Monday, November 20, 2006
17 November Wines, Vines, Cheese and forgetfulness
17th November (Friday)
Picked up by Greg and Donna at 9.30 and drive off to the Yarra Valley a reasonably well known grape growing region of Victoria. Wineries here date back to 1838 or so and new boutique wineries from only a few years old. Stopped at Healesville, which is in the Yarra Valley wine growing area and had coffee and toast at The Mad Hatter Tea rooms. Old wooden house which we had to walk up wooden side stairs to gain entry. It has a number of rooms set out as shop selling all things Alice in Wonderland and strange bloke wearing hat in Mad Hatter style from the book. After our late breakfast is finished “Mad Hatter” offers to show us a card trick. He performs it in manner which doesn’t make us feel confident it ‘s going to work. But hey presto! It does. Reach or first winery, Tarrawarra, and it has metal cows sculpture by the driveway. Probably to remind me of MK. All the wineries in this area have Cellar Doors where you taste and discuss the wines and can then buy if they are to your liking. So really aimed at people with a love of the grape or at least know what they like. The wines here at Tarrawarra are young and grown from very young vines and unfortunately not particularly good. Whilst we are tasting a party of 6 or so elderly ladies and gents arrive. One of them asks the group if they want to taste some wines before having lunch. One lovely old dear replied “No, I don’t like wine”.
We move on to the De Bortoli winery which has a lot more history and vines going back 40 years or so in age. We try Pinot noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Viognier, Sangiovese (used for Chiantis) Cabernet Merlot and one or 2 others. All have a strange undercurrent of what I can only describe as violets, but the vignioron assures me is actually menthol or eucalyptus. Nice.
By the way checked out the story re drop bears, koalas being permanently stoned. It’s true. They are very fussy eaters and will only eat about 5 types of the many available varieties of eucalyptus leaves. Apparently these leaves contain a drug which affects koalas and keeps them permanently stoned. They don’t like being sober so won’t eat non druggy ones! Anyway sometimes they get so high they lose their grip and fall out of the trees. Look out!……… drop bear. It’s a wonder they breed.
Oh and their claws will rip you to shreds as they are used for gripping bark and their beaks will give you a very nasty bite. So apart from the lacerating, biting and falling on you from a great height they are really cuddly and harmless!
We drive on to Balgownie Winery and have a little cheese and biscuits with our next selections. The cheese guy is really passionate about his cheeses and persuades us to try a selection including goats cheese. Which I really find disgusting, they are so bitter. Well suffice to say one of the goat cheeses is delicious so make a liar of me, see if I care. This set of estate wines, some of which are mixed with shiraz and Merlot varieties from their estates in Bendigo are much stronger fuller and tastier than any we have so far tasted. Bendigo is a wine region north west of Melbourne which has a hotter and drier climate than the Yarra and produces grapes with a fuller, deeper taste. Greg and Donna really like these so I buy them a couple of bottles as a thank you. Stop and have a snack lunch at 2.30 in a little village called ………….. No can’t remember, but it no longer has a railway running through it! We visited one more boutique estate and for the life of me I cannot recall its name. Can’t think why! But they didn’t do half bad wines either. By this time my taste buds have been shot to hell and I’d probably have said a glass of tar had a lovely nose and pleasant and lingering after taste.
Return home and make goodbyes to Donna and Greg. Hope they keep in touch as a lovely couple.
Go for dinner at Sammys Pizza restaurant and treat Craig and his girlfriend Sriani and Jon as a thank you for letting me stay in the house. They all have pizza and I opt for steak. It gets cooked medium not medium rare and tastes like sawdust. Worst meal I’ve had in Oz which is disappointing as generally the quality has been very high. Jon and I head into Melbourne and have a coffee and cake in Chapel St which famous in Melbourne for being the place to be seen and eating. Very very busy but we squeeze into on of the street cafes Jon uses a lot and have a delightful dessert. Leave about 10ish and return home to pack. Tomorrow Sydney.
