Yarra Valley Wine Tour

February 19, 2013 - Tuesday

          We got a good nights sleep and were ready for another wine tour - we know -how many wine tours can any 2 people do?  Well the last one was in New Zealand - so they are different.  We had to walk around the corner to meet our tour and ended up waiting about 20 extra minutes.  So we talked to some fellow winos.  One was a young lady from Paris traveling on her own.  She said our accent was easier to understand than the Australians.  That is the second time we have been told we have an accent.  Our guide and bus soon arrived and we drove to the Yarra Valley - took about an hour.

The first winery we visited was Yering Station.  This winery was started by a Scot.  We were

taught how to see the wine ( color and clarity), swirl the wine and look for it's "legs", smell the wine and finally taste the wine with the tip of our tongue and lips and the swish it around to really taste the wine.  We had as many samples as we wanted.

The outside of the Yering Station.

Balgownie Estate was our second stop.  We tasted several whites and reds and sparkling wines and then settled in for lunch.

This was the building where we had our lunch overlooking the valley.

Part of our view.

Lunch!!  Porterhouse steak on a bed of onion mash ( mash potatoes and onions) and green beans.  Of course a glass of wine came with it.

These three were out front - since they are bronze they don't travel very far.

After lunch we drove to Yering Farm - very rustic, but good wine.

Sampling some more wine.

Yering Farms view.

Last stop - Chandon - wine and sparking wine!! 

Little info about Chandon

They make the sparkling wines, white and red.

The second fermentation is what gives the wine it's bubbles.

This is where the bottles are on their side and are turned - how many times and how long depends on the kind of wine being made.

More info

Time for a glass of the bubbly with a little cheese and bread.

Vines with the tradional roses on the ends.

Beautiful valley

Enjoying our glasses of sparkling wine.

Since we had such a big lunch we walked the city when we got back and found the perfect ending.

This is the old post office in the city (GPO) renovated for shops.  They have used LED lights to give it a special sparkle at night.