The Louise

The barossa just continues to deliver. Big beautiful suites with large beds and bathrooms backing onto an incredible view. The staff were quick and knowledgeable on the area, food and wine. The dinner was superb and extremely tasty. A ruby of the barossa. Well done!

Review the louise Nice enough facilities but run by back packers mainly Awkward , difficult moments occur often, where staff are overwhelmed Our room was north facing so 6am sun streaming into bedroom around blinds (see pic taken at 6).facilities otherwise good. Clean. Tiny tv not in main room where bed is, but in side room. Gym laughable. Treadmills(2) so old and weak, when you stood on the moving mat, the Mat would stop because either the friction was too great or the motor was too weak. Both were the same. There was a stationary bike that was literally a low use domestic type of bike. I’m 6 foot three and looked like a monkey peddling it because it was so small. The fact that no Manager had ever checked them out or tried them themselves means the standard is just not Up2scratch I asked for a toothbrush because I forgot mine. I knew the answer before they told me. No The deal at the Louise is that it’s all inclusive. But if you have a cocktail like a Negroni, it’s $25. You can have a cheap house wine or a beer. I am unaware about something like a gin and tonic. Probably extra. At the prices you’re paying at this place. They should be giving you everything because the type of customer comes here doesn’t even drink much. No nuts or chips to snack on in room. Think these have to be ordered from the main desk At the degustation dinner, you have to continually ask for some more wine because the glasses were small and they were not eager to refill them. They also served a white one that was un drinkable by everyone, but we were told it was a Style and we didn’t appreciate it because it was six years old. In my 40 years of drinking wine, I never tasted anything like that. . It looks like a urine sample from a dehydrated person. I asked for some extra bread and I was told there was still one slice in the basket and before she asked the kitchen to make some more bread(apparently they baked it) would I take the last piece instead? My point for asking was that I didn’t want to take the last piece so there was still bread on the table All inclusive should be generously offered I always felt like I was asking for a little more Sadly Won’t be back

This is a lovely property. All the public areas are spacious and beautifully decorated. There is a great outside terrace with views over valley and is good for roo spotting! We saw several. The rooms (we were in a Stonewell Suite) are very spacious and spotlessly clean. The bed itself is big and comfy and we slept well, although woke early as the sun comes into the room through the window right next to the bed. I suspect the rooms on the other side of the hotel are better as they get sunset rather than sunrise views. The breakfasts were great and the drinks and food arrived promptly. We struggled a bit more with the evening meal. There is a 4-5 course degustation menu with wine pairings, for which you are asked to allow 2 hours. If you dont want this, there is a very limited/basic alternative menu. However, when we asked to have a mixture of things off both menus (as there were things we didnt like on the degustation menu) this proved to be difficult and one night we didn’t get a proper meal. We opted out on our 3rd night and went into Tanunda for a meal instead. I want to be clear this is no fault of the hotel and they tried hard to accommodate our needs, I just think that unless you are a big foodie then you might find several consecutive nights of fine dining a bit much. The staff in general were friendly and helpful, and very knowledgable about the local area and wines. One hint - it helps to have an idea about what you want to do before you arrive. There was some mix-up with our travel agent so the hotel didn’t have contact details for us in advance, this meant we didn’t get the email they usually send out offering you experience options. When we arrived in the late afternoon it was already too late for the concierge to book experiences for the next day, so she had to wait until after 10am the next day when the vineyards open. Thankfully she was able to secure us a wine tasting that same afternoon at Hentley Farm. We didn’t mind where we went for the tasting but if you want somewhere particular then you definitely need to get organised and pre-book. The hotel has complimentary e-bikes to use. These need to be pre-booked and we found these a great way of getting around the local area whilst also being able to sample the wines! Otherwise you will have the expense of a private driver as the local taxi service can be a bit variable. Overall a lovely stay and I have no hesitation in recommending this hotel.

We arrived very early for check in so we left our suitcases and went off wine tasting. They called us at about 1.20 to tell us our room was ready. The rooms are modern and tastefully decorated, there is a separate dining area which can be closed off to the bedroom/lounge area. The lounge area has a flat screen TV with two armchairs, cd's to play and DVD's are available at reception (FOC). There is a completely separate bathroom area which consists of; a spa bath (with bath crystals and candles), shower and outside shower (great to shower outside, yet incredibly private), a separate toilet area (with sliding door) and two hand basins with plenty of room to spread out 'his and hers' toiletries. There is a magnifying mirror available and a cute chair to sit on to apply your make up. All of the normal soaps/shampoos etc are made available and are very neatly presented. There is also a separate area to store your suitcases (like a mini walk in wardrobe), also in there are the iron and ironing board and a medical kit (which is payable if used) kept in the cupboard in this area, along with robes. There are two private outdoor areas (front and back) which you can sit and sip some wonderful wines from the Barossa or simply read your book. Each night they come in and turn down your bed (if you wish!), and place some very tasty panacotta next to your bed. They ask you to fill out your breakfast form by 6.00pm and return to reception and then each morning the breakfast is delivered to your door. There is an intercom system to let the hotel waitress into your front garden area, either they will set breakfast up in your suite or you can take it from them and do it yourself - but heck why not have someone wait on you, they do it so well. A perfect retreat for couples - they also have a fantastic restaurant called Appellation but I will post a separate review on this.

An easy hour-ish drive from Adelaide, right in the middle of Barossa Valley, a short drive from the various wineries in the region and just around the corner from Torbreck. For this trip the main destination was to see Southern Ocean Lodge (Kangaroo Island) but with the flight times not connecting very well, this ended being my "transit" hotel.   The hotel is a short drive to most vineyards and just down the road from Torbreck.  The room was cozy with the front courtyard space bathed in sunlight competing with the backyard looking out to the vineyards.  Great minibar-- well stocked with all kinds of wine and snacks, comfy bed, spacious bathroom, good selection of reading material (lots of lovely travel related coffee table books) the best part for me was probably the Appellation restaurant, wonderful ten course menu with wine matching, a three hour affair....    Oh boy.. Thankfully the room was just stumbling distance.  Only issues - wifi in restaurant almost non existent.  99.9pc of guests won't care, but so used to being connected to wifi all the time.   

We stayed for two nights (ate in Appelation on one of those nights). The hotel rooms (all suites) were modern, clean and very comfortable with the large bathrooms being a real treat. Really liked the breakfast concept of a continental selection (limited hot selection) being delivered to your room and having the ability to make one's own Nespresso coffee. We ate this outside on both mornings reading the papers that were also delivered. The experience at Appelation was good but I would say not great. Being multiple courses we thought that there was not really a chance to sit and enjoy the high quality food. The continual changing of cutlery, sometimes long gaps between courses being served and being asked (two times per course!!) whether everything was OK just seemed to distract from the enjoyment. Also it was very expensive - that in itself is not an issue but I believe that one should leave any restaurant feeling that there had been an equitable transaction between price payed and enjoyment - here I thought that it was more to the side of cost. Would absolutely stay at the hotel again - would choose elsewhere to dine.