Excellent stay at The Louise--great service, good food, and wonderful location

My husband and I took my mother for her 70th birthday/Mother's Day to Australia, and were joined by 2 friends from Sydney for a 4 night stay in the Barossa Valley. We settled on the Louise as it seemed to be the only luxury level accommodation in the Valley. 

The Louise was wonderful. While it may be better known as the location for the acclaimed restaurant, Appellation, The Louise is a wonderfully charming and comfortable boutique hotel that is perfectly situated in the midst of the Barossa Valley. The service was at a very high level, and we would stay again in a heart beat.

The hotel main building and most suites from the parking lot:

The path in the other direction (with parking lot behind you) to the other suites, including our Estate Suite:

Walking into the main reception area you have the Appellation restaurant:

Bar area adjacent to the restaurant:

Outside the bar area and the long room for the restaurant are endless views of the countryside/vineyards, as well as an outside deck/seating area for warmer weather:

Looking back to The Louise from the vineyards:

View of the pool area from the vineyards (sorry it was too cold to see it from the pool view onto the vineyards, but the infinity pool looked it would be quite a view!):

Check in was quick but a litlte odd, as we were greeted outside by the lovely Carla--who proceeded to check in our friends in their nearby suite 29 while we waited outside. Soon thereafter, Carla took the 3 of us to our Estate Suite to check us in. That may have been the only hotel service mishap, though. Carla (and the rest of the hotel staff) was absolutely amazing.

ESTATE SUITE (Suite 33):

Since we were traveling with our mother, and since we could take advantage of our Citi Prestige 4th night free benefit, we decided to book the two bedroom Estate Suite. We are delighted that we did, as it was a more spacious way for all of us to enjoy our time.

Walking across the parking lot to our suite, we found our gate:

Inside was a lovely seating area with water feature/fountain--a lovely space were it not so cold for our stay:

To the left was the entry to our suite 33:

The entry hallway:

There was a lovely efficient bar/coffee/tea station hidden off the entry hallway:

The living room:

The living room, looking into the master bedroom:

View from the living room (and bedroom):

The master bedroom (with sliding doors to close it off from the living room):

The bathroom:

Separate toilet room:

Outdoor shower area (accessed from the door by the indoor shower area):

Through the bath was the closet area for the master (which connected back by a door into the entry hallway):

The master bedroom and bath were quite spacious and comfortable for us, even though the pictures make it seem a little smaller than it was. It is not a huge space, but it is a very efficient space that worked very well for us.

The second bedroom was off to the left of the entry hallway:

This second bedroom was actually a bit more spacious than the master bedroom...but its bath and closet were smaller.

There was a small closet between the bedroom and bathroom:

The bath was nicely sized for 1 or 2 persons but was smaller than the master bath:

Separate toilet room:

Shower area (no tub):

Small outdoor shower area accessed from the shower area:

View onto the Estate Suite and nearby suites (Estate Suite is only second from the left, not the biggest deck space):

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The air conditioning worked pretty well--even as it was cold outside (in the 13-14 C range at night). We kept the room anywhere between 19-20 C to make it not too cold for my mother. The fireplace REALLY warmed the living room up a lot.

All in all, the suite was extremely comfortable for us...and again for all 5 of us when we hung out in our living room playing games and relaxing/drinking.

STONEWELL SUITE (Suite 29):

Our friends were upgraded to presumably a Stonewell Suite (the next up category from the entry level Vineyard Suite that they had booked). They enjoyed the suite and found it very comfortable for the two of them, as well.

Believe it or not, he actually is straight.

Service was outstanding. Carla alone was a true gem, always happy to help. Any request we had, the hotel (e.g. Carla) pretty much accommodated us!

My husband and I had 2 converters for electricity that didn't seem to work well in Australia (had the same issue at the Park Hyatt Sydney). In a flash, Carla was there with new adapters that worked just fine. 

We wanted to change restaurant reservations; Carla took care of it.

We wanted new glassware for the suite; Carla took care of it.

We wanted anything; Carla took care of it.

