Party Activities Barossa Valley

Group outings in wine country lean hands-on. Expect tutored tastings in heritage rooms, blending sessions where guests mix their own wine, cheese and chocolate workshops, and clay on Seppeltsfield Road.

Most of it runs in daylight from a cellar door or a studio, so the day tends to shape itself around a long lunch with one stop before it and another after.

What separates one experience from the next:

• Format: a stand-up flight at the tasting bench is quick and cheap, while a seated, hosted session or a winemaker-led one takes longer and gives the group a room of its own.
• Group size: plenty of cellar doors cap private tastings somewhere between 8 and 20 guests, so a larger party may need two sessions or two wineries.
• Price: hosted tastings start around $15 per person to $35 per person, private tours with a vineyard walk sit nearer $75 per person to $110 per person, and the most exclusive underground session reaches $220 per person.
• Making something: cheese making (from $180 per person), chocolate (from $55 per person) and pottery (from $80 per person) give the group an activity rather than another glass.
• Location: Marananga and Seppeltsfield cluster small cellar doors on the western side, Nuriootpa and Tanunda hold the classes, and Angaston and Vine Vale sit on the eastern rise.

Book the transport at the same time as the activities, as a tour operator or a hired driver keeps two or three stops on schedule. For somewhere to eat afterwards, look at venues, or hand the whole day to a wine tour.