by Lee Atkinson, NRMA

"Leave your diet at home," said my friend Philip when he heard I was planning on spending a night or two in McLaren Vale. Turns out it was excellent advice, for as any Adelaide local will tell you, a weekend in McLaren Vale is all about gastronomic indulgence, and any well-intentioned ideas about watching your waistline are quickly forgotten as soon as you arrive in this gourmet capital.

Just 45 minutes drive from Adelaide, the wine-growing area of McLaren Vale is a food and wine lover's paradise, where olives and almond groves are scattered amongst the 50-plus vineyards and beach-side cafes serve up extraordinary meals with even more extraordinary water views.

We'd arrived, a group of eight like-minded friends, at Chapel Hill Winery Gourmet Retreat in the dark, where we'd signed up for a weekend hand's on cooking school, so when we finally emerged from our suites the next morning, it was with great delight that we realised we were smack bang in the middle of some of the country's most picturesque wine country. Perched high a ridge, the guesthouse is surrounded by vines, with sweeping views across the valley and out to sea, the stunning coastline just a few minutes drive away.

McLaren Vale is one of the few wine regions in South Australia so close to the sea, the cool ocean breezes and sandy soils producing great Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines. One of the oldest wine-growing regions in Australia - the first vines were planted in 1841 - many of the wineries feature beautiful stone and timber cellar-door tasting areas.

But it's not just the fabulous wines that make this area so popular with foodies - it's the almonds and olives planted by immigrant farmers from Greece and Italy in the late 1800s, and newer farming ventures that focus on venison, hand-made cheese, berries, beef, lamb, organic vegetables, trout and marron. All of these, plus fresh baked breads and tempting pies and pastries, home-made jams and preserves and delicious cakes are piled high upon tables and trestles at the weekly Saturday morning farmers markets in Willunga.

Sit down to an amazing lunch... cooked by you...

Armed with a list complied by Chapel Hill's chef, Peter Hogg, we hit the markets early. Not only were we cooking our own eight-course lunch as part of the retreat's cooking class, we were also sourcing the ingredients. Two hours later, having sampled way too many slices of venison sausage, rabbit pie, fresh almonds and irresistible rum babas (despite having tucked into a mountain of bacon and eggs and fresh fruit compote at breakfast) we arrive back at Chapel Hill with a bulging bag full of just picked parsnips, beetroot, field mushrooms and other organic vegies. Chef Peter examines our goodies, and after a couple of tweaks of the menu, we're suited up and given our tasks for the morning boning chicken, preparing the vegetables, baking cakes, piping olives, mixing salads. Two hours later, we sit down to an amazing lunch: baked dukkah pumpkin with goats cheese and rocket; roasted beetroots stuffed with fennel and wrapped in pancetta held together with a spear of rosemary; roasted parsnips dressed with a home-made mayonnaise; various warm salads and a very impressive galantine of chicken with verjuice and thyme. To top it all off, a luscious almond and ricotta cake. All the more delicious as we've cooked it all ourselves!

Having demolished the meal we decide it's time to work off some of our excesses so we head to nearby Maslins Beach for a long windy walk beside the multi-coloured cliffs that flank the beach, then head for a coffee (and more cake) at the iconic Star of Greece Café at Port Willunga. An old kiosk set atop a cliff with breathtaking views along Port Willunga Beach, the daggy décor is offset by a great seafood menu, and we vow to come back one day at sunset when we're not quite so full.

No visit to McLaren Vale is complete without calling into some of the wineries, so we head to Coriole Vineyards, where as well as tasting some beautiful shiraz we try some cheese and oliva oils as we gaze out at stunning view across the gardens towards Gulf St Vincent; browse the art gallery at Hardys Tintara Winery in the main street of McLaren Vale, warm up by the open fire in the clear door of Parri Estate as we look out at 100-year-old vines, try the signature Petit Verdot in the huge barrel room at Pirramimma and then finish up sending a case of the Chapel Hill's just released Pinot Grigio back home.

More gourmet eating...

Miraculously, our appetite seems to have returned, so it's back down the hill to Willunga to Fino Restaurant, a just-opened eatery in the main street of this tiny village that boasts more places to eat than most large country towns. Inside, the tiny house has been transformed into a series of rustic rooms, full of large tables, and the focus is on sharing plates of the Mediterranean-styled dishes that come out of the kitchen in quick succession - all cooked over charcoal and served in earthenware dishes using the local ingredients that they too bought from the markets next door earlier that day. We let chef David Swain choose our dishes and we're soon eating our way through a mountain of food that's too good to resist: roast eggplant; oven-baked chevre laced with garlic, olives and lemon; Kangaroo Island chicken livers with shallots and Pedro Ximenez; lamb meatballs; char-grilled quail; braised rabbit with fennel and pancetta and a rolled loin of lamb stuffed with wilted spinach, lemon and rosemary. Even better, most dishes are around the $10-20 mark, so it's a bit like Italianesque/French tapas.

Thanks goodness I left my diet at home!