My favorite part of Australia is the wine! Well, maybe not my absolute favorite... but the selection is pretty cool. Friday morning I was up early to meet my guide for the Yarra Valley wine tour I booked. All of the people on the tour were great. There were five friends from Brisbane, a mom and daughter from South Africa, a guy from Italy named Domingo, and a cool chick from Manchester, UK named Rachel.
We started at a fairly large vineyard called Domaine Chandon, they are sister companies with Moet. Since this was my first ever experience at a winery I was tres impressed at how eager they are to give you wine... for free! The basic rule is you start at the lightest and work through to the more full-bodied, white first and then red. You begin with the sparkling (as long as they're white), move through the whites (usually from reisling to sauvignon blanc to chardonnay), then to the reds (pinot noir to merlot to cabernet sauvignon) including any red sparkling. It all depends on what types of wines that winery produces and you can try one or you can try them all. Your choice.
From there we went to Medhurst, a smaller vineyard with a cute cafe called the Red Shed. They had a fabulous Rose that tasted like fresh strawberries! I'm not much of a white or pink wine drinker but was determined to try new and different things. Next vineyard was De Bortoli, again a slightly larger winery, for lunch. We ordered our lunches then meandered downstairs to pair wines with our meal. This cellar door also had a cheese bar and I had the most amazing meredith goat cheese! It was stored in olive oil with fresh herbs and garlic... so delectably creamy I had to buy some and hope it survives the journey back to Canada. I had the lamb fillet with fresh salsa verda and gnocchi for lunch paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon. The sous chef at this kitchen actually worked directly with Chef Gordon Ramsay! And the food was delicious.
Sticks was next on our list, which I was fairly excited about because I had purchased a bottle of their wine my first day in Australia. I actually bought their "sticky" wine that had been bottled the week previous. Sticky wines are similar to ice wines in their syrup consistency and sweetness but are more fruity and do not need to be served cold. The one I bought is marmalade/kumquat flavored and their first attempt at a sweet wine. Again... I hope it survives the trip. Last but not least was Coombes Farm. Our driver, who shared an overwhelming amount of knowledge about wine and the Yarra Valley with us, works part time at this vineyard. It was my favorite and I bought a bottle of chardonnay and cabernet merlot I plan to try and store for at least a year.
After saying goodbye to my new (and slightly tipsy) friends, Derek, Jodie, and I went for a fabulous Indian dinner in Williamstown. We wandered down the pier and indulged in gelato (pistachio is my weakness). The most exciting part of the evening was after we got back to the house. The dog would not stop freaking out at the wall in the bathroom upstairs and we came to realize there was a possum (we assume) in the ceiling between the first and second floors. After much banging, scratching, and investigating, we heard it scurry across the living room and depart for the evening. Needless to say, I slept with the window closed that night.
Saturday we drove down to Torquay and Bells Bay, home of the annual Rip Curl surf competition. The weather wasn't great but we hung out on the beach with the dog for a while. I debated doing a surf lesson but the waves weren't good that day, breaking very close to the shore. I say that like I'm pro... We had lunch on a patio (very interesting people watching), shopped at some of the outlet stores like Roxy, Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Reef, and Oakley, and headed home. After cooking steaks for dinner and renting a movie, I am happy to report there were no possum sightings.
Things I have learned about Australia:
- it's windy
- it's windy
- it's windy
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