It wa a boutique hotel with a very obvious trying hard to please attitude. The owner actually introduced himself to us at dinner for our final night and mentioned trying to find staff attitude before experience when hiring--and it showed. Sounded very much like the hiring attitude for Amanresorts, to be honest...and the experience was very much like that, too.

BREAKFASTS:

Breakfast is included in the suite rate, but is done only in-suite--the Appellation restaurant is actually leased by the hotel, so cannot be used or staffed for breakfast. We thought this was odd, but the hotel advertisements and reservation instructions are quite clear about this. I love room service, so I was more concerned about the range of breakfast options and size of options (since I eat like a horse) than the fact that there was no actual breakfast restaurant. (There are also several wonderful breakfast restaurants in a 10 minute drive from the hotel, as well.)

In the end, we actually really enjoyed all of our in-suite breakfasts. The selection was pretty good. And I could order as much as I wanted--for no additional cost. It turned out that this was QUITE the good value for me!

Our first morning's breakfast included--seriously--12 poached eggs (10 for me, and 1 each for my husband and mother combined), 3 chocolate croissants (for me again, raisin bread, mueslix/oatmeal, fruit for 3 persons, juices, coffee, and 1 "egg dish" (with 2 eggs, tomatoes, and sausage) that my Mom wanted to try. Here you are:

My 10 poached eggs made for a new hotel record, by the way:

We ordered coffee, but I preferred the mochas and coffees you could make through the automatic espresso maker in the suite:

The "egg dish" my mother ordered turned out to be delicious:

In the end, breakfast was yummy. My mother's "egg dish" was so delicious that I had to try it...and it really was good. I ended up ordering 4 of those every other morning (along with a few poached eggs).

Our next morning's breakfast (with my 4 "egg dishes" included) also include smoothies, since our friends told us theirs were fabulous (and they were):

My collection of egg dishes:

The smoothies were delicious:

Ultimately, breakfast was a STEAL. All that food for no addtional cost? Wow.

And breakfast was delicious. We all LOVED the egg dishes with mixed eggs, tomatoes, and sausages. I could easily pull off the yolks to be careful for my cholesterol (which is why I normally go for poached eggs or scrambled egg whites). We ended up ordering 6 of those egg dishes for the final 3 mornings (4 for me and 1 each for my mother and husband), as well as the chocolate croissants for me, raisin toast for my mother, the smoothies for all of us, and mueslix for my husband, not to mention the coffee and juices.

Breakfast turned out to be a massive surprise for us. YUMMY and different.

DINNER AT APPELLATION:

Dinner at Appellation was a mixed experience. We originally were booked for Sunday (2nd) night and Tuesday (4th) night dinners, but our friends discouraged us from eating there twice. We ending up canceling our 2nd night dinner there, since we were pretty sick of tasting menus by that point--following tasting menus at Eleven Bridge, Sepia, and Quay in Sydney and then Hentley Farms restaurant in the Barossa Valley for our 1st night. 

Our 4th night then is when we finally had dinner at Appellation. I already had expressed concern that the restaurant would be too hot for me, so they told me to feel comfortable in coming in shorts--which I did! 

They had warned us that Tuesday night dinner would be Chef's choice, so we made sure to share our allergies and absolute dislikes. Otherwise, we were fine with the surprise.

Unfortunately, they served Chef's surprise to us with different things for a few different people--meaning that some of us got one thing for an appetizer, some of us got another, and someone actually got a third item. They did the same thing for the main course and dessert. It was VERY strange--and I told them so. They apologized but didn't change or miss a beat...and didn't even try to give us the same thing to streamline the experience after our complaint. That complete lack of service and very unusual serving approach were very annoying to me.

There was one other service miss: bringing our first course before they had even taken our wine order, even knowing that we were discussing our wine choice. I expressed my dismay about this to our server and she only apologized--but didn't offer to buy us a round of drinks or any gesture to apologize for such a major service oversight.

That being said, we very much enjoyed the food.

