Hyatt Regency, Adelaide
Believe it or not, I've never been to a Coonawarra Roadshow in Adelaide before. I attended the Brisbane event last year, but to be quite frank, I've previously not seen the point really.
From a tourist's point of view, Coonawarra IS my favourite South Australian wine region. I usually visit once a year, hence; no need to attend any lavish, industry tastings flocked to by the masses.
There is something absolutely beautiful about the complete isolation of Coonawarra. You have to drive over 4 hours from Adelaide to get there, and when you do arrive, you tend to find most of the other visitors are Victorian, not South Australian (who would probably be visiting the Barossa or McLaren Vale). All Coonawarra cellar door hands seem to know whoever you are, you've come a long way to drop in on them. You're always treated with the warmest of welcomes at almost every venue.
Coonawarra is a wine obsessive's dream holiday. There is pretty much nothing there but wineries and vineyards, all off one road; the John Riddoch Highway. Wineries are either on the left hand side of the road or the right hand side, simple as that. If you wanna drink wine you're in the right place, if you wanna do anything else; you should've stuck to the main Adelaide-Melbourne highway!
Unfortunately for me, the recent acquisition of a house means my finances aren't as good as they used to be. All of a sudden, industry tastings look more appealing than a 9 hour round trip and week long stay. I think that's what the Coonawarra Roadshow is all about; convenience. Because on a basis of beauty, the Hyatt has nothing on that 20km long, 1km wide stretch of terra rossa found in South Australian's southeast, halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne.
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