Yarra Valley Wine Tasting

One of the reasons for coming to Melbourne for me was to go to Domaine Chandon.  Having been a part of the original Chandon Club when Moet-Hennessy opened up the first French winery in Napa in the 1970s I knew about the Australian winery and really wanted to visit.  (It did not exist when I visited Melbourne in August 1981,)

Domaine Chandon Australia is now one of six satellites making sparkling wines around the world for Moet.  (The others are in Argentina, Napa Valley, Brazil, India and China.)

they bought an old farm and the rest is history

tasting six sparkling wines

the tasting bar

tables even look like champagne corks!

our tour guide Randy took our picture

Then it was off to Soumah Winery, for lunch.  (Oh yeah, we tasted 6 wines before lunch -- and got to choose anything on the tasting menu to accompany lunch.

this was just the appetizer --
chicken with sundried tomatoes over cous cous for lunch

the view from the restaurant

We were ahead of schedule, so we made a quick stop at Rochford, not for a wine tasting but for some shopping.  As we walked to the tasting room/boutique, we could see workers topping off barrels.

barrels

hard at work

The winery was getting ready for a big concert in conjunction with this weekend's Harvest Festival.  

Off to our third winery of the day, Helen and Joey Estate.  We started our tasting with a can of chardonnay.   Six wines later, the girls were climbing up on the unicorn.

canned wine

Pinot Noir grapes

their logo unicorn 
at the edge of the tasting area

the winery currently sits at the top of the hill
(they are building a brand new winery at the bottom of the hill)

Off again to our final winery, Helen Hill, where we were supposed to taste six wines.  We were tasting a sparkling blanc de noir, when the cellar door manager said we were close enough to 4 o'clock, that he wanted to add one more wine.  (His tradition is to celebrate RGT [Roman Grace Time], so he broke out a special sparkling wine for us.)  We also got to taste a special reserve shiraz here, so there was a total of 8 wines.  

He noticed that Scott and I were pouring out wines after one or two sips... all our practice in Napa paid off.  We never would have survived the day's 26 tastings and one glass of wine with lunch otherwise.  

their outdoor tasting area

their logo hawk

crushing operations going on
behind the scenes