Day Trip from Melbourne
Since
it’s the middle of winter in Australia, the lush, green landscapes of Yarra Valley, about an hour outside of Melbourne,
completely surprised me.
We
had come to sample the valley’s award-winning wines, but didn’t expect to fall
in love with the surrounding countryside as well. Can you imagine this verdant
place in the spring and summer months?
Earlier
this month, my husband and I booked a
full day tour with Yarra Valley Wine Tasting
Tours, which included stops at four wineries, a dairy farm and cheese
shop and a chocolate shop. We want to take full advantage of the city and
country as much as possible since we don’t know how long we’ll be living here.
The tour was a fantastic introduction to Yarra Valley, and we didn’t have to
worry about who was going to drive since we were on a small tour bus.
We
first stopped at Yering Station, a winery established in
1838 by the Scottish-born Ryrie brothers who adopted the Aboriginal name “Yering.” The brothers planted two grape varieties
but mainly used the land for cattle. Over the years, the property changed
hands, but continued to produce wines, winning the Grand Prix at the Universal
Exhibition in Paris in 1889. Today, the property is locally owned by the Rathbone
family, purchased in 1996, who also established a restaurant overlooking the
vineyard’s beautiful countryside.
Our
favorite wines from Yering Station were the shiraz viognier and the cab-sav (as
Aussies like to abbreviate everything).
Our
second stop was at Yarra Valley Dairy, a local farm featuring
both homemade cows’ and goats’ milk cheeses. We’re both suckers for cheese
especially soft and stinky cheeses. The dairy’s goat cheese pyramid with ash
reminded us of French cheeses we’ve liked so we bought this and two other
cheeses. Unfortunately, the shop was crowded so I didn’t get any cheese
pictures, but the surrounding farm lands were pretty.
Next,
we headed to Domaine Chandon, which produces some of
the best bubbly we’ve had outside of France. It’s probably no
surprise to learn that the company is now part of the French-based champagne
producers Moët & Chandon. However, the property
has been operating as a vineyard since the 1800s as well. I loved the sparkling
wines here, so we bought two bottles!
After
enjoying our bubbly, we headed to Rochford Wines
for lunch and our fourth (technically) wine tasting of the day. Our tour
included a one-course lunch, so we both opted for the melt-in-your-mouth beef
cheeks cooked in red wine, of course. Delicious!
I’ll
admit that the Rochford wines were not my favorite, but the food was tasty and
the place offered scenic panoramic views from a tower we climbed up.
By
the time we stopped at St. Huberts Winery,
originally established in 1862, I’ll admit that I was feeling tipsy. Silly me
as I had tried everything put in front of us as well as some extra samples. I
simply couldn’t resist the wine! St. Huberts is a lovely boutique winery and I’ll
have to try the wine again with dinner.
Finally,
we ended our day at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie, which
featured abundant chocolate samplings. If you love chocolate, this is the place
to be! However, we didn’t buy anything as the chocolates were rather expensive.
The chocolate bars were sold as 60 grams each (most brands normally as 100
grams) and cost $8 to $10aud. However, we did treat ourselves to two ice cream
cones and then went out to see the cute farm animals outside.
All
in all, our full day tour to Yarra Valley was a spectacular way to sample the country’s
wines and food. Plus, our tour bus included singing Irish girls on the way back
home. Sadly, we didn’t share any American songs in return.
Some Yarra Valley wines to enjoy later at home! |
8 comments:
Yering and St. Huberts are two of my faves - love that you got the lingo down pat!
Wow there sister, that looks like an amazing day! I would have loved to try the beef cheeks! err.. not to mention all the wine and bubbly! Miss you guys.
I am so jealous . Wine, cheese and chocolate and a chauffeur to drive you home. What could be better.
@Natalie, I'm trying to learn Aussie speak. Luckily, there's a lot of good wine here to make it even more interesting! :)
@Adam, Well, we are trying to enjoy this all as much as we can. Hopefully we'll be able to bring back some Aussie wine for you guys to try! Xoxo
@Annie, yes this tour was perfect in every way! Wish I could share the chocolates with you! ;)
I am feeling jealous to see you in winter wine tour. Great place friend i hope you had a great day...
Thanks for sharing above information. I am very impressed with this article. Hope for more updates soon.
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