Breakfast Rave & Barossa Gourmet

I lived in Lyndoch, a small town in the Barossa Valley from the age of 11 to 21. During this time I wasn't particularly bothered about the region. I was too young to appreciate wine and I went to school in Gawler, which is not part of the Barossa Valley and therefore heralds a rather different culture. Of course in my late teens and early twenties I wasn't interested in being a tourist in my own back yard in my spare time, I preferred going to 'town' with my Uni friends. Now that I'm a little bit older, and no longer living in the beautiful Barossa region, I am desperate to get back there!

So when the planets align and events such as the Breakfast Rave and Barossa Gourmet happen to fall on exactly the same day, I can't help but get a little bit excited to head back to my childhood region for the day. Not that I need an excuse to spend a day in the gorgeous surrounds of the Barossa Valley!

Below are some of the highlights of my day out. I hope you enjoy this post, although it's impossible to get quite the same feeling from pictures and words as it is experiencing them first hand!

Have you been to a Breakfast Rave before, or something similar? Do you have a favourite winery or wine from the Barossa? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

The Breakfast Rave
If you're a Barossa or Adelaide local and you've never been to a Breakfast Rave, I urge you to get along to one. They tend to 'pop up' on a monthly basis, at a different, yet equally fabulous iconic and historic Barossa location. I love what these guys are all about; providing sustainable, organic, local food, all the while promoting and upholding the traditional Barossa culture of community. The Rave is run on a completely volunteer basis, and all proceeds go towards funding their next pop up event.

Barossa Gourmet Weekend
More than 22 wineries took part in the Barossa Gourmet Weekend this year, so between my family and a few close friends, we settled on checking out four wineries that none of us had been to before.

We started at Chateau Tanunda - a beautiful old winery which is also home to the historic Cricket and Croquet grounds. Thankfully the wine tasting was in the large function hall, out of the less than ideal rainy weather. Sadly, however, they had sold out of the rose on the Saturday, which is the one wine we had all been looking forward to tasting at Chateau Tanunda.

Our next stop was Kellermeister Wines. The live music, marquees and heaters provided a warm and ambient setting. The food and wine was pretty good too! Yep - we got our rose, and some cider tasting in here.

At McGuigan Wines, the theme for the weekend was 'African', with a variety of traditional African cuisine on offer, as well as African music and bongo drumming. McGuigan is a favourite location of mine, and close to my heart as JD and I had our wedding photos taken there almost two years ago now.

We ended our wine touring at Pindarie, which proved to be a popular spot particularly since the live band for the day was the well known SA band: the Flaming Sambucas. By the time we got there, the crowd was more than a little messy, but the wine was still flowing and the setting sun made for a glorious end to our day out.