IT'S POSSIBLE TO EAT AND DRINK your way around South Australia in style. The State produces some of the world's finest wine and best quality food.

South Australia is Australia's wine capital with thirteen wine regions.

They benefit from a variety of terrain, character and climate. Few other regions of the world can match South Australia's range of warm and cool-ripening conditions. It can produce varieties, which deliver both classical and distinctively Australian-style 'fruit driven' wines.

After winning acclaim with its 'big reds', pioneered by Penfold's Grange, South Australia is also producing wines of great elegance and finesse.

Full-bodied Chardonnays, Rieslings, sparkling wines and pleasing blends all feature in South Australia's range of premium white wines.

South Australia produces 50 per cent of all the wine made in Australia, and 70 per cent of international exports, which are led by Southcorp, BRL Hardy and Orlando (Jacob's Creek) wineries.

Thanks to a bountiful Mediterranean-like climate, South Australian regional produce reads like an international gourmet's shopping list:

Adelaide - grapes, olives, olive oil, herbs and vegetables
Kangaroo Island - cheese, olive oil, chickens, honey, lobsters, marron
Barossa Valley - olives, grapes, apples and pears, chickens and smallgoods
Eyre Peninsula - tuna, lobster, prawns, abalone and oysters
Adelaide Hills - venison, strawberries, cherries, apples and cheese
McLaren Vale - olive oil, almonds, yabbies, trout and venison
Limestone Coast - lamb, beef, crayfish and Atlantic salmon
The Flinders ranges & Outback - bush tucker including quandong, lemon myrtle and bush tomatoes
The Riverland - grapes, citrus fruits and nuts

With this line-up it's not surprising that the new wave of Australian cuisine began in South Australia and that Adelaide has a higher ratio of restaurants to residents than any other city in Australia.