Play it safe with these top Barossa Valley wine tours

Overflowing with more than 170 wineries, South Australia’s most killer drops are best discovered through a mixed bag of Barossa Valley wine tours and experiences.

Ain’t nothing wrong with getting lost in the rolling hills and country air of the Barossa – after all, this is premier Aussie winemaking territory so a visit should certainly be savoured. But if your mission involves digging up hidden gems, then signing onto one of the most eye-opening Barossa Valley wine tours and experiences is a no-brainer. Our pick of the most remarkable is calling.

Barossa Red Vintage Tours

Consider touring the region in a red London cab for a ‘full English experience’ filled with Barossa’s hottest hits, courtesy of Barossa Red Vintage Tours.

Facilitating a range of tours for up to six guests, including themed expeditions with Devonshire tea and stout tasting, and a half or full day out bouncing between wineries, distilleries, craft breweries and historical photo opportunities, your ride for the day is a 1972 Austin FX4 once owned by Sir Richard Branson.

One of the most character-filled Barossa Valley wine tours on offer, there’s even a ‘Meet the Locals’ three-hour group tour every Friday night where you’ll score an invitation to the tour operator’s personal social mixer that evening, plus dinner. Prices start from $410 for two people and each tour requires a minimum of two passengers.

Barossa Bespoke Tours

If you have a clear idea of what you’d like, Barossa Bespoke Tours specialises in creating detailed private itineraries so you get exactly what you pay for. A typical tour includes hotel transfers, visits to some of the region’s best-loved wineries, and lunch with paired wines at a local restaurant.

It’s priced from $900 for two adults and two additional guests can jump in on the two-person deal for an extra $150 per person. Part of the appeal of this service is the expert guide you’ll have on hand. Kym spent more than 20 years working within the Barossa Valley’s hospitality scene, managing several cellar doors and hotels, making this one of the most insightful Barossa Valley wine tours out there.

The Barossa Cellar

No visit to the Barossa is complete without a visit to The Barossa Cellar, a regional wine cellar (and Australia’s first) housing a staggering collection of rare and aged Barossa and Eden Valley wines. Best of all, it offers hosted, exclusive access to the country’s top drops, and an invitation to taste wines from the prestigious Barons of Barossa’s 3000-strong wine collection.

Its standout tour is the Barossa Vine & Wine Experience, allowing you to sit in the heart of the cellar, The Vault, and enjoy a private tasting, plus the ability to purchase a vine in perpetuity. Priced at $1,150 for two guests, it doesn’t come cheap, but this is exclusive access you’ll never forget on board one of the finest Barossa Valley wine tours.

Adelaide Sightseeing

Two excellent group tours, running all the way from Adelaide CBD, are offered by Adelaide Sightseeing. The first is a full-day, small group coach tour, the ‘Barossa Food and Wine Experience’, which makes stops at a handful of great wineries, including Pindarie Wines and Lambert Estate, some of the region’s finest foodie havens including Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop, and at a brilliant vantage point for happy snaps in Mengler Hill, one of the Barossa’s most unmissable things to do. Prices start from $198 per adult.

Meanwhile, the full-day ’Barossa and Hahndorf Highlights’ tour caters for a larger group than its other offering and includes a wine tasting at Jacob’s Creek, one of the Barossa’s best-loved wineries, a lunch and paired tasting at Lambert Estate, and a trip to Hahndorf, a gorgeous village filled with rich German heritage plus fascinating shops and art galleries. It’s priced at $189 per adult.

Small Batch Wine Tours

Live like a VIP for the day with Small Batch Wine Tours, which are renowned for their luxurious Barossa Valley wine tours. With keys to many of the region’s most exclusive wineries, some that don’t even open their doors to the general public, these guys provide incredible premium experiences to both small groups or couples seeking an intimate setting.

In its least exclusive offering, the ‘Small Group’ tour aims to avoid crowds, timing its arrival at the likes of Two Hands Wines, one of the Barossa’s most extraordinary wineries, and Izway Wines, a boutique label with a firm focus on organic farming, during quiet periods. Lunch is included, and prices start at $300 per adult.

On the super exclusive end, private expeditions for two, featuring lunch at Fino at Seppeltsfield, one of the region’s most celebrated restaurants, plus visits to four or so wineries are priced from $840 per person, while the ‘Penfolds vs Henschke’ tour is what dreams are made of.

Offering exclusive access to both Penfolds Grange and Henschke’s Hill of Grace, two of the wine world’s most applauded creations, and throwing in lunch at Fino once again, this is pure decadence. Prices start from $2,000 per person.

Hill of Grace experience at Henschke

Speaking of the most extraordinary blends going, Henschke’s ‘Hill of Grace Experience’ is worth mentioning in this ‘best of’ line-up.

Priced at $325 per person, the small group expedition, capped at six people, offers access to Henschke’s revered Hill of Grace vineyard, plus a once-in-a-lifetime chance to taste vintage varieties in a private tasting room, away from the label’s main cellar door, which stands as one of the Barossa’s best winery experiences regardless.

Visits to the working mechanics of the winery, plus samples of Henschke’s esteemed The Wheelwright, Cyril Henschke and Mount Edelstone drops are also included in the exceptional two-hour tour.

Barossa Unique Tours

Sometimes in life, hard choices will have to be made. With Barossa Unique Tours, that choice will be between a classic 1966 Ford Mustang convertible, a Jaguar XF or a motorcycle trike featuring a helmet intercom.

Offering everything from one-and-a-half-hour sightseeing tours (sans any wine tasting) to eight hours’ worth of winery and food experience hopping, all three head-turning automobiles will see you on the road like never before.

Prices start from $145 per person but soar all the way up to $525 per person for that memorable eight-hour journey in that super special Jag.

Taste The Barossa

Sample the best of the region under the wing of a local who once worked on the bottling line at Peter Lehmann Wines. Taste The Barossa, a small coach tour that hits the road from Adelaide before exploring wine country, will get you to the grand Chateau Yaldara in Lyndoch before a brief stop in central Tanunda, a gourmet cheese, meat and vegetable platter lunch and a wine tasting at Peter Lehmann, then more wine at Rosenvale Vineyards before rounding the day off at Wolf Blass. Groups are guaranteed to never exceed 20 people, and it costs $179 per person.

Barossa Helicopters

As the name suggests, you can also explore the Barossa Valley from above thanks to Barossa Helicopters, who offer multiple scenic flights as well as luxurious food and wine experiences. Located in Lyndoch and securing more than 20 landing sites right across the region, the team can get you wherever your racing heart desires in a matter of minutes.

Scenic ventures range from just four-minute flights, priced at $50-$150 per person depending on number of passengers, to 30-minute journeys, priced from $250-$750 per person.

Fit in glorious lunches at either Pindarie Wines, Kies Family Wines, St Hugo or Chateau Yaldara’s Vintage Chef Co Cafe with journeys that range from three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half hours. Prices start from $399 per person.

Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia

It’s all about quality over quantity with the Ultimate Winery Experiences Australia crew, a high-end operator providing a wide range of unforgettable Barossa Valley wine tours.

Our pick of the lot? ‘The Icons Of The Barossa’ tour which includes Seppeltsfield’s exclusive Centenary Tour where you’ll sample extremely fancy fortified wines plus a vintage Tawny from the year you were born.

Once you’re done there, you’ll move on to Yalumba, yet another must-visit winery pit-stop during your adventure in the Barossa Valley, where you’ll stickybeak through the iconic brand’s fascinating cooperage before tasting some of its finest creations and washing it down with a platter jammed with outstanding local produce. Prices start from $299 per person.

Day With The Dirtman experience at Gibson Wines

Rob Gibson, affectionally known in this neck of the woods as The Dirtman and founder of Gibson Wines, has been doing his thing for around 40 years, masterfully knocking together brilliant blends that take total advantage of the Barossa Valley’s unique winemaking climate and conditions.

In the six-hour ‘Day With The Dirtman’ tour offered by Gibson Wines, guests are treated to an itinerary hosted by the Gibson family themselves, plus wine tasting at one of their favourite wineries in Eden Valley, exclusive access to other undiscovered wineries, gourmet lunch inside their fabulous 18050s cottage, barrel tasting in their private oak cellar and much more. It’ll set you back $500 per person.

The Flagship Experience at Two Hands Wines

And while we’re talking about the best-loved Barossa Valley wine tours conducted by wineries themselves, we mustn’t neglect Two Hands Wines’ ‘The Flagship Experience’.

Priced at $600 per person, this outstanding journey will see wine lovers jump into a luxury 4WD and drop in to sample the goods from three of the team’s favourite single vineyard wineries before off-roading to Seppeltsfield to explore Two Hands’ very own Holy Grail vineyard.

Back at the label’s cellar door, a long, meandering lunch will be served alongside a fleet of wines meticulously paired with each and every flavour.

Find more experiences, accommodation, eating and entertainment options in our Barossa Valley travel guide.