Bus And Barrel — Attraction in Adelaide

Bus And Barrel from the outset seemed like the right choice for our inaugural Barossa Valley vino adventure. Their website landing page and booking features are well laid out and easy to follow, whether you want to book a private tour for two, or up to eight people.

After booking, a lady by the name of Mary reached out to me via email asking about the note I left regarding proposing to my significant other, as well as any preferred locations to visit on our four-stop itinerary.

We reached an accord and Bus and Barrel took over the reigns from there, organising the finer details and contacting wineries on our behalf.

The day before our tour we were contacted via SMS by our driver Rob, who shared my excitement in what was to come the following day.

My experience with Bus and Barrel to this point has already been exemplary, especially considering my experience with wine and the places they're born is near zero.

The day arrives, Rob calls and confirms that he is directly outside our hotel ready to go, exactly 10 minutes before our booked in departure time. The vehicle was a sleek black Mercedes van fitted to sit six people. We were comfortable and there was no chance we were going to be late.

We visited Torbreck, Tsharke and God's Hill, all keen to share their wines and backstory for every drop. If I added my appreciation for these locations in this review I'd have to omit this version and convert it to a 120 page novella.

At God's Hill we were greeted by the manager of the cellar door and ushered to a private area where my fiance (spoiler) and I could enjoy our engagement.

Why did we only make it to three out of four locations you ask? We simply enjoyed our time at God's Hill too much and didn't want to leave. What Bus and Barrel (in collaboration with God's Hill) organised is a day that we will never forget. Rob called ahead to our pre-planned fourth stop, and advised that we won't be there.

Of everything regarding the tour itself, our experience was well and truly made by our driver Rob. The shortest way I can explain our experience with our wine tour driver, is how welcome and comfortable he made us feel. He was firm with the van's house rules and was more than happy to oblige any requests I had regarding my proposal on the day. It was very much like being chauffeured by a proud father, who was ready to engage in conversation at any time, but also respected our space and quiet moments.

The perfect host for our special day - a day that we'll remember forever.

I'm only sad I can't give the service more stars. Here's to Rob, Mary and Bus...

Picked up right on the dot by Giovanna, lovely host for us girls for the day of the tour. Beautiful scenery on the drive to the wineries. As the tour team picks the 4 wine places for you, it had the variety you would need when on your first wine tour in Adelaide ie. Smaller & personal, larger scale & commercial, winery with minimal food, cafe and winery in one that serves lunch with a flight board etc

The only inevitable downside with a tour is that you can't pick and choose the times of your visit to each winery and for our group we realised we actually enjoyed the first winery best! But now that we know, we can always go back ourselves so it was great to find out about the winery in the first place :) the price may seem a bit more than what you would pay driving in independently with your friends but you're essentially including the cost of convenience in this as the tour team plans, books, drives, and keeps the group on time which we needed !

Trivial treat day out with the girls, and Giovanna kindly dropped us all off at our desired drop off area on time,...

We did two tours with Bus and Barrel and both days we had Graham. Graham was fabulous and really looked after us. For our Barossa Valley tour I let the team pick the wineries - the selection was great. We were disappointed with lunch however. Cheese platters are not lunch! If you are after a more substantial lunch, make sure you clear it up with the team beforehand. We were a group of 6 and the vehicle provided to us a 7 seater Toyota - was not a good choice. We were extremely cramped the entire trip and it was frustrating having to constantly jump over seats to climb into the back. If you have a larger group I would definitely recommend asking the team for a suitable vehicle!

Our Adelaide Hills Tour was much better. We chose the tailor made option and the team made the bookings on our behalf. We even threw in a brewery for our lunch stop which was a nice respite from...