The Louise

The Louise remains an enchanting and comfortable retreat ideal for couples seeking privacy and vineyard immersion. Its villa-style suites are luxurious, and the setting is picture-perfect. However, it's not for the feint of wallet and while the fundamentals are superb, the experience stops just short of the ultra-luxury benchmark set by the group’s top lodges, particularly when it comes to culinary consistency and meticulous attention to those critical final 1% details for example dining-room windows have a cracking vineyard panorama but could do with a clean. For a relaxing Barossa getaway with style and comfort, The Louise is a strong choice — a few small tweaks would lift it from very good to truly exceptional.

This is a lovely property. All the public areas are spacious and beautifully decorated. There is a great outside terrace with views over valley and is good for roo spotting! We saw several. The rooms (we were in a Stonewell Suite) are very spacious and spotlessly clean. The bed itself is big and comfy and we slept well, although woke early as the sun comes into the room through the window right next to the bed. I suspect the rooms on the other side of the hotel are better as they get sunset rather than sunrise views. The breakfasts were great and the drinks and food arrived promptly. We struggled a bit more with the evening meal. There is a 4-5 course degustation menu with wine pairings, for which you are asked to allow 2 hours. If you dont want this, there is a very limited/basic alternative menu. However, when we asked to have a mixture of things off both menus (as there were things we didnt like on the degustation menu) this proved to be difficult and one night we didn’t get a proper meal. We opted out on our 3rd night and went into Tanunda for a meal instead. I want to be clear this is no fault of the hotel and they tried hard to accommodate our needs, I just think that unless you are a big foodie then you might find several consecutive nights of fine dining a bit much. The staff in general were friendly and helpful, and very knowledgable about the local area and wines. One hint - it helps to have an idea about what you want to do before you arrive. There was some mix-up with our travel agent so the hotel didn’t have contact details for us in advance, this meant we didn’t get the email they usually send out offering you experience options. When we arrived in the late afternoon it was already too late for the concierge to book experiences for the next day, so she had to wait until after 10am the next day when the vineyards open. Thankfully she was able to secure us a wine tasting that same afternoon at Hentley Farm. We didn’t mind where we went for the tasting but if you want somewhere particular then you definitely need to get organised and pre-book. The hotel has complimentary e-bikes to use. These need to be pre-booked and we found these a great way of getting around the local area whilst also being able to sample the wines! Otherwise you will have the expense of a private driver as the local taxi service can be a bit variable. Overall a lovely stay and I have no hesitation in recommending this hotel.

We arrived very early for check in so we left our suitcases and went off wine tasting. They called us at about 1.20 to tell us our room was ready. The rooms are modern and tastefully decorated, there is a separate dining area which can be closed off to the bedroom/lounge area. The lounge area has a flat screen TV with two armchairs, cd's to play and DVD's are available at reception (FOC). There is a completely separate bathroom area which consists of; a spa bath (with bath crystals and candles), shower and outside shower (great to shower outside, yet incredibly private), a separate toilet area (with sliding door) and two hand basins with plenty of room to spread out 'his and hers' toiletries. There is a magnifying mirror available and a cute chair to sit on to apply your make up. All of the normal soaps/shampoos etc are made available and are very neatly presented. There is also a separate area to store your suitcases (like a mini walk in wardrobe), also in there are the iron and ironing board and a medical kit (which is payable if used) kept in the cupboard in this area, along with robes. There are two private outdoor areas (front and back) which you can sit and sip some wonderful wines from the Barossa or simply read your book. Each night they come in and turn down your bed (if you wish!), and place some very tasty panacotta next to your bed. They ask you to fill out your breakfast form by 6.00pm and return to reception and then each morning the breakfast is delivered to your door. There is an intercom system to let the hotel waitress into your front garden area, either they will set breakfast up in your suite or you can take it from them and do it yourself - but heck why not have someone wait on you, they do it so well. A perfect retreat for couples - they also have a fantastic restaurant called Appellation but I will post a separate review on this.

We stayed in the Seppeltsfield Suite which is the same size as a one bedroom apartment. We enjoyed the included breakfast in the courtyard at the front of the suite. The presentation was spectacular - food was delivered in tiffin boxes and in cast iron casserole dishes. The food was delivered via trolley which had all the food in an insulated container and was truly impressive. The baked beans where home made - not from a tin, orange juice was fresh squeezed, eggs and tartin were all delicious. The bathroom was huge and included a separate toilet, a double hand basin, deep spa bath and spacious indoor and outdoor showers. The bedroom had a comfortable king size bed and chaise lounges on the front veranda overlooked the vineyards. There is a pol area with chaise lunges and an honour bar for drinks. The four course dinner was excellent with a wide range of food and wines. Service was outstanding and all staff were friendly, professional and dedicated to providing a special experience for guests. The level of cleanliness throughout was fantastic. We had a pre-dinner drink at the outdoor area in front of the restaurant and watched a glorious sunset over the vineyards. The price reflects the uniqueness of the venue and is an unforgettable way to celebrate a special occasion - birthday, anniversary or honeymoon. For business travellers there is a dedicated boardroom and would be very impressive if entertaining international guests. The Boutique Gift shop includes a wide selection of gifts at a reasonable price.

The barossa just continues to deliver. Big beautiful suites with large beds and bathrooms backing onto an incredible view. The staff were quick and knowledgeable on the area, food and wine. The dinner was superb and extremely tasty. A ruby of the barossa. Well done!

We stayed for two nights (ate in Appelation on one of those nights). The hotel rooms (all suites) were modern, clean and very comfortable with the large bathrooms being a real treat. Really liked the breakfast concept of a continental selection (limited hot selection) being delivered to your room and having the ability to make one's own Nespresso coffee. We ate this outside on both mornings reading the papers that were also delivered. The experience at Appelation was good but I would say not great. Being multiple courses we thought that there was not really a chance to sit and enjoy the high quality food. The continual changing of cutlery, sometimes long gaps between courses being served and being asked (two times per course!!) whether everything was OK just seemed to distract from the enjoyment. Also it was very expensive - that in itself is not an issue but I believe that one should leave any restaurant feeling that there had been an equitable transaction between price payed and enjoyment - here I thought that it was more to the side of cost. Would absolutely stay at the hotel again - would choose elsewhere to dine.