Of course there had to be a wine tour in Australia, but instead of going to the so well known Hunter Valley, we chose to do it in the Yarra Valley. One reason was the recommendation of my friend who had grown up here and the other that it was on the way to our main stop, Wilsons Prom in the south.
The drive from Melbourne to Yarra Valley was only a bit over an hour. We drove straight to the De Bortoli Estate which is a very welcoming and friendly family estate with not only a beautiful winery and good wine, but also very good food. We were thinking of having lunch there, but were out of luck as all tables were booked out for the whole day. So instead we went straight to the wine tasting and that was something different than in NZ. While in NZ you usually got 3-5 wines to taste, here they just gave you every single one on the list! So half way through we had to decide that Mathias will continue driving and I will finish the tasting :). I actually liked their Bubbles very much and to my suprise I was incredibly impressed by their dessert wine ‚Noble One‘. I usually don’t like dessert wines as I find them too sweet, but this was really something else. So smooth with a delicious mild sweetness. As I then learned, this is one of the most awarded dessert wines world wide since 30 years and the wine that makes this estate so known internationally. Look it up online, you might have had it :).
Next on the list was Domain Chandon, which you might correctly guess was established by the French Moet et Chandon. The estate was accordingly high class and yet just as welcoming as the other. Or maybe we were just luckily, as our waiter was half German and very eager to practise his German with us. The tasting was of course outstanding. The Sparkling Pinot Shiraz tasted like heaven to me and I had to discover with a heavy heart that it is only available in Australia, as here they are allowed to mix the grapes. Moet et Chandon in France is tied to the French regulations under which they are not allowed to do that. Well, that gave us the best reason to buy a bottle to enjoy it on our planned Great Ocean Road sunset.
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