Visit SA’s Best Wine Regions at This Super Cellar Door Shared by Seven Boutique Wineries

With more than 3,000 vineyards spread across the state, South Australian wine encompasses an astonishing array of regions, varietals and styles. And while some winemakers view their colleagues as the competition, a small collective housed on The Parade prefers to think of their neighbours as collaborators.

Located at 28 The Parade, The Usual Suspects brings together seven boutique wineries from across the state. “Being part of a collective means that we’ve got more time to concentrate on the stuff we love doing, which is making wine and growing grapes,” explains Jonathon Hesketh, “while all the admin, distribution, sales and marketing gets done collaboratively here in Norwood.”

The “proprietor and principal debt holder" of Usual Suspects is also the founder of Hesketh Wines, which is based in the Adelaide Hills along with Barratt Wines. The other members are Ox Hardy in McLaren Vale, Vickery and Miss Zilm in the Clare Valley, Coonawarra’s Parker Estate and St John’s Road in the Barossa Valley.

And while all of those wineries have regional homes, The Usual Suspects’ boardroom has recently been converted into a tasting room to give them a shared cellar door in the heart of Norwood. And with seven winemakers represented, there’s something for every taste.

“Between us we make wines that retail from $16 to $250, so we’ll try to tailor the tastings to each customer as best we can,” says Hesketh. That could mean sampling new releases from a single producer, enjoying a flight of a single variety like riesling across different vintages and regions, or “we can give you a tasting of red wines from different parts of South Australia, highlighting different producers that all complement each other.”

The tasting room, which looks right out onto The Parade, has room for ten people to sit comfortably and will be open by appointment. “That means you can do a tasting whenever the office is open but we’re not restricted by those hours, so we can organise something on weekends as well.”

And while Hesketh says that he can throw together a tasting at an hour’s notice in a pinch, he recommends calling a week in advance. That way, he adds, you can enjoy a tasting hosted by the winemakers themselves. “Andrew Hardy from Ox Hardy is here quite often, I’m in most days and we usually have a winemaker here. That way you can hear the story behind the brand and talk about the wines with the person who made them.”

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