Stone is one of Australia\u2019s most celebrated chefs, now turned Adelaide Hills winemaker with the launch of his Wines by Matt Stone range. <\/p>\n
Australian chef-turned-winemaker Matt Stone, who has launched his collection of Adelaide Hills wines, Wines by Matt Stone. Photo \/ Kenny Smith Shoots<\/p>\n
He began his career in Margaret River in his native Western Australia, with a chef\u2019s apprenticeship at acclaimed winery Leeuwin Estate. He went on to work in some of Perth\u2019s top restaurants, then Victoria\u2019s Melbourne and Yarra Valley, before making a move to New South Wales\u2019 Northern Rivers. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was [in the Yarra Valley] for five years at Oak Ridge Wines, so I lived in Fitzroy [in central Melbourne] and I did the journey out to the valley and back each day, which is where I started to make wines,\u201d Stone says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just made a collaborative wine to start off with, then in 2018 I made my first solo wine, which won Best Wine from the Drink Easy Awards, which was really cool.\u201d <\/p>\n
Stone planned to come to Adelaide in 2024 for his first vintage but family matters meant he needed to spend time back in Perth. He spent the next year readying his businesses for the possibility he would no longer be there on a day-to-day basis, and finally headed for the Hills in January 2025. He and Sapwell-Stone, who is a celebrated chef in her own right, made the move more permanent later that year, with Stone trading restaurants for winemaking. <\/p>\n
\u201cAdelaide\u2019s awesome,\u201d Stone says. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe restaurants are amazing; the farmers\u2019 market on Sunday morning, sensational. I do most of my food shopping there each week. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe shift from being a cook to being a winemaker \u2013 on a Sunday morning I can go stroll around the market, instead of rushing to set up for lunch service on a Sunday. That shift is really nice. <\/p>\n
\u201cI felt a bit [of] impostor syndrome at the start, I felt odd, I felt like I wasn\u2019t doing enough in the transition just to being like \u2018I can have the morning to cruise around the market and just potter away in the kitchen and cook\u2019. It\u2019s really nice to be able to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n
Chef Alanna Sapwell-Stone who opened her acclaimed Adelaide restaurant, Esmay, in November.<\/p>\n
Sapwell-Stone, meanwhile, is finding success through her acclaimed restaurant, Esmay. <\/p>\n
After closing her Brisbane restaurant, Arc Dining, in 2020 she started Esmay as a pop-up, taking it around the country, refining the concept as she went. Operating in diverse venues, from Perth\u2019s Ritz-Carlton to heritage pubs in Brisbane, she never quite made it to South Australia. <\/p>\n
When she came to Adelaide with Stone for that first vintage, she instantly fell in love. The city, she told Broadsheet in August last year, \u201cfelt like home to us instantly\u201d. <\/p>\n
She told Stone that if he wanted to make the move permanently, she would need to find a way to start \u201cthe exact restaurant that I want to have\u201d. That restaurant was Esmay, which is now a 40-seat venue in an 1880s heritage building, which opened in November. <\/p>\n
A dish from Esmay, Alanna Sapwell-Stone’s Adelaide restaurant.<\/p>\n
She aims to build a community of local growers and producers, championing hyper-seasonal produce on her menu. She\u2019s also focused on creating a sustainable business model \u2013 not only for herself, but also her staff. <\/p>\n
Esmay is only open Thursdays to Saturdays for dinner, and Fridays to Sundays for lunch. A work-life balance is essential for the couple. Why make the move to the Adelaide Hills and then never get to enjoy it? <\/p>\n
\u201cAdelaide itself as a city\u2019s phenomenal,\u201d Stone says. \u201cWe\u2019re not even 30 minutes from the centre of town, and we\u2019re in the hills, so geographically it\u2019s great. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe live in the middle, in Magill, in the foothills, so I can be in town in 15-20 minutes, or I can be up here in 15-20 minutes. <\/p>\n
\u201cBehind us is the Morialta Falls, so we hike and we have a view to the ocean from there, which is really lovely.\u201d <\/p>\n
Brendon and Kirstyn Keys, formerly from New Zealand, who own Adelaide Hills winery BK Wines. Photo \/ J. Withers<\/p>\n
Their friends across the valley, Brendon and Kirstyn Keys, gave up life in New Zealand for Adelaide. <\/p>\n
Originally from Whakat\u0101ne and Rotorua, respectively, the couple left New Zealand in 1999 to work a ski season in the French Alps and looked after the house of a family who owned the UK\u2019s Majestic Wines. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter we\u2019d finished the ski season, they asked us what we were going to do, so we went back to London and I worked for them until we moved back to New Zealand in 2001,\u201d Brendon says. <\/p>\n
Back home, Brendon studied winemaking in Gisborne while Kirstyn went back to her work as a registered nurse. <\/p>\n
