Crafting a Kangaroo Island food and wine experience
If you’re planning a holiday to Kangaroo Island and want to experience our region’s famous food and wine, here’s our guide to finding it at the source.
Kangaroo Island is famous around the world for its wildlife and natural landscapes. But it’s almost as well-known for the food and wine from this pristine environment. Make time in your Kangaroo Island holiday itinerary to get off the main trails and meet the local producers.
Our Tips for getting the most out of your experiences:
1. Make time for Island Wine:
Unlike other wine regions, Kangaroo Island’s cellar doors are widely spaced and offer a range of different wine styles. Choose just a few to visit each day to fit in with your touring plans.
Cygnet River is just a few minutes from Kangaroo Island Airport and the main township of Kingscote, with a compact cellar door trail that makes a fantastic afternoon’s tasting experience. Start at our cellar door, Springs Road Wines Cellar Door, where our team will take you through a personalised tasting, then take in the stunning views from our deck across our farm to Nepean Bay over a platter and a glass of wine.
Just a few minutes away, Kangaroo Island Spirits is an internationally awarded distillery that produces gin, vodka, and liqueurs. Stop in for a tasting paddle or a cocktail in their beautiful gardens. Another hop along Playford Highway takes you to our friends, The Islander Estate Vineyards, owned by Bordeaux winemaker Jacques Lurton and his partner Yale Norris. Their intimate cellar door offers tastings of their French-influenced wines, which provide an alternative style to our Springs Road Wines.
Kangaroo Island Brewery is your must-do craft beer stop if you’re a beer lover.
Further east, the Dudley Peninsula (arrival point for the Sealink Ferry) offers two cellar doors, Dudley Wines, known for its views and pizzas, and False Cape Wines Cellar Door, known for its hand-built cellar door amongst the vines, platters & pies. Combine your tastings on this end of the island with breakfast at a local café in Penneshaw like Millie Mae’s or Fat Beagle.
* New to Wine Tasting? Read our tips for getting the most from your wine experience. *
2. Food From The Source
Head to the source to meet the Island’s producers, hear their stories and experience their products.
Honey
On the Dudley Peninsula, two must-visit stops are Kangaroo Island Living Honey, where Sean & Anthea have made it their life’s passion for crafting pure organic honey as part of their healthy living ethos. Take a beekeeping experience to learn all about the Island’s unique Ligurian Bees.
You can also experience the Island’s honey at Cliffords Honey Farm, a family honey business for 50 years & home of Jenny’s legendary honey ice cream. Closer to Kingscote, Kangaroo Island Ligurian Bee Co is dedicated to protecting and promoting our region’s honey heritage. A unique experience is tasting their premium single-variety honey – you won’t believe how diverse the taste of honey can be.
Seafood
For oysters as fresh as they can be head to KI Oysters in American River, where you can buy oysters straight from the farm.In Kingscote, Kangaroo Island Fresh Seafood sources local fish directly from the fishermen and has a seafood café where it can be cooked to order.
Other Products
Agriculture is Kangaroo Island’s largest industry, with wool being a significant contributor. Kangaroo Island Wool’s excellent new facility in Cygnet River has made connecting with our local wool industry and its products a reality. Take their interpretive tour to experience what happens from Sheep to Shelf, then buy a local woolen product you’ll be wearing for a lifetime.
Emu Bay Lavender at Emu Bay is a great producer of lavender products grown & produced on-site, and they have a delicious café, too.
3. Dine in Style
Enjoying a meal at one of Kangaroo Island’s cafes & restaurants is another great way to experience our region’s food and wine, especially where a producer doesn’t have a farm gate open to the public.
A few of our favourite dining experiences which feature local produce on their menus include:
Dudley Peninsula:
Penneshaw Pub
Sunset Food & Wine (check their Facebook page or website for seasonal openings)
The Kiosk at Seafront Hotel
American River:
The Glossy Black Restaurant
Reflections Restaurant at Mercure Kangaroo Island
Samphire Kangaroo Island
Kingscote & Surrounds:
Cactus Café
Zone Restaurant at Aurora Ozone Hotel
Other Areas:
Beach Days KI, Emu Bay (Oct to May)
Enchanted Figtree Restaurant, Snellings Beach (Nov to April)
A memorable Kangaroo Island wine and food tour involves a blend of wines, matching food experiences and taking time to get to know the Islanders behind the product.