mengler Hill lookout over the whole valley, then a slow dinner in Angaston.

Day three. Eden Valley, the cool answer.

Morning. Climb into the Eden Valley, the Barossa's high, cool sibling, where Riesling gets steely and Shiraz turns from power to perfume. Henschke territory; book ahead or taste the neighbourhood at smaller doors. Afternoon. One final tasting comparing valley floor Shiraz against Eden Valley Shiraz, the Barossa's own internal argument, then the gentle drive back towards Adelaide. Evening. If you stay one more night, the pub in Greenock. If not, a bottle of old vine Grenache rides home with you.

Know before you go

When to go. March and April are vintage, the valley at full tilt. Winter is fireside-and-tawny season and quietly wonderful. Summer is hot; taste early.

Getting there. An hour from Adelaide. Hire a car or book one of the valley's driver services; the back roads are half the pleasure.

How many days. Three. Tanunda, Seppeltsfield, Eden Valley.

The cellar doors. Walk-ins work at most doors, book the famous ones a few days out. Tastings 10 to 25 Australian dollars, nearly always waived with purchase, poured by people who made the wine.

The mistake first timers make. Writing the valley off as just big Shiraz. The old vine Grenache, the Eden Riesling and the fortifieds are the connoisseur's Barossa, hiding in plain sight.

Drink it before you go

A Barossa Shiraz from old vines. The valley's signature, concentration with history in it.

An Eden Valley Riesling. The cool counterpoint, lime and slate and decades of ageing ahead of it.

An old vine Grenache. The insiders' pick, Pinot prices refusing to stay secret.

Barossa is one of twelve places in The Grape Atlas. Learn it in five minutes, free.