A key piece of the Barossa Valley puzzle

Eden Valley and specifically, Brockenchack Wines, is an integral piece of the puzzle that makes up the highlands of the Barossa Valley.

The lesser well-known area of the wider Barossa Valley is not as popular as its world-famous cousin, however, Eden Valley has much to offer locals who are wanting to explore different areas hidden from the tourists. 

We discovered Brockenchack Wines on Instagram, when they had recently opened their new luxury accommodation. The photos made the place look like a Garden of Eden and the place doesn’t disappoint on arrival. 

We were made to feel very welcome, including our fur children. It’s not very often that a place of such high quality and luxury is also dog friendly, but this was dog welcoming! 

The studio itself is perfect for pets. With modern furnishings and a view to enjoy, there really wasn’t much need for us to leave the accommodation, however, the property beyond the accommodation was ours to explore. Trevor, Brockenchack’s owner, took us on our very own private tour of the property before hosting us for what felt like the longest, yet most enjoyable wine tasting to date. We’re fairly sure that at least three bottles of wine were consumed with just the two of us tasting, well three if you include Trevor! Whilst we sipped wine and conversed, the dogs roamed the cellar door and made themselves at home on the lounge. 

Safe to say, by the time we got back to our room it was an early night. We spent the next day exploring the property. The views are just stunning. The rolling Eden Valley hills are not quite the rolling hills of Tuscany, but they’re pretty damn close. The fresh clean air and lush grass made for very pleasant walks. Not to mention there were spacious yet enclosed paddocks for us to roam and the dogs to zoom in. They had a ball! We also had a blast on the property’s very own zip line. Not to be attempted after having consumed wine! 

We enjoyed our stay so much that we didn’t actually venture out of Eden Valley. On our way into the region we stopped past Levrier Wines by Jo Irvine for a private tasting. Named after the French word for Greyhound, Levrier produces luxury wines and support the Greyhound Adoption Program of SA. They even have some greyhounds on site AND many of their labels feature artwork of Greyhounds. But the best part? They offer a safe dog friendly enclosed area just outside the tasting room, where your dogs can roam free whilst you enjoy a tasting. Once they’re done, of course they are welcome to join you in the tasting room. They’ll even offer the dogs a bed!

During our stay, we also visited Henschke Wines as it is one of the oldest and therefore most famous cellar doors in the region. They do have an outdoor area where the dogs can stay, however, because ours were too adorable, they let them come inside and sit on our lap whilst we did a tasting. But I wouldn’t expect this treatment every time.

Aside from the Eden Valley pub for dinner, we were very content just staying without our accommodation, which in itself speaks volumes. 

We will certainly be going back but maybe next time take some friends and stay in the larger retreat house! But if no one wants to join us then we would happily stay in the studio room again, after all there was a bonus jacuzzi! 

Views, wine, dog friendly, local, family owned and operated = our perfect weekend getaway!