And they had one of my favorite South African wines--which was nice, since the wine list was crazily overpriced and didn't have nearly the appropriate selection of Barossa/Australian wines in my opinion:

Dinner was very good, though the service pitfalls and weird chef's variety service left us not too thrilled. The fact that they responded so poorly to the obvious service failings means that we would not recommend the restaurant. The food wasn't THAT good...but then service matters a LOT to me for fine dining--and for this price point.

Location was wonderful. It was only about 1 hr drive from the Adelaide airport.

We had drives of only 5-10 minutes to Two Hands and Torbreck wineries, and maybe 15-20 minutes or so to Penfolds, Chris Ringland, Henscke, Rockford, and Charles Melton. It was about an hour drive to the Clare Valley where we had a private tasting at Grosset.

I largely arranged most of our winery visits, though I did direct The Louise to schedule a few that I had already in mind. But I would trust the Louise to handle those for anyone not as demanding as I am!

We did do the Breakfast with the Kangaroos excursion, largely to please my mother--who was dying to see kangaroos up close. We initially tried to cancel the excursion about 22 hours beforehand thinking it might be too cold, but the outfit has a strict 50% cancel policy--or AU$75 per person. We decide to still do it.

We are glad we did. It was a lot of fun--and my mother was thrilled. Even our friends and us, who've seen more than our share of kangaroos, had a great time hiking around the preserve and seeing the kangaroos. You obviously can do it on your own, too, if you can drive to the Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park entrance!

The whole excursion took about 3 hours, but my mother walks VERY slowly. For most, it takes around 2-2.5 hrs.

About halfway through our time, we stopped for a picnic breakfast--though we had also eaten breakfast at The Louise beforehand to be safe! They had champs, Muscat, scones and biscuits, meats and cheeses, and quiches for everyone. The couple who organizes this is very lovely and friendly. 

Were we to go back, we'd probably do it on our own. But it was a lovely and fun activity.

My husband and I both are avid wine drinkers, and I am especially fanatic--having recently completed the UC Davis graduate winemaking certificate program. As such, I like to plan private wine tasting and even barrel tasting experiences with winemakers or members of the team.

For the Barossa, I reached out directly to Henschke, Chris Ringland, Grosset, and Jim Barry Wines; all but Jim Barry were able to accommodate us for a private event.

The Louise also arranged private tasting events on my behalf with Penfolds (the only one to charge us), Torbreck, and Rockford (the only one to let us down).

We actually managed to do tastings with Mr. Jeffrey Grosset, owner/winemaker of Grosset Wines, and with Mr. Chris Ringland, owner/winemaker of Chris Ringland (formerly Three Rivers) Wines--at his home!

Some highlights:

TORBRECK WINES

Our prive tasting at Torbreck...after which we purchased a case of wine!

PENFOLDS WINES

Our Taste of Grange Penfolds tasting was surprisingly fabulous (especially their incredible wines), despite the cellar door otherwise seeming so corporate and bland:

HENSCHKE WINES

Henschke gave us their Hill of Grace private VIP tasting and vineyard experience at no charge due to my background. And what an experience it was:

Vineyard experience at Hill of Grace vineyard, one of the best vineyard sites in all of Australia:

GROSSET WINES

An incredible tasting with owner/winemaker, Jeffrey Grosset of Grosset Wines, famous for its Polish Hill Reisling:

CHRIS RINGLAND WINES

A rare visit to Chris Ringland Wines...with Chris Ringland himself, at his home and nearby vineyard:

ROCKLAND WINES

A disappointing visit at Rockland Wines--who did not arrange anything VIP at all, despite having confirmed doing so:

CHARLES MELTON WINES

A nearby visit last-minute to Charles Melton Wines after the fiasco at Rockford:

Suffice to say that we bought over 3 cases of wine that will be shipped to our home cellar in the coming weeks and months. Worth every penny.

Overall, we had a fabulous time at The Louise and the Barossa--and would recommend The Louise without reservation. Our only warning would be about dinner at Appellation and going in with your eyes open about its possibe service miscues. But that should take away nothing from The Louise--which was a wondrously surprising wine country boutique hotel with top level service and amazing breakfasts!