Food Tours · Tour

Three Wineries, Not Five, and the Kangaroos on the Golf Course

The pitch is a subtraction: three wineries instead of five, with the time each one deserves. Everything else follows from that. Chandon comes first, and it is a guided tasting rather than a queue at a bar: five sparkling foundation wines in the dedicated tasting room, with the story of how a French house ended up in the Yarra Valley, plus time for the terrace, the homestead and the shop. Cool mornings and slow autumns here are what give these wines their edge, and tasting them where they are made is the point. Lunch is at Ai Fiori Trattoria at Soumah, and it is northern Italian: a shared antipasti board of cured meats and pickled and roasted vegetables with crostini, then a choice of four mains. Pork scallopini with lemon, caper and crisp prosciutto; grilled barramundi with beans and salsa verde; twelve-hour beef rib ragu with trottole; or a roast carrot and parsnip risotto. The glass of wine that comes with it is the one you liked best in the tasting beforehand. De Bortoli closes the day, with a cheese and wine pairing in the VIP Trophy Room, and Noble One, one of the most awarded dessert wines Australia produces. If De Bortoli is closed for a wedding, the alternative is a cheese board and wine flight at St Huberts. And the kangaroos. On the way through, the bus pulls into the Heritage Golf and Country Club, where a large mob lives on the Jack Nicklaus courses. The operator puts the odds at ninety-nine per cent, and it is usually the most photographed thing of the day. Seven hours. Six people at most, four minimum, in English, with hotel pick-up and drop-off in the city, an air-conditioned minivan and a driver-guide who has been doing this for more than twenty years. Over-18s. City pick-ups only, not suburbs. Tell them about dietary requirements at booking. They also send you dinner recommendations for the evening, which is a small thing and a good one.