The One says that I must make good use of the opportunities that life presents, so on finding myself at something of a loose end shortly after arriving in Melbourne I booked myself a day trip on the Wine Bus.
Nine visitors together with our friendly, informative guide and driver, Paul, set off on a very wet Sunday morning to visit four wineries in the Yarra valley. My choice of tour was, of course, influenced by the region providing me with an easy answer to this week's challenge. When I heard the last of the four was to be Yering Farm my choice was made even simpler; I was just left hoping they produced something worth buying.
The four wineries demonstrated very well the variety of approaches that they take towards attracting tourists. The first was Domain Chandon owned as the name suggests by LVMH, the international luxury brands group whose 'M' stands for Moet. The wines they make here include what the French won't let the Australians, or anyone else for that matter, call Champagne. The marketing approach was polished and perhaps a little too well organised. Unlike other wineries the question here was 'which one would you like to try?'. It was possible pay to try other wines, but later in the day that was certainly not the expectation, especially at the second one Oakridge, where it was more a case of 'you need try all of these!', including their new Arneis variety (a white grape from Piedmont) which was not even on the list. Good lunch, too.
The third was Soumah, where they are attempting to make Italian styles of wine in this cool climate region. This was more of a boutique winery with a nice, family feel. The wine was pleasant, but the highlight of the visit was the live music provided by Steve and the Jammers. (I think it was Steve.) There was only one 'Jammer' who played the washboard and approximated harmonies.
Finally to Yering Farm, where I found:
Week Y (2014), Yering Farm, Reserve Series Pinot Noir, 2006. 13%
$40 (~£22) from the cellar door and listed at $50 on the website.
This was a lovely place with an old timber building housing the cellar door and tasting room, where weddings and other functions, are hosted overlooking the vineyards.
They had three ranges of wines, each with three to six wines, called Farm Yard, Premium and Reserve. This one came from the Reserve Series and was called Winemaker's Choice on the list in the shop.
As you can see from the homemade publicity shot to he left, this particular Australian producer does not feel inclined to meet EU labeling requirements, nor should he, so it is not surprising that the information provided is minimal.
If it had a back label it would probably say something about fine rich tannins, silky and rich fruits and subtle oak. I tasted this over the course of a couple of evenings and found it smoothly interesting and pleasing, at first, more so on the return.
Whilst there is no label on the bottle there is an image of one on the website, however, I appreciate this is not a very good picture so to make up for that, here's a much better picture of a possum that I met at the winery:
Nine visitors together with our friendly, informative guide and driver, Paul, set off on a very wet Sunday morning to visit four wineries in the Yarra valley. My choice of tour was, of course, influenced by the region providing me with an easy answer to this week's challenge. When I heard the last of the four was to be Yering Farm my choice was made even simpler; I was just left hoping they produced something worth buying.
The four wineries demonstrated very well the variety of approaches that they take towards attracting tourists. The first was Domain Chandon owned as the name suggests by LVMH, the international luxury brands group whose 'M' stands for Moet. The wines they make here include what the French won't let the Australians, or anyone else for that matter, call Champagne. The marketing approach was polished and perhaps a little too well organised. Unlike other wineries the question here was 'which one would you like to try?'. It was possible pay to try other wines, but later in the day that was certainly not the expectation, especially at the second one Oakridge, where it was more a case of 'you need try all of these!', including their new Arneis variety (a white grape from Piedmont) which was not even on the list. Good lunch, too.
The third was Soumah, where they are attempting to make Italian styles of wine in this cool climate region. This was more of a boutique winery with a nice, family feel. The wine was pleasant, but the highlight of the visit was the live music provided by Steve and the Jammers. (I think it was Steve.) There was only one 'Jammer' who played the washboard and approximated harmonies.
Finally to Yering Farm, where I found:Week Y (2014), Yering Farm, Reserve Series Pinot Noir, 2006. 13%
$40 (~£22) from the cellar door and listed at $50 on the website.
This was a lovely place with an old timber building housing the cellar door and tasting room, where weddings and other functions, are hosted overlooking the vineyards.
They had three ranges of wines, each with three to six wines, called Farm Yard, Premium and Reserve. This one came from the Reserve Series and was called Winemaker's Choice on the list in the shop.
As you can see from the homemade publicity shot to he left, this particular Australian producer does not feel inclined to meet EU labeling requirements, nor should he, so it is not surprising that the information provided is minimal.
If it had a back label it would probably say something about fine rich tannins, silky and rich fruits and subtle oak. I tasted this over the course of a couple of evenings and found it smoothly interesting and pleasing, at first, more so on the return.
Whilst there is no label on the bottle there is an image of one on the website, however, I appreciate this is not a very good picture so to make up for that, here's a much better picture of a possum that I met at the winery:
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