Fly amongst the vines with the luxe new wine tour from Ascend Wine Odyssey.
The ground gives way below as the roar of propellers fills our ears, despite the overhead earphones covering them. I’ve been to plenty of wineries before, even in South Australia, but I’ve never hopped between them via helicopter. Nor have I seen the vineyards from this height, or the country between. This is Bryce Courtney land, dry and spotted with livestock, as we Ascend Wine Odyssey flies us between three popular wine regions and three female-owned and/or operated wineries.
At each stop, a different experience with the owners and makers – from tasting in the vines to lunch to cheese pairing – and a chance to compare how the different geography of each region gives a unique flavour to their wines. This is truly a luxurious wine tour.
Stop one: Oliver’s Taranga, McLaren Vale
Arriving at Oliver’s Taranga – one of Australia’s oldest family-run vineyards, onto its sixth generation – we’re ushered into the tasting room and restaurant. It’s a beautiful, rustic space for a few warm-up wines, but today we’ll be taking the vineyard buggy (lovingly named Ollie) out into the vines for a Taranga Terroir Tour.
Glass in hand, we make stops around the vineyard to learn about the different vines, wines and views – tasting each drop next to the plants that grew them. Along the way, we meet Corrina Wright, sixth generation in the Oliver family and current director and winemaker. She shares a few insider secrets before joining us back in the restaurant for a pre-lunch grazing board (and a few more wines to taste, of course).
Explore the vines as you taste the wines.
As the only female winemaker we’ll meet on this tour, Wright explains why it’s so important for this tour to focus on women in the field.
“I’m part of the Australian Women in Wine board. When we started 10 years ago, there were 10 per cent less women in production. It was 50/50 going through university but [not] coming out the other side…That has increased to 15 per cent and the industry is taking it more seriously now," she explained.
Get insider secrets from the owners and makers. (Image: Kassia Byrnes)
Stop two: Golding Wines, Adelaide Hills
Now, it’s helicopter time. No more four wheels for us, it’s birds-eye views from here-on-out. We soar over vineyards and vast countryside, all the while chatting with our pilot, thanks to sturdy headsets that offset the noise of the propellers. An easy 20-minute ride has us in a whole new wine country and vineyard: Golding Wines.
Taste wines in the great outdoors. (Image: Kassia Byrnes)
Owners Lucy and Darren Golding are waiting for us beside their winery, but before heading inside, we’re whisked up to a bespoke tasting platform built on a hilltop, with gorgeous views over the vines. Here, we snack once again, chomping on freshly baked focaccia bread, dips and other goodies crafted using produce from the onsite estate kitchen garden. While the Goldings talk us through their vision and the wines they brought for us to taste.
Next is lunch at their restaurant, Ginko. We sit outdoors amongst the apple trees as several dishes are brought to us. The menu here shows off the best of South Australia, focusing on locally-sourced, seasonal produce.
Sit down to lunch at Ginko restaurant.
Stop three: Kimbolton Wines, Langhorne Creek
Satisfactorily full, but not to the point we have to worry about weighing down the helicopter, we jump back in our ride and soar over to Langhorne Creek. This might be a lesser-known and smaller wine region of South Australia, but if Kimbolton Wines is any indication, it packs a serious punch.
Try a range of wine and cheese pairings. (Image: Kimbolton Wines)
Here we meet one half of the brother-sister duo, Nicole Clark. As the fifth-generation owners of Kimbolton, the family have grown up with winemaking in their blood, and put it to good use. Clark takes us into the adorable converted shipping container tasting room where a line of wines and a platter of cheeses are waiting. With what little space we have left in our stomachs, we start my favourite activity of the three stops: experimenting with wine and cheese pairings.
With incredibly happy tastebuds, the time comes to catch our helicopter back to where it all began, Oliver’s Taranga, before heading back to our hotel in Adelaide for a well-earned nap.
Fly between stops for a unique experience.
The details
An Ascend Wine Odyssey tour runs daily from 9:30am to 5:30pm (unless the weather interferes). The cost is $7000 per couple, with a two-person per-tour maximum (weight limits apply). Start and finish at Oliver’s Taranga, and find your own way to and from this winery – it’s an easy 40-minute drive from Adelaide.
