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Published: March 27th 2008
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On Saturday, Nichole, Brenna and I went on a wine tour through the Yarra Valley! It was an amazing day and I can't wait to do it again when Mom and Barry come to visit 😊
We loaded onto the bus in the city around 930am and headed out to the valley. Our tour guide's name was Richard and he played really good music on the ride to the valley. He played Hotel California (the live version...the BEST version), Queen, some other stuff...BUT he doesn't like the Moody Blues (Sorry Dad...I'm on your side, Moody Blues are awesome!) It was a little over an hour drive to the valley.
Our first winery was a small one called Yering Farms. They do everything there (growing the fruit used in the wine, labeling, bottling, everything) and it was really nice there. We all sat in the tasting room and tried 4 different wines. Richard showed us how to tell how much alcohol content was in a wine and how sweet or dry it was by its "legs", how to properly swirl wine, smell wine, all that good stuff. With our first sip we had to just drink it, our second we
had to hold the wine in our mouth for a while, and the last sip we had to do this weird squishy thing with our face. We couldn't do it because we were laughing too hard. My favorite wine there was a chardonnay that had honeysuckle in it. It was so good! We took some pictures of the vineyard, then got back in the bus and headed to the next winery.
Second winery was called Rochford. It was a bit bigger. We had lunch there too. I had penne pasta with this really good tomato sauce and bread...and TEA...and wine of course. Chardonnay again. We tried another four wines, but I can't think of any that really stood out to me. I remember a red one tasting a lot like wood. They had a really nice gift shop as well. After lunch, we went up this long scary spiral staircase up to the lookout and had a great view of the vineyard. Another mini photo shoot, then we made our way down to the little fudge shop where we were fatties and got lots of fudge. Passionfruit fudge is AMAZING.
Third winery was called Yering Station (no relation
rochford, winery #2
view from the lookout to Yering Farm). As we went on in the day, the wineries got bigger. Here, we tried a wine called Tawny. It's a red wine that has brandy in it. We were intimidated because it smelled EXTREMELY STRONG. But, we tried it and the aftertaste was really almondy. It was good. It was also an artspace and had a lot of really nice landscape paintings. This winery was really picturesque and so there were a lot of photo opportunities. They had a few sculptures and a pond that were really pretty as well.
Our final winery was called Chandon. It's a sparkling wine winery and it was very fancy. Here we got to see how the wine is made. We saw the trucks come in with the grapes and everything. We also went into the Riddling Room which is a place that each bottle goes into (pretty much air tight) and stays for 25 days. Here, someone comes in 3 times a day and turns each bottle 1/4 of a turn. This helps get the yeast and everything settled and makes the wine tasty and ready to drink. I've never seen so many wine bottles in my whole life.
me!
at the lookout Then, we went into the restaurant area. There we were able to try a whole glass of sparkling wine and have cheese and bread. DELICIOUS! The wine was really tasty and the bubbles were really pretty. Then we went outside to take pictures of the vineyard and it's the prettiest view I've ever seen. The mountains were in the background and then the vineyard was right in front. My pictures don't even do it justice, but it was amazing. Mom and Barry (and MAYBE dad in June?) I can't wait for you to see this place, it's gorgeous!
After that we headed back to the city to be dropped off. We were all super sleepy but were so happy that we went on the tour. It was one of the best days I've had since I've been here. So much fun. Now, I have more of an appreciate for all the work that goes into making wine. I used to think that it was really snobby and I didn't get why people make such a fuss about it. I don't think I'll ever be a wine snob, but it does take a lot of hard work to make that
me and nichole
this is our engagement photo...
JUST KIDDING! wine taste good. Enjoy the pictures! Love you all and miss you!
xoxo,
Amanda
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Brenna
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YAY!
Loved it! :)