Picked up by Greg and Donna at 9.30 and drive off to the Yarra Valley a reasonably well known grape growing region of Victoria. Wineries here date back to 1838 or so and new boutique wineries from only a few years old. Stopped at Healesville, which is in the Yarra Valley wine growing area and had coffee and toast at The Mad Hatter Tea rooms. Old wooden house which we had to walk up wooden side stairs to gain entry. It has a number of rooms set out as shop selling all things Alice in Wonderland and strange bloke wearing hat in Mad Hatter style from the book. After our late breakfast is finished “Mad Hatter” offers to show us a card trick. He performs it in manner which doesn’t make us feel confident it ‘s going to work. But hey presto! It does. Reach or first winery, Tarrawarra, and it has metal cows sculpture by the driveway. Probably to remind me of MK. All the wineries in this area have Cellar Doors where you taste and discuss the wines and can then buy if they are to your liking. So really aimed at people with a love of the grape or at least know what they like. The wines here at Tarrawarra are young and grown from very young vines and unfortunately not particularly good. Whilst we are tasting a party of 6 or so elderly ladies and gents arrive. One of them asks the group if they want to taste some wines before having lunch. One lovely old dear replied “No, I don’t like wine”.
We move on to the De Bortoli winery which has a lot more history and vines going back 40 years or so in age. We try Pinot noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Viognier, Sangiovese (used for Chiantis) Cabernet Merlot and one or 2 others. All have a strange undercurrent of what I can only describe as violets, but the vignioron assures me is actually menthol or eucalyptus. Nice.
By the way checked out the story re drop bears, koalas being permanently stoned. It’s true. They are very fussy eaters and will only eat about 5 types of the many available varieties of eucalyptus leaves. Apparently these leaves contain a drug which affects koalas and keeps them permanently stoned. They don’t like being sober so won’t eat non druggy ones! Anyway sometimes they get so high they lose their grip and fall out of the trees. Look out!……… drop bear. It’s a wonder they breed.
Oh and their claws will rip you to shreds as they are used for gripping bark and their beaks will give you a very nasty bite. So apart from the lacerating, biting and falling on you from a great height they are really cuddly and harmless!
We drive on to Balgownie Winery and have a little cheese and biscuits with our next selections. The cheese guy is really passionate about his cheeses and persuades us to try a selection including goats cheese. Which I really find disgusting, they are so bitter. Well suffice to say one of the goat cheeses is delicious so make a liar of me, see if I care. This set of estate wines, some of which are mixed with shiraz and Merlot varieties from their estates in Bendigo are much stronger fuller and tastier than any we have so far tasted. Bendigo is a wine region north west of Melbourne which has a hotter and drier climate than the Yarra and produces grapes with a fuller, deeper taste. Greg and Donna really like these so I buy them a couple of bottles as a thank you. Stop and have a snack lunch at 2.30 in a little village called ………….. No can’t remember, but it no longer has a railway running through it! We visited one more boutique estate and for the life of me I cannot recall its name. Can’t think why! But they didn’t do half bad wines either. By this time my taste buds have been shot to hell and I’d probably have said a glass of tar had a lovely nose and pleasant and lingering after taste.
Return home and make goodbyes to Donna and Greg. Hope they keep in touch as a lovely couple.
Go for dinner at Sammys Pizza restaurant and treat Craig and his girlfriend Sriani and Jon as a thank you for letting me stay in the house. They all have pizza and I opt for steak. It gets cooked medium not medium rare and tastes like sawdust. Worst meal I’ve had in Oz which is disappointing as generally the quality has been very high. Jon and I head into Melbourne and have a coffee and cake in Chapel St which famous in Melbourne for being the place to be seen and eating. Very very busy but we squeeze into on of the street cafes Jon uses a lot and have a delightful dessert. Leave about 10ish and return home to pack. Tomorrow Sydney.
# posted by desmond22 @ 11:58 pm 
