The name sounds Italian and the Scarpantoni Cellar Door also looks very Italian with a lot of glamour, tiled floors and a kitschy fountain in the garden. In the fifty’s the family Scarpantoni came from Abruzzi to McLaren Vale in Australia. There they began growing grapes, and in 1979 the winery was founded officially Scarpantoni.

The family business produces white and fortified wines, but excels in red wines, like the sultry Brothers Block Cabernet Sauvignon and the spicy, chocolate-like Block 3 Shiraz. Especially popular is the fine, smooth blend of Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon- Merlot: the School Block, named after the vineyard on the spot where the first primary school of McLaren Flat was.

This hamlet is not that small anymore. When you sit on the terrace made of oak casks: the winery is now surrounded by new constructed houses.

Cellar Door open: Mon-Fri 9-5 pm, weekends 11 to 5 pm

This article was created in July 2010 by journalist Remke de Lange. For more wine articles: www.remkedelange.nl. This article is copyrighted