Six Wineries Later....

Although I stayed in town this weekend I can't really complain.  On Saturday I spent the morning running "long" in a different direction taking me to places I had never seen before.  I must say I love the one way running I've been doing.  I set out and run and when I've run long enough I find my nearest form of public transportation and make my way back to my place. This Saturday was no exception.  Instead of running on the Capital City Trail I decided to stick to the Merri Creek trail and I headed west and north (instead of south and east).  I ended up on Sydney road in North Coburg and made my way back home.  Before I boarded my bus I picked up a great coffee from a french bakery.  After a quick shower I caught the tram and train to Prahan and met Samantha for lunch.  I then snooped around Chapel street again (and found the Dan Murphy so I bought some wine in honour of RWN's up coming birthday) before heading into the city for some errands.  In the evening I met Katherine and her friends at a restaurant/bar on South Bank.

This morning I met up with Zane and Danielle (two fellow Canadians on exchange just like me) and we headed out to the Yarra Valley for the Shortest Lunch.   It is an event put on by the smaller wineries of the Yarra Valley.  Sixteen wineries were involved providing free wine tasting  and small meals available for purchase.  Since I'm in the southern hemisphere these days June 21st marked the shortest day of the year - hence the shortest lunch event.

We saw this sign at each of the wineries we visited along with a free breathometer.

Our first stop was at Panton Hill Winery.  To our surprise the wine maker was actually Canadian although he's been living in Australia for 30 years.  We were lucky enough to have our tasting presented to us by him and he entertained us with his vast knowledge of wine.  Along with the tasting we sampled their "Sardinian Slow Cooked Lamb in Fennel".  I left the first winnery with a lot more knowledge about wine, a fennel, and a great bottle of red wine.

Me and Danielle 

Me, Zane, and Danielle

Our next stop was at Lovegrove Winery. As we drove in we saw a Kangaroo sitting in the middle of the vineyard.  Danielle and I tried to take photos but a large NOISY van went by and it hopped away quickly.  You'll have to take my work for it.  When I got into the cellar door I was taken a back. The host seemed a bit rude and not all that interested in us sampling his wine.  But thankfully  in the end the man who gave us our wine tasting (a different one than we met at first) was very informative.  Here we sampled their Boeuf Bourguignon (Burgundy Beef) and enjoyed their wine.  I left with another bottle of red wine.

Our third stop was at Yileena Park.  Here we encountered a man that liked that I was from Vancouver so we again got great service.  As you can see from the photos below the surrounding area was beautiful.  At this winery we had Penne Pasta with Mediterranean Sauce.  We also spotted another Kangaroo.  Although it wasn't in the vineyard I was able to take a photo of it on the grounds.

Yileena Park grounds - if you look closely there is a kangaroo in the middle of the photo

Yileena Park Vineyard

Our fourth stop was Steels Creek Estate.  Steels Creek Estate was badly damaged in the fires back in February and you can see signs of this damage as you drive onto the property.  The wine at Steels Creek was great and so too was the beef and eggplant we sampled.

Zane and Danielle

Zane using the Breathometer - don't worry he was always under the legal limit 

(which is even lower than it is back at home)

The Steels Creek Grounds not damaged by fire

Our fifth stop was at Allinda Winery.  I was impressed with Allinda for a variety of reasons.  The first was the incredible view out the back.  I could have spent all afternoon looking at it.  The next reason was the wine maker Al.  It was easy to see that he made his wine out of love.  Al took us through our wine tasting and then we sampled marinated garlic prawns.  At this winery we ran into Zane and Danielle's neighbours in Australia who happen to also be Canadian.  Apparently there were four canadian groups rooming the vineyards on this day.

The View from Allinda

Al the Wine Maker

Our sixth stop was at Miller's Dixons Creek Estate .  It was the first winery that I had already tasted  at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival back in March.  It was interesting for me to double check my comments on their wine from that day in March.  I still liked the wine I had already liked but I appreciated one of their ones more today then I did back in March.  Perhaps it had something to do with drinking red wine in the heat (it was hot in March) or perhaps it was because I had sampled far too many wines at the festival a few months back.

By the time we left Miller's it was after five o'clock and the event finished at 5.  We didn't even get a chance to  sample food at Miller's.  However back at Allinda's we were told that the Yering Farm Winery often stayed open later sampling their wine and selling their hand made apple pies (with FRESH apples being picked from their property).  Knowing this, and knowing that we weren't too far way we headed there. Unfortunately by the time we arrived all the pies were gone and they were in fact closed for the day.  

Overall it was another great weekend in Australia.  Thankfully I have only one more week of work before I'm on school holidays again.  It will be a long week though as my report cards go home to parents this week and I have parent teacher interviews.  Thankfully I can see some light (and SUN) at the end of this week.