Today Ina and I went on a wine tour with The Australian Wine Tour Co. Despite the fact that I got up at 7am I was the reason we left the house a little late. We managed to find the bus at the prearranged stop ten minuets late. The bus then drove about 50min northeast of the city to the Yarra Valley. I do not think I had tasted any Yarra wines in Introduction to Wines, but I had heard about the Valley.
The First stop was at Yering Farm. It is primarily an orchard but they have some grapes. Like most of Australia they have animals on their lower level wines. Our guide/driver gave us some instructions on how to taste, which thanks to Cornell I did not need. The wines were ok, a bit overpriced, even with the exchange rate in my opinion.
I used Ina’s white sweater through out the day to look at the color of the wines. The bus was full, 22 people on board, two from Singapore and two from Sydney everyone else was from Melbourne (one actually from Geelong).
Our next stop would be lunch at Rochford Wines. Before we sat down for our meal we got to taste five wines, four we could choose from for our glass with lunch and a fortified wine, in the tawny port style. I of course loved the port style wine. For lunch I had a lamb and pasta dish that was quite good with my Merlot (I know nobody drink merlot you have to go Pino, thank you sideways). After lunch we had some time to kill. There was a fudge tasting area where Ina tasted every single variety. We also climbed up a spiral staircase to a lookout desk on top of the facility. After that we tasted a few more wines including our first and only* Riesling of the day. The facility also has concerts on the grounds. To fight phylloxera you are not allowed to walk amongst the wines.
As we drove between wineries the land was a combination of orchard, vines, sheep and cows. Sometimes the sheep hangout amongst the vines. I must also say that according to our guide some of the taste and smell of the wine comes from what is grown around it. I had a nice little chuckle to myself about that comment.
Our next winery was Yering Station. When we pulled into the parking lot my eye caught a shiny red car, the third Ferrari of the trip, also the number of Ferraris I have told Ina I want to own. The Ferrari was not the lone Italian Stallion, a even nicer yellow Lamborghini was starring me down. There is a very nice hotel in a historic house on the property.
Onto the wines. We had limited time so our guided tasting was only of three wines that we picked. Someone shouted out sauvignon blanc before I could say Riesling. Someone else asked for a port, so we got another delicious fortified wine in the tawny port style. After one person asked for a type of red they did not have I asked for the regions signature (not Pinot Noir, another signature) shiraz, that is syrah for the rest of the world. With the Syrah the cellar staff member an a member of our group had a spitting contest into the spittoon. He later told us the 2003 Shiraz we were tasting was $75 a bottle, I must admit I would be more likely to drop that money on this wine than on a Margaux or other Bordeaux wine, (I don’t know why but I dislike the most expensive wine region in the world). We were free to taste more on our own after words. I should mention unlike at most places I have been to in the finger lakes all the pouring is by eye, not the measuring devices. The staff member at the first place even laughed at the suggestion of using one claiming it would take too long.
On our own Ina and I tasted a few more wines before we both took a sip of our new favorite dessert wine. A late harvest Riesling. There is no regular Riesling from Yering Station, but man was this stuff good. It also only comes in 1/2 bottles. Ina bought one ot share with her family this weekend.
Sadly we were too soon off to our last stop, Domaine Chandon. While they do make some still wines Domaine Chandon, heavily marketed in all the wine tour brochures, is owned by Moët et Chandon. And what does Moët et Chandon make? Dom Pérignon! We were given a quick tour of the facilities. Another group was in the barrel room so we were not able to see that, but we did get to see the Riddling Hall. And even more impressive we got to see riddlers riddling the racks. They do it by hand. The second fermentation is done in the final bottle.
Once through the tour we made our way to the cafe. We were given a full glass of one of three styles of sparkling wine. I went for the Vintage Brut while Ina went for something a bit sweeter. Our other option was a sparkling shiraz, which we ended up tasting afterwards. They were all quite good, I would hardly expect a bad bottle from Moet. I also tasted a $45 Limited release shiraz which might have been the best of the day. It was also the last of the day so who really knows. Ina and I went outside to get a few more pictures before heading back into the city.
Those happen to be rose plants in the second picture. Why might you ask? Well it is because the French did it. I actually learned something on this tour not covered in Intro to Wines. The roses serve four purposes:
- They look nice
- They identify the grapes
- Yellow = Chardonnay
- White = White grapes
- Pink = Pinot Noir
- Red = Red Grapes
- They will be affected by anything harmful to the vines first, phylloxera anyone
- Pollinating insects go for them first so cross pollination is minimized
That pretty much ended our day. We were both pretty happy and were glad we had gone on the tour. It is a pretty good deal if you add up everything you pay for, sparkling wines were $9.50 a glass and $2 per tasting. I hesitate to say it, but we might have passed the high points of the trip in the last few days. We will definitely see what Melbourne has in store for us yet. I have also been promised that this weekend we will be going out to dinner (or lunch) and lobster will be involved. I am also going to try Kangaroo at some point. Tomorrow night it is my turn to cook something for the family, baked macaroni and cheese?
As a side note we learned on the tour that Australia has its first female prime minister. Also people are sad the Socceroos are out, but they finished with a win. Lastly a 10 hour match at Wimbledon, really, that is crazy.
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