Jacob’s Creek Leads the Way to Barossa
Greg Stirling, Head of Brand Sites & Visitations for Orlando Wines , a division of Pernod Ricard, picked me up in Adelaide for the scenic drive up to the Barossa Valley in South Australia . It is one of the country’s top wine regions and home to his biggest brand – Jacob’s Creek. I had spent some time with Jacob’s Creek (the wine and the people who make it) during the Australian Open , but this was my first visit to the winery and grounds. It began with a bit of history on my way up about Johan Jacob, the pioneer that purchased this land over 200 years ago. Greg also explained to me about the area, Roland Flat, which is also the translation of Jacob’s son, Orlando. It would be “Orlando Wines” that Jacob’s Creek was launched under in 1976, before Pernod Ricard would buy the brand. The land was hilly with brown grass in between that showed signs of the dry summer, but it didn’t make the valley look any more beautiful. It was an area where kangaroos and emus run free, as the s