Yarra Valley Wine Tasting

After class on Friday, we dropped Steph and El off at the airport for their trip to visit El's family in Adelaide. What did the kids do when the parents left for the weekend? Straight to the alcohol.

Jen, Josh and I drove out to the Yarra Valley which is only about an hour outside Melbourne. Our first stop was Domaine Chandon's winery here called Greenpoint, one of the more renowned wineries in the region. (Dad, the Reserve Chard they had was one of my favorites so I bought you a bottle. If I can figure out how to ship it to you I will. If not, I'll have to drink it. Oh damn!)

Our second stop was a small dairy where we tasted some great goat cheeses, but since it was nearly 90 degrees out, we figured there was no way to keep the cheese good in a hot car.

Our third stop was Yering Station, the oldest winery in the Yarra Valley. Josh did his research beforehand and directed us here based on the solid reviews of the Pinot Noir. We weren't let down, and again I walked out having bought a few bottles... (The whole "free" concept was lost on me... I taste good wine, I buy it. That's the whole point I guess.)

Our fourth stop was a new addition to the scene called Innocent Bystander, where the name alone was reason to stop. (Great label design too.)

The Australian concept of a "tasting" is essentially to run you through the entire list of wines, with a very generous pour for each wine. I had to plead with some of the last places we visited not to keep pouring me free wine by telling them "I have to drive the three of us home in one piece." At this point, we decided that it was time to head to dinner and again we relied on Josh for the restaurant choice. And man, oh man did he choose well!

We went to a small hilltop restaurant at the Outlook Hill winery called Cru. We opted to sit outside on the patio where we did have to battle the head and sun, but as the evening approached we had a great view of the entire valley and the sunset. Before we ordered, the chef came out to speak with us and let us know what he suggested. (He is originally from Tasmania and gave us some great ideas for where to go next weekend on our trip there.) For our appetizers we had mussels in a cream sauce and figs stuffed with goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto. (The figs were pretty much the best thing I've had in a long, long time.) Each of our main courses impressed us as well. All in all, each one of us said it was one of the most amazing meals period.

Relaxing at the Greenpoint Winery.

Jen and Josh at Cru.The view from our table at Cru.

All three of us.