When he qualified, they first moved to South Australia\u2019s McLaren Vale, before ending up in the Adelaide Hills and establishing their winery, BK Wines, in 2007, with their tasting room opening last August. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I finished studying, it was a really complicated time, and it felt like there was a lot more opportunity in Australia,\u201d Brendon says. \u201cAnd then, Adelaide Hills being the youngest region in Australia, it\u2019s so open to creativity and creating new styles. It\u2019s not set in its ways.\u201d <\/p>\n
I can understand the attraction. The Adelaide Hills is beautiful. Ribbon gum trees soaring to the skies, grazing cattle, rolling hills. There are about 100 independent wine producers and more than 50 public cellar doors. If you don\u2019t have a sober driver, it\u2019s an easy Uber from the city. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s just one of 18 wine regions in South Australia, which itself is a Great Wine Capital of the World. <\/p>\n
Barossa is probably its most globally renowned region, and that, too, is just an hour\u2019s drive from the city. It\u2019s well worth a night or two as part of your South Australian holiday. <\/p>\n
Australian culinary legend Maggie Beer, who says she’ll never move away from South Australia’s Barossa Valley. Photo \/ South Australia Tourism Commission<\/p>\n
Arguably, the Barossa\u2019s most famous resident is Australia\u2019s culinary queen, Maggie Beer. Now 81, the cookbook author, cook, restaurateur and TV host has been here since the early 1970s, moving with husband Colin and starting their family, who still live nearby. <\/p>\n
What does she love so much about the Barossa? <\/p>\n
\u201cI spent five years living in Europe and when Colin and I married \u2013 he comes from here, his forebears came here in 1848 \u2013 I came into a place where, for some reason, I immediately felt I belonged,\u201d Beer says. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m talking to her at her famed Farm Shop, where eager students take cooking classes, visitors pop in to buy her famous chutneys, sauces and cheeses, or sit in the tasting room with wines and platters while looking out across the lake. <\/p>\n
Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. Photo \/ South Australia Tourism Commission<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very Mediterranean-based in everything I cook, and this is the perfect Mediterranean climate \u2013 all through South Australia but particularly here [in the Barossa]. We can grow everything that I want to cook with. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe community has got such a base of food and wine and music and culture, and it\u2019s beautiful. I never want to live anywhere else, ever.\u201d <\/p>\n
After my three days in South Australia, I can certainly understand why. <\/p>\n
Where to stay <\/p>\n
Adelaide Marriott Hotel<\/p>\n
This $200 million hotel opened in August 2024 and, built around the 150-year-old heritage post office building on King William St, is an effortless combination of old and new. With 285 rooms, a restaurant, coffee bar, meeting rooms, swimming pool and gym, it has everything you need for either business or pleasure. My spacious suite on the corner of the 10th floor felt luxurious and comfortable, with the most beautiful afternoon light. Marriott.theadelaidehotels.com<\/a> <\/p>\n Kingsford The Barossa <\/p>\n Fans of Aussie TV dramas will recognise this homestead as the home to McLeod\u2019s Daughters – the eight-season favourite that starred Kiwis Lisa Chappell and Aaron Jeffery. Now it\u2019s a luxurious hotel, retaining its heritage (the homestead was built in 1856), but with a modern, multimillion-dollar expansion added during Covid. As well as excellent dining and views across the valley at in-house restaurant Orleana, there are two bars, an outdoor swimming pool, fire pits, a wine vault, and private dining room with a dining table that seats 70. There\u2019s also, somewhat incongruously, a two-lane bowling alley in the basement. Worldsapart.club\/independents\/kingsfordbarossa<\/a> <\/p>\n Getting there <\/p>\n Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways fly direct from Auckland to Adelaide. <\/p>\n Stephanie Holmes travelled courtesy of Tourism Australia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stone is one of Australia\u2019s most celebrated chefs, now turned Adelaide Hills winemaker with the launch of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1443,14846,74,8831,85,138,75115,31989,70487,807,2845,424,1362,14909,2683,111,139,69,16156,2846,1960,61,274,1315,4524,1965,80],"class_list":["post-473068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-about","tag-adelaide","tag-after","tag-an","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-hear","tag-im","tag-joining","tag-kiwis","tag-leaving","tag-life","tag-made","tag-me","tag-move","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-quick","tag-them","tag-thinking","tag-to","tag-travel","tag-trip","tag-want","tag-writer","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The original homestead of Kingsford The Barossa was the filming location for Australian drama McLeod’s Daughters. Photo \/ South Australia Tourism Commission
A signature suite at Kingsford The Barossa, a luxury hotel in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. Photo \/ South Australia Tourism Commission<\/p>\n