High on the northern ridge, Lenswood's orchards and vineyards produce some of the most prized fruit and wine in South Australia.
There is a particular crispness to the air at Lenswood, a sharpness you can almost taste.
Sitting high on the northern ridge of the Adelaide Hills, Lenswood is the region's fruit bowl. The elevation that makes winters bite also gives the apples their crunch and the cherries their snap, and in autumn the orchards turn to gold across the slopes.
Fruit and the vine
The same cool air that suits the orchards suits the vine. Lenswood's vineyards, planted on these high, exposed slopes, produce some of the most highly regarded cool-climate wine in the country - taut chardonnay, perfumed pinot noir, sauvignon blanc with real nerve. The names on the cellar-door signs turn up on serious wine lists far beyond South Australia.
A working landscape
This is no theme park. Lenswood is a working agricultural district, its roads lined with coolstores, packing sheds and roadside stalls where, in season, you can buy apples and cherries straight from the grower. Drive it slowly, taste as you go, and you'll understand why locals guard this high, green corner so closely.
