Wine tasting at Yarra Valley with a wine tour

9 May 2019

Having enjoyed our previous visits to vineyards in Niagara producing ice wines and even a hike through Lavaux vineyards in Switzerland, we decided to include a visit to Yarra Valley, Victoria's oldest wine region dating back to 1838, in our itinerary. 

The Yarra Valley is about a one-hour drive north-east of Melbourne. There is no public transport to the Yarra Valley, so the best way to get there is on an organised tour or by self-drive car.

“When You Drink, Don’t Drive”.

Heeding the above advice, we decided to join a wine tour to Yarra Valley. There were many to choose from, all competitively priced and offering a variety of itineraries. 

We chose to book a tour with the Australia Wine Tour Company based on good reviews in the internet and itinerary that met what we were looking for. 

This includes the following:

• Tasting at the cellar doors at Yering Farm, Balgownie Estate and Steels Gate Wines.
• A a la Carte lunch at Balgownie Estate, accompanied by a glass of the estate’s wine.
• A privately conducted tour of Domaine Chandon, complemented with a glass of their premium sparkling wine.

Never do wine tasting on an empty stomach. On the day of the tour, we made sure we had a good breakfast at The Coffee Club, located in the Southern Cross Station along Spencer Street where we stayed. We each had a cup of coffee with toasties of ham and eggs which cost AUD 9.50 per set which was good value.

Tony, our guide and driver for the day, picked us up from a designated pick-up point along Flinders Street at 9.20 AM. The air-conditioned minibus then made the rounds to collect a few more from other designated pick up locations in Melbourne before heading out to Yarra Valley.

Our tour bus to Yarra Valley wineries.

All in, there were about 14 people in our group that includes a couple from Scotland, two ladies from Japan, a few from Singapore and even a couple who lived in Melbourne.

On the way to Yarra, Tony did his pitch, to entertain and educate us on Yarra Valley, wine and the places we would be visiting.

Closer to Yarra, we passed beautiful suburban residential areas as well as rolling farmland with herds of black Angus cattle and sheep. Tony even pointed out some emus and kangaroos while driving. 

Somewhere in Yarra Valley, just before arriving at our first winery, our van was stopped by drink-driving enforcement officers and Tony had to blow into a breath analyser.

“When You Drink, Don’t Drive” and “When you Drive, Don’t Drink”.

Wise words indeed.

We arrived at Steels Gate Wines, our first winery as scheduled. Steels Gate is a boutique winery situated in a picturesque hillside setting at Dixons Creek. Their range of wines are all estate grown and estate made.

Tony gave everyone a short presentation on the rituals in wine tasting. Swirl, smell, look and then taste the wine. Spitting into the bucket provided after tasting is optional. But why waste good wines! Just drink it all.

The staff at Steels Gate also provided information of all the wines we tasted.

We had some free time to look around but access to the vineyard where the grapes are grown is not allowed due to fear of disease transmission. 

 

Vines at Steel Gate Winery.


Interesting plant that looked like corn at Steels Gate Winery.

Tony took orders for the lunch that would be served later at the Balgownie Estate.  We could choose one from 4 main courses offered - Beef, Chicken, Salmon or Vegetarian. Almost everyone in the group chose the Beef dish.

At our next stop, Balgownie Estate, the staff presented us with a list with information of the wines we would taste. These included a 2017 Black Label Sparkling Shiraz that is something the winery is experimenting with.

The lunch served at Balgownie’s restaurant was excellent. The slowed cooked beef was flavourful and practically fallen off the bone. I enjoyed the side dishes and flavourful jus as well. The lunch included a glass of the Estate’s wine of course.

Our lunch of Beef Ribs at Balgownie Estate.

The view from the restaurant at Balgownie Estate.


We bought a bottle of their NV Premium Cuvee Brut and Sparkling Shiraz to bring home. The Cuvee Brut is a combination of three Chardonnays to form a very fruity and tasty white wine that we like very much.

Our next stop after lunch is the Yering Farm.

 

Yering is one of the Yarra Valley’s most charming boutique wineries and also has a 70 acre orchard. It has stunning views, and a delightful sense of heritage. It produces 6,000 cases of wine each year. They grew mostly Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Carbernet.




The tasting room and cellar at Yering Farm.

In addition to the wines, we were offered dessert wine, pear and apple cider to taste. We bought two bottles of pear cider and a small bottle of sweet dessert wine.

Our last stop of the day was at Domaine Chandon, the French champagne company Moet & Chandon's Australian production house. We were given a brief presentation of how sparkling white wine is made at the riddling room.

Yeast are added to blended wine and allowed to ferment to create the bubbly. Riddling is the process that collects the yeast and sediment in a bottle and concentrate it near the mouth of the bottle to be removed after the riddling process.

The inverted bottles of wine on the riddling rack. These bottles are rotated 90 degrees every now and then to allow the yeast and sendiments to collect at the bottom (mouth of the bottle).

The best part of the visit was tasting the sparkling wines at the tasting room.

The four Chandon sparkling wines that we tasted.

After the tasting, we were each given a full glass of our favourite sparkling wine (we cannot call them Champagne because they are not made in Champagne, France) to enjoy.

We were free to take the glasses out to the terrace. Here we could enjoy breath-taking views over a relaxing glass of Australia's best bubbly. One thing I like about this tour was that it was so relaxing, without any rush.

Views from the terrace outside the restaurant at Domaine Chandon.

We bought two bottles of Chandon’s sparkling wine to bring home.

When everyone was ready, we departed the Yarra Valley for Melbourne at about 3.30 PM. Everyone in the bus became rather chatty on the way back. Amazing what a bit of nice wine and alcohol can do to a party.

Overall, it has been an enjoyable and relaxing day in the Yarra Valley with good food, good wine and good company.