Day 36 – February 20, 2011 – Melbourne, Australia

After another good night’s sleep docked in Melbourne, the ship was cleared around 7:30am.  We had booked a private tour with Vinetrekker.  We left the ship early with Tom and Martha and our guide wasn’t there yet.  We walked the long way down the pier and intercepted him just before he went through the security gate.  If we had waited, he would have picked us up right at the Cruise Terminal.

Paul Robinson was our guide for the day.  He had an almost brand new mini-van and seated the 4 of us very comfortably.  It would have been crowded had the tour been full (7 people).  This was billed as a public tour but it was only the four of us so it was really a full private tour.   Paul a very good guide and companion for the day.   He drove us through the area of Port Melbourne and out the the Yarra Valley the long way, i.e. through the suburbs instead of just down the highway.  Several times, he detoured down small dirt roads in search of kangaroos.  In the morning, they evaded us.

Our first stop was at the De Bortoli Winery at the north end of the valley.  This was one of the first large companies to establish vineyards and wineries in the valley.   They were also one of the first to open at gourmet restaurant which set the stage for more excellent restaurants in the valley.  Wine tasting in this area is done a bit differently in that there is not a set group of wines you can taste.  You are given a list of the wines that are available for tasting that day and you can chose which ones you want to taste and you can taste as many as you want to.  Because Paul was with us and was well known to the staff, we were offered tastings of some of their special reserve wines.  This area specializes in the lighter wines such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio, sparkling wines, and Shiraz.  Here we also had a tasting of various cheeses, some were local and some were imported.   Tasting wine with the various cheeses showed how food and wine interact.

We liked most of the wines, in fact we bought six bottles.  More about Jan’s out of control wine purchases later.   One of the wines we like was a Sauvignon, not Sauvignon Blanc.  The Shiraz is also a lighter wine from the grapes grown here.  According to Paul that is because this is a cool climate area and the grapes then to be more medium-bodied that at hotter areas.

The next stop was the Yering Station, one of the oldest vineyards and wineries.  The Yarra Valley had an early history of wine in the late 1880’s but because of hard times most of the vineyards were converted into grazing lands for cattle.  The wine tasting room was in the original winery and was an interesting building.  Because it was the third Sunday of the month, there was a Farmers Market at Yering Station.   There were lots of people there.  Again, we were given a list of wines and chose what we wanted to try with Paul asking about several special wines and we could taste.  One of interesting things here was to try three different vintages of a cabernet.  We tried a “raw” or new vintage (2008) and then a 2004 and a 2005.  It was fun to see how age was changing the wine.  There was a big difference if the 2008 and the other two, but even the two older ones had different tastes.

There was a light mist as we walked across the grounds to the Farmers Market.  Since it is late summer in Australia, most of the products were prepared sauces, jellies, chutneys, etc.  There were some fresh fruit like apples but the apples are just beginning to be ripe.

We went to the restaurant at Yering Station.  The building is a dramatic contrast to the old winery.  It is all glass and rock with a stunning view over the fields to the mountains, which were obscured by clouds.  We had a choice of barramundi, sword fish, kingfish, chicken, beef fillet, and kangaroo.  Paul assured us that kangaroo was quite good.   He made a deal with Jan that if she ordered the kangaroo and didn’t like it, he would switch his steak for her kangaroo.  Fred had the kingfish, Martha the swordfish, Tom the barramundi and Jan the kangaroo.  All of the meals were delicious!   We each had a glass of our favorite wine with the meal.

After lunch we drove to Domaine Chandon of French fame.  This the latest of the vineyards and wineries they have established out of France.  Of course, it was sparkling wines that were on the tasting menu here.  This is the most visited winery in the area and it was crowded.  This time there was a set range of wines to taste.  Four of the sparkling wines were presented, a traditional brut, a rose brut, a sparkling Shiraz and a curve (a sweeter sparkling).   We also had small food snack of cheese and two sauces with crackers.

The last winery we visited was the Coldsteam Winery, the smallest of those we visited.  Because it was the 4^th we had visited, I think we were a bit tasted out.  Their most interesting wine was a 2009 Pinot Noir.  In 2009 the Yarra Valley was the site of one of the worst wildfire disasters in Australia’s history.  More than 170 people were killed when they were trapped.  Some vineyards were damaged by fire but more were damaged by smoke as the vines absorbed the smoke and damaged the flavor of the grapes.  This winery decided to bring grapes in from Tasmania and several other areas in Victoria.  They blended the grapes from the various wineries.  Last year, this 2009 vintage was won every gold metal in the capital city competition in Australia.   It was very good.  Now they are going to try to continue trying to do this blend of multiple grapes, especially those from Tasmania.

It was time to start back towards Melbourne.  Paul was determined to find kangaroos so we made several detours down roads where he thought we might find them.  At the very last place, a wild park in the middle of a suburb, he found them.  There was a small mob of gray kangaroos that were close to the road so we finally got to see kangaroos in the wild.

Paul drove us back through the city and we got a good overview of the area besides a beautiful wine tasting experience.  Paul took us right to the cruise terminal which was a good thing because Jan got over enthusiastic about the wine.  We had six bottles from De Bortoli, five bottles from Domaine Chandon, two bottles from Yering Station, and a bottle from Coldstream.  Fred and Tom each carry one box and Jan the extra bottles up to the room.   Now the questions is --- how to we get it home?   More than likely we will be sharing bottles with friends along the way!

After a day of wine tasting, it was time for room service!   We snacked on the canapés our Butler, Rajib, brought us and Fred ordered a club sandwich that we shared,

This is the first time we have had a Butler and now I’m afraid we are spoiled.  We see him everything morning when be brings new fruit, makes sure we know what is going on around the ship (on sea days), has arranged reservations at the restaurants, and overall making our lives easy.  We couldn’t imagine what having a Butler would be like, but we think it is great…at least Rajib is great.