5 Bottles of Wine Later...

The last four weekends have been pretty jam packed for me.  Four weekends ago I was in Canberra, two and three weekends ago I was in New Zealand, and last weekend I was touring around with my dad.  This weekend I decided it was time to stay closer to home.

On Saturday  morning after a run (yes, I actually RAN this weekend) I headed into the city to catch a train to Frankston to hang out with my friend Jessica and her family.  Jessica and I go way back and while she is Canadian, she is married to an Aussie and is raising her Aussie girls.  Jessica was kind enough to take me for a little road trip on the Mornington Peninsula.  We ended up at Arthur's Seat which is at the top of Red Hill.  The views of the Peninsula looking back towards Melbourne in the distance were incredible.  It was also pretty cool to see how far away from places we were.  

View from Red Hill

Can you see how far away I am from the places near by?

On Sunday I took the train to meet up with Zane and Danielle.  Both Zane and Danielle are teachers from Edmonton although only Zane is officially on exchange and Danielle is only working casually here.  Danielle and I had talked about touring the wineries in the Yarra Valley for the past few months and so finally the day arrived.

Here comes my train!

Our first stop was at Sutherland Estates.  The leaves were going through the autumn process and were stunning.  The entire area was stunning including the building we wine tasted in.  

Sutherland Estate property

Danielle and I inside the Sutherland Estate winery sampling the first glass of wine of the day.

After sampling a few wines I ended up purchasing a bottle of their unwooded chardonnay.  

Another view of the area.

The next stop was at the Shantell Winery.  While the wine was quite tasty I didn't purchase any from them.

By this time it was getting close to 1:00 pm - lunch time.  Zane, Danielle and I headed to Mandala Wines for more tasting and lunch.  The tasting went well and the lunch was great too.  I ended up buying two bottles of a white wine that I had actually purchased during the Melbourne Food and Wine festival last month.  I figure it's always good to have a nice host bottle of wine (or two) on hand.

From Mandala we headed over to Punt Road.  I remembered tasting Punt Road at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival last month but I couldn't remember if I liked it or not.  Well the funny thing is I ended up buying a bottle of their Pinot Noir and when I got home I checked my records and  I did like it at the festival.  I figure at least I'm consistent. 

From Punt Road we headed to Domaine Chandon for more tasting.  I didn't buy anything there but I did take a photo of their grounds.

Domain Chandon grounds.

From Domain Chandon we headed to one last winery of the day  Evelyn County Estate.  There we sat on these great stools at the bar and tasted wine for over an hour.  The man serving us was great and had so many stories to tell us.  It was an excellent way to end a day of wine tasting, and I even managed to convince myself to purchase a fifth bottle of wine for the day. ;-)

Overall it was a great day and an excellent weekend.  Zane and Danielle were kind enough to wait with  me for the train, and I was lucky enough to get off the train and right onto my bus.  It was also great to see Jessica and her family too. The only thing I can complain about is that tomorrow I head back to work and I must wait patiently for the Canucks to start playing again.  But then again, next weekend I'll be reunited with my dad in Sydney.  Until then...