Located a half-hour drive south east of McLaren Vale and 69 kilometres south-east of Adelaide, Langhorne Creek was named after Alfred Langhorne, who drove cattle overland from Sydney in 1841, and used land in the district.
Settlers in the 1850’s were drawn to this broad flood plain covered in river red gum trees. It's possible to flood the vines with river water and this, combined with the cooling breezes from the Great Southern Ocean and Lake Alexandrina, helps make Langhorne Creek an ideal environment for fine cool-climate wines. This was one of the first wine growing districts in Australia, now it's one of the fastest growing. Vineyards sprawl in all directions on the river's floodplains. As the area is low lying, the roads are sometimes under water when the Bremer River is in winter flood. An interesting feature of the district's many vineyards is their utilisation of this natural flooding as a means of vineyard irrigation.
Robust red wines are a feature at several winery cellar doors. Langhorne Creek also hosts an annual jazz festival.
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