Honeysuckle Rise Cottage Coonawarra review | SA’s Great Travel Planner

It’s a tough choice when you arrive at Honeysuckle Rise Cottage. Do you drop your bags and sprawl on one of the big chocolate leather sofas, pour yourself a cuppa or just enjoy the views?

It’s a tough choice when you arrive at Honeysuckle Rise Cottage, all stone and timber, afloat in its own sea of green Coonawarra vines.

Do you drop your bags and sprawl on one of the big chocolate leather sofas, pour yourself a cuppa or something stronger, and just enjoy the big picture-window views of sunlit vines?

Or perhaps you’ve been tempted by the sight of the big red swing for two suspended over the lawn from one of two giant gums just outside?

Honeysuckle Cottage at Highbank winery, Coonawarra, SA. Picture: Roy Eccleston

Then again, the deep spa bath for two in the bathroom may beckon, promising to soak away any worries or weariness as you lie back and take in the private garden beside you, just beyond the large uncurtained window.

Whatever you do there’s no doubt that pretty soon, since you’ve arrived in one of Australia’s great wine regions, you’ll want to know what the grapes from these vines taste like. And it turns out they’re pretty special.

No chemical herbicides, insecticides or fertilisers are used and for 35 years Highbank’s vines, on the rich terra rossa earth over limestone, have been tended using biodynamic principles. Pruning is by hand.

So when owner Dennis Vice pops around to say hello, with a bottle in hand, it’s wise to make room at the outside table and find another glass. The wine he’s brought, the Highbank Coonawarra blend, is partly from the cabernet franc vines just a couple of metres away.

And a luscious drop it is, one that retails for around $60 a bottle (although for guests there’s a 30 per cent discount on six or more).

Relax in the spa at Honeysuckle Rise. Picture: supplied

Vice is a Californian while wife Bonnie is from Hawaii. They settled in Australia in the 1980s and eventually chose to build their dream at Highbank, just north of Penola on the Riddoch Highway. They raised their family here and the cottage where we stay was built to provide extra income until the first vintage in 1991.

Today it is one of several accommodation options, including a nearby villa for up to four people, or its top floor for two.

Our cottage has a fairly comprehensive eat-in kitchen, although there’s no dishwasher. There are two sleeping areas, one a queen bed on the ground floor in a nook just off the living area, and another upstairs on a mezzanine level, with its own window, wing-back chair, and views across the vines.

The bathroom has a walk-in shower or the deep spa bath and the private garden beyond.

There’s airconditioning for summer, and a fan on the high vaulted ceiling above. In winter, a spot in front of the giant stone fireplace (firewood is $20 extra) in one of those sofas with a book and a glass of red would be heavenly.

Having sampled Highbank’s drops, you’ll want to explore the other top wineries of the region, many of them just a few minutes away on each side of the nearby highway, all producing outstanding reds.

For eating out there are a range of offerings like Drink Ottelia + Eat Fodder, Upstairs at Hollick Estates, the highly-rated Pipers of Penola and the Royal Oak pub in town. But for dessert, why not bring home an ice cream – and jump on that swing.

Reviews are unannounced and paid for by SAWeekend.

This review was first published in January 2021 and details updated in March 2021.

• Corner of Riddoch Highway and Maaoupe Road, Coonawarra
• [phone] or 0427 653311
• highbank.wine/accommodation/the-cottage
• LOCATION About four-and-a-half hours by road, Coonawarra is about 375km southeast of Adelaide.
• ACCOMMODATION The cottage sleeps two to four people.
• FACILITIES Two queen size beds, spa bath, airconditioning, heating, open fire place, flatscreen TV, DVD player, iron, alarm clock, radio, hairdryer, outdoor dining setting, BBQ.
• PRICE From $260 a night depending on length of stay. Daily breakfast provisions included.