Today was all about the wine tasting in McLaren Vale. We started early at the Cube Dali exhibition in the d’Arenberg winery arriving as the doors opened at 10.30am. You know the day is going to be interesting when alcohol is being consumed so early in the day.

The Dalí Cube was incredible and oddly felt in place within its winery settling. As for the wine, well this was equally impressive and we had an excellent hour or so trying various wines from the 50+ varieties that they sell from this amazing winery.

The exterior to the winery and restaurant is not what you’d expect to see, but that’s the point, it draws you in with the usual and eye catching architectural pieces and great views of the valley and vineyards all around.

The eclectic furniture & pieces of art make this such a great place to visit and a standout in the McLaren Vale area.

After the success of the first wine tasting, we headed to the next at Oliver’s Taranga. This is a smaller family owned winery which has been in the same family for 6 generations.

Not only did they do great wines, they’ve branched out into olive oil, so we ended up having food and dips with the vino, again all before lunch time. The hospitality at these places is excellent. They know heaps about the wine and are keen to engage and chat about everything and anything. Andy even managed a 5min chat about football with an Arsenal loving winery guide!

Our third and final wine tasting stop was Maxwell’s vineyard, set within a stunning bar/restaurant which would rival any high class place in London in our view. Plus the views are to die for.

After a tough morning of drinking for Andy, Michelle took the driving reins and we headed to Moana beach to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine.

The beach has the most incredible cliffs looking down on the beach and once we got on the sand the ocean proved so inviting. Helped mostly by the fact at 5.30pm it was still over 30 Celsius.

The evening was spent organising and booking our forthcoming stay at Easter in Bali. We see being joined by our daughter Amelia and her friend Meg who are heading out from the Uk for 2 weeks in a villa – no doubt they will be checking out the night life as we enjoy a glass of vino and an early night!!