Enjoy a lazy detour though lush hills and along the descending Angus and Bremer Rivers to historic Strathalbyn and get to know yet another flavour of this luscious region.

To visit McLaren Vale and then go to the Langhorne Creek wine region is to experience more than quietly ravishing scenery for here is the cradle of South Australian wine and here you will find the tastes of today and tomorrow.

The  Fleurieu produces excellent and beautifully flavoured reds, strongly flavoured whites and excellent ports. The makers in this great region successfully produce just about every kind of table, sparkling and forified wines.  The McLaren Vales was extensively developed by the adventurer John Reynell. He landed at Port Adelaide in 1838, less than two years after the infant colony's foundation. He had bought some vine cuttings at the Cape of Good Hope and planted them at what is now Reynella, making him the first vignerons. Reynell employed a young man, Thomas Hardy, to help tend the vines and within a short period these two men were the largest producers of wine in the McLaren Vale district.

The many wineries of the Fleurieu stimulated the establishment of a garland of regional restaurants of rare quality and variety, throughout the district. The  restaurants are as charming as they are creative with accommodation to suit all moods.

The Fifty five wineries in the region are mostly family owned, including Hardy's Tintara where Thomas Hardy began a wine tradition in 1876. Seaview Winery with its underground museum and Pirramimma,Wirra Wirra, Middleton Winery and  Chapel Hill Winery with its historic Sir Samuel Way church and school. Tastings and tours are given, and several wineries have gourmet restaurants and quality accommodation.

A popular event, each October, winemakers host the three-day Bushing Festival celebrating the release of the new vintage.

The Australian & New Zealand Wine Industry Directory lists 236 wineries in South Australia. The Directory has a listing of over 1,200 Australian and New Zealand wineries - categorized by state -- and has full production and distribution details as well as personnal, telephone, fax and address information.