Australia -

here's an obelisk at the summit of Mount Lofty, the centrepiece of the long, lazy mountain ranges east of Adelaide. It was placed there to mark the first sighting by a white man, the explorer Matthew Flinders, of these noble peaks – better known today as the Adelaide Hills.

While most Australians know the Barossa, McLaren Vale and Clare regions, they are less familiar with the Hills region, although the mention of some of the area's wineries – Nepenthe, Shaw and Smith, Petaluma, Longview – aids geographic focus. But the area covers 320 kilometres north to south and rewards leisurely investigation, for in the past few years it has become a hive of oenological, horticultural, agricultural and gastronomic activity.

A new minimalist winery, as elegant as any other in the country; a small cottage garden adjacent to orchards of Australian native plants and herbs; an historic mill whose mighty wooden wheel still turns, continues to charm visitors as it did in the late 1800s when it was one of Adelaide's preferred picnic spots; a former jam factory and Italianate mansion, now producing the most sensuous figs this side of Smyrna; a cheese shop run by a jazz pianist whose brancoleite cheese has taste buds atingle far beyond the confines of South Australia; a slew of superior B&Bs, some with blue-ribbon, cold climate gardens; a producer whose Angus beef gives Wagyu a run for its money; a bloke who made his money from an alcoholic soft drink and who invested it in magnificent vineyards producing renowned wines – these are but some of the pleasures awaiting a visitor to the Hills. But this is no easy, knock-it-over-in-a-day destination. You need time to appreciate the landscape and the marvels that spring from it.

Adelaide is a city ringed by hills. As one drives out of town, they seem to leap upwards from the plain. The change is sudden but once in the hills, the landscape is gentle and undulating with expansive vistas of vineyards, few more beautiful than that from the tasting room of Shaw and Smith's smashing new winery near the township of Balhannah. It is difficult to curb one's enthusiasm for this place and its products. The winery, built in 2002, is simple and beautifully proportioned. It sits in a gentle landscape planted with riesling, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc grapes, overlooking a romantic lake, a perfect marriage of architecture and environment. Its co-founders, Martin Shaw and his cousin, Michael Hill Smith, have eschewed the standard freebie cellar-door tasting. Instead, they offer visitors a seat in their beautiful, light-filled tasting room, a platter of local cheese and a 'flight of wines' (including the signature
sauvignon blanc) for tasting. It costs AUD 10 and is great value.

This approach to tasting wine with food prevails at two other notable wineries, Bridgewater Mill and Hahndorf Hill. As the charming, 19th-century snapshot taken of picnickers alongside the historic water wheel suggests, Bridgewater Mill has long been a favourite destination for Adelaidians, even more popular now since Brian Croser claimed this heritage complex as headquarters for his famed Petaluma wines. The 1860 building, discreetly expanded, now houses a fine tasting room and a knockout restaurant where chef Le Tu Thai continues the tradition pioneered by the great Cheong Liew of exploring the possibilities of east-west fusion cuisine. Just as Melburnians head to Mount Macedon or the Dandenongs, and Sydneysiders travel to the Blue Mountains to escape summer heat in the city, so the good citizens of Adelaide travel to the Hills. One can imagine few more pleasant experiences than a lunch on the terrace at Bridgewater, with water running in the brook below.

Close by is Hahndorf, a town whose inhabitants cherish their German heritage, celebrated not only in the name but also in a dizzying array of German cake shops, pubs and smallgoods. The past is respected here, buildings so well preserved that it's easy to picture the town as it was when settled in the 19th century.

Israeli-born Matti Malchi of Matisse Bakery came to Hahndorf in 2001 via San Francisco where he studied bread-making. His loaves, some of which are 100 per cent organic, are stone hearth oven-baked, made traditionally with no preservatives, chemicals, food additives, added sugars or added fats. Matti's repertoire includes walnut and poppy seed, potato herb, kalamata, grain, french white, rustic french baguette, fig and fennel, dark country bread, ciabatta and ficelle. His poppy seed, fennel and sesame-crusted flutes are sensational.

And if you like fine cheese, head to Udder Delights, where former jazz pianist Sheree Sullivan produces award-winning goat's cheeses, from fromage blanc to camembert. Standouts are her natural and marinated brancoleite. In addition to food, visitors can see and buy a range of local crafts. The place bristles with galleries, nurseries and craft shops. Of particular interest is The Cedars, the home, studio and garden of Australian artist Sir Hans Heysen, now open to the public.

Also on the outskirts of town is Hahndorf Hill, a new winery. Owners Larry Jacobs and Marc Dobson offer a 'Taste of the Hills' gourmet platter of local delicacies with a sampling of their more unusual wines. The pair once ran one of the most successful wineries in Cape Town – but found the Adelaide Hills more alluring.

It's not only grapes that do splendidly here. At Turabeela Native Bushfoods in Verdun, Eva and Warren Jones grow, harvest, mill and market lemon myrtle and mountain pepper leaf. While native herbs have long histories, they're again popular, both seen as part of the Aussie food movement.

Herbs of a different kind are cultivated at the Jurlique Ngeringa Herb Farm just outside Mount Barker. This celebrated brand of natural cosmetics uses a range of herbal and floral essences – including violets, rosemary, lavender and more – and this is the place that they come from.

One of the most interesting cultivation enterprises is that of Willa Wauchope of Willabrand Figs, an Englishman who married an Aussie artist and settled at Glen Ewin Estate, near Houghton. This was one of South Australia's first vineyards, planted by early Hills pioneer George McEwin around 1845. The vineyards prospered, but in 1891 McEwin became a teetotaller, closed down the winery and converted it into a jam factory. Glen Ewin jams, produced by 100 on-site employees, became more famous than Glen Ewin Wines.

McEwin both bought in and cultivated fruit trees for his jams, and it is to this latter process that the current owner owes the superb terraces planted with mature fig trees. "I think I know just about everything about figs," says Wauchope, as he rattles off the names of the varieties that comprise his collection of 10,000 trees – Brown Turkey, Archipal, Deanna, Spanish Dessert and Black Genoa – and describes the way he prunes them. Harvested, they are sold fresh, dipped in chocolate or, keeping with the spirit of the place, converted into thick, luscious fig jam.

The Adelaide Hills abound in success stories like Wauchope's, but none more curious than that of Duncan McGillivray, the Aussie publican who achieved fame and fortune when he created an alcoholic lemonade called Two Dogs. With the loot from the sale of the brand, McGillivray bought land near Macclesfield and established Longview Vineyard. He's struck gold again. McGillivray now sits on the top of the heap, installed in a fine Glenn Murcutt-inspired house on the biggest hill on his property, and makes wines that have garnered a raft of golds, silvers and bronzes at Australian shows, and a gold at a 2004 international show in the US for an outstanding viognier.

Out in the Coorong, Richard Gunner of Coorong Angus Beef lives and breathes beef. He tends to his purebred black Angus cattle as carefully as he does the superb meat they produce. On Fridays and Saturdays, you can meet Gunner at Feast!, his stall in Adelaide's Central Market, where he explains each cut's benefits.

As for places to eat and stay, the Hills are full of attractive establishments. Some local mansions, such as historic Mount Lofty House, built in 1856, offer excellent dining and five-star accommodation. Other homes have made an easy transition from private residence to intimate B&B. One of these is Hilltop Garden B&B whose owners, Jane and Andrew Clarke, make one feel like an invited guest, rather than a paying one.

Balm for body and soul – that's what the Hills area offers. Take your time while exploring and have a self-indulgent trip.