Hahndorf v Tanunda: which South Australian town delivers the best holiday?

Both South Australian locales are 'pour' excellence, but what will win your heart - Bavarian charm or blockbuster drops? Our experts help you decide.

Amy Cooper: "A vision of alpine Bavaria plucked from a Brothers Grimm fairytale and plonked prettily a half-hour's drive from Adelaide, Australia's oldest German settlement appears unchanged since 1839."

I never thought I'd hear myself say that wine alone is not enough. It's sacrilege for one who has been known to start the day with a chardonnay stiffener. But in this clash of grape South Australian towns, Hahndorf shows that even if you inhabit a top wine region with more than 50 excellent cellar doors, you needn't be a one-sip pony.

Over in the flat Barossa Valley, Tanunda is overshadowed by its surrounding legends; big reds and big names like Penfolds and Yalumba. You go for the wine ... and not much else. Meanwhile, tucked hahn-somely among the scenic contours of the Adelaide Hills, Hahndorf is somewhere you'd visit even if - heaven forbid - you're unbothered about wine.

The Germanic gem could trade on looks alone.

A vision of alpine Bavaria plucked from a Brothers Grimm fairytale and plonked prettily a half-hour's drive from Adelaide, Australia's oldest German settlement appears unchanged since 1839: half-timbered streets, Hansel and Gretel cottages, fresh-baked gingerbread and non-ironic lederhosen.

On picturesque Main Street, lined with stately trees now about to flame into stunning sunset shades for autumn, you really will see a butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Hahndorf's 100 or so speciality shops are genuinely artisanal, replete with items never to be found in your local Westfield: cow bells, a hand-carved Black Forest cuckoo clock that plays The Happy Wanderer, a traditional clay beer stein crowned with a genuine fragment of the Berlin Wall.

Teutonic treasure troves like the German Village Store, a Christmas-every-day emporium with its own cuckoo clock room, and the German Village Kandle Haus, with aromas including Dirndl Dress and Lederhosen (look and learn, Gwyneth Paltrow) are the enchanting antidote to today's blandified retail. And although your lifestyle may not necessitate a suit of armour, it's strangely cheering to know they're available at gentlemen's outfitter Hommes Uniques.

Art thrives in Hahndorf, whether contemporary talent at creative hub Hahndorf Academy, or the legacy of German-Australian master Hans Heysen at his former house, The Cedars. You can buy strudels and pretzels from The German Cake Shop, enjoy live accordion music at German Spoon cafe and tackle a sausage platter in the thigh-slapping German Inn. In the wurst case scenario that you're still hungry, there's spaghetti ice-cream at Eis Haus.

Wines and steins coexist in heritage pubs, and bier flows from breweries like Hahndorf Brewing Co, Prancing Pony and the new Grunthal Brew, from the award winners behind Udder Delights cheeses.

While the Barossa's about the blockbusters, high-altitude Adelaide Hills nurtures progressive, experimental wineries producing elegant cool-climate drops: textural new-wave chardonnays, bone-dry rieslings and lighter, subtler shiraz than those Barossa bulldozers. Tasting tours offer vibrant vinous variety. Head over to the land Tanunda if red's your favourite colour, but there's heaps more happening in Hahndorf.

Mal Chenu: "This is the Barossa, so gastronomy is de rigueur."

While Hahndorf is over there slapping its lederhosen and dancing the schuhplattler to the subtle stylings of an oompah band, pretty Tanunda, in the proud, beating heart of the Barossa Valley, is busy churning out some of the finest food and wine in the country.

One particularly innovative diner is the multi-hatted FermentAsian, where "modern South-East Asian cuisine" is paired with excellent local and foreign wines. Head chef and owner Tuoi Do cooks up superb coriander-laden dishes, many ingredients grown in the nearby garden tended by her parents, Bang and Tinh.

During the AFL's annual "Gather Round", two matches will be played at Barossa Park in Lyndoch, 10 minutes down the road, featuring Lions and Tigers and 'Roos, oh my! You can drop by Jacob's Creek Winery on the way to the game for a tasting, a cooking class and/or a bite at Harvest Kitchen. Tanunda's concurrent and legendary street party kicks off at 3.30pm on April 11.

Tanunda and Hahndorf both have German roots, but only Hahndorf goes full Teutonic cosplay. You can wait in line behind someone photographing a giant pretzel to buy your souvenirs, which include fudge, cow bells, novelty beer steins and a cuckoo clock. Amy is over there telling us Hahndorf is better than Tanunda, and to be fair, she is a precocious wunderkind when it comes to wine towns. I could indulge her and accept that Hahndorf's German-themed attractions and pork knuckles are actually pretty good, but that would only make the bratwurst.

It will take more than a revealing dirndl bodice and a fishbowl-sized bier to get me to prefer Hahndorf over Tanunda.