Here we come, people. Tomorrow we leave the little home we created in Australia to return to our true home in the Pacific Northwest. We’ve had an amazing time here and of course it has gone by in a flash. Mick and I have a lot of ideas cooking for our near future, and we are so excited to move them into action. For now we have our sights set on Portland and the Willamette Valley. Hopefully we’ll be able to create a little niche for ourselves there and settle down for a while. After bumming around for the past two years we can’t wait to stay in one spot for more than 3 months!

Cheers, Australia! Thanks for everything!

Just a short drive from us in the dry flats of McLaren Vale are the Adelaide Hills. With many of the vineyard sites situated at an average elevation of around thirteen hundred feet, which makes for a much greener view!

We ended up on the Magpie Springs farm.

It did not take long for Paige to make a friend.

The Magpie Springs tasting room.

This was a really beautiful winery with wild sprawling vineyards that were very inspiring to Paige and I.

Nestled in the heart of Willunga, Russell’s is a fun little spot that turns out some great wood fired pizza.

As harvest is slowing down we have some time to relax and seek out little treasures like this one.

Harvest is in full swing, and we are loving every minute of it.

Each one of these Hog’s Head barrels holds three hundred litres.

This past weekend we took a drive through the Adelaide Hills, just north of us. We followed winding roads through beautiful countryside, and made of number of wrong turns while attempting to do a little tasting.

We finally made it to our destination, Ngeringa, a beautiful winery that practices biodynamics. We received three glasses of wine that were each paired with little bites from a platter of pate, cheese and jam. All the ingredients were raised or grown on the estate. The wines were all great but it was the Assemblage that really stood out to us, a blend of chardonnay and viognier.