Golding Wines, Adelaide Hills: Why visit this Lobethal winery?

Golding Wines in Lobethal offers an award-winning cellar door experience, excellent cool climate Adelaide Hills wines, charming gardens and the highly-regarded Gingko restaurant.

The Adelaide Hills wine region doesn’t get nearly as much attention as its neighbours, the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. But there are some seriously good wines made in the Adelaide Hills, and they’re remarkably close to the South Australian capital.

Golding Wines in Lobethal, South Australia, is an excellent case in point. To the north of main Adelaide Hills towns Hahndorf and Mount Barker, Golding Wines is almost due east of Adelaide CBD and south of Gumeracha.

Distance from Adelaide to Lobethal

The drive from central Adelaide to this Adelaide Hills winery is 34km long and should take about 40 to 45 minutes. It might be longer on the way back if you stop for a drink at the historic Crafers Hotel or Hahndorf Inn. Other wineries you might want to loop in include the Lane Vineyard in Hahndorf and Howard Vineyard in Nairne.

Golding Wines won the Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine award for the best wine-tasting experience in the Adelaide Hills in 2020.

Golding Wines cellar door and tasting room

This is partly because the setting of this Lobethal winery is so beautiful. The Golding Wines cellar door backs onto carefully tended gardens with trees that change colour with the seasons. The vineyards line up behind a small lake.

Inside an old, but tastefully modernised, barn is the tasting room. The Golding Wines tasting room opens at 11am, seven days a week, and the emphasis is on structured wine flights. These wine flights focus on different styles and varieties. You can switch in another wine from the menu if it really appeals, however.

Golding Wines restaurant

The wine flights show off up to five different wines, and come with a tasting plate of bite-sized food from the on-site Ginkgo restaurant.

The Golding winery flights cost $15 each, and have themes such as “light and bright” or “layered and textual”. Unlike the neighbouring Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale wineries, the emphasis here isn’t on big, bold reds. The higher elevation makes the Lenswood area this winery is part of much better suited to cooler climate wines. Veer towards the whites, in other words.

More great places to drink in Australia

Gapsted Wines in Myrtleford, Victoria.

The Story Bridge Hotel in Brisbane.

Wise Winery in Eagle Bay, Western Australia.

The Mooloolaba Surf Club in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast.

Batch Brewery in Petersham, Sydney.