We went to the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges region today for its world-class wine. We were greeted by herbs of black and white cows, like those on Ben & Jerry ice cream tubs.
Some were relaxed amidst the lush