Currency Creek, South Australia

The laidback Currency Creek region offers an amazing and diverse getaway. Within an hour’s drive southeast of Adelaide lies this tapestry of spoil including wineries, bush trails and stunning beaches as part of the Fleurieu Peninsula. With about 560 hectares of grapevines, there are plenty of varietals to taste in Currency Creek. Wineries are scattered around the region but readily accessible by car. In addition to Currency Creek’s incredible wines, don’t miss the opportunity to taste local produce – think fresh fruit and vegetables, game meats, cheeses and more. Lions Park is a great place to stop to enjoy your local produce beside the Currency Creek, amongst the tall gums and beautiful country terrain. If you’d like to take a break from exploring the wineries after lunch, follow the path upstream to the waterfall.

Located south of Adelaide in South Australia, Currency Creek has a more mild temperature than many of Australia’s wine regions to the north. The climate is Mediterranean, but the surrounding waters of Lake Alexandrina and the Southern Ocean help to calm temperature extremes. The winters are fairly cold, with an average daily temperature of below 17 degrees celsius, and it is windy but mostly clear year-round. The summers are warm and dry, with the warmest time of year generally early- to mid-February, when temperatures are regularly around 27 degrees celsius. Depending on how you like to experience your wine tasting, you can actually visit Currency Creek all year round. Visit during winter to rug up and enjoy the delicious red wines on offer. In summer you can enjoy a day in the sun with a sauvignon blanc from one of the region’s small winemakers.

While Currency Creek is a small region, there are plenty of accommodation options to choose from. From country clubs to winery villas and seafront hotels, there are a range of comfortable choices for travelers who want a place to wind down after the excitement of a day of wine tasting. If you’re visiting with friends and would prefer a place where you can cook a meal and enjoy your wine purchases from the day, there are plenty of apartments available for short stays. Bed and breakfasts are also a nice way to experience the local area, and motels are available for those who’d like to stay a little longer or save their spending money for the cellar doors. Since the area is quite compact, you can explore the local wineries from wherever your accommodation is situated. text in field]

The region was first explored by Captain Charles Sturt, who travelled down the Murray River in 1829–30, and whose last campsite was near the present town of Goolwa, which was the first (or last, depending which way you were travelling) port on the Murray River. In 1837 Hindmarsh Island and the town of Currency Creek were officially named, and an elaborate town plan for Currency Creek was laid out in 1840. Agriculture, river transport and recreation developed over the next 50 years, but it was not until 1969 that the first vines were planted, by Wally and Rosemary Tonkin: one acre each of Riesling, Grenache, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Despite local cynicism, the vines flourished and the first vintage followed in 1972, for what was then called Santa Rosa Winery (now Currency Creek Estate). In that same year the first vines (2.6 hectares) were planted at what is now Middleton Winery, and were likewise successful. Hindmarsh Island, the subject of a celebrated and long-running battle over Aboriginal ‘secret women’s business’ and the government’s desire to build a bridge linking the island to the mainland, is part of the region, and home to one of its best wineries, Angus Wines. The mouth of the Murray River has been rightly given much publicity in the current century, for it is often blocked and has a water level lower than the sea. Lake Alexandrina has shrunk dramatically and has become too saline for viticulture. This relatively little known region is thus facing all of the challenges of the much larger regions along the Murray River, and of its bigger and better known neighbour Langhorne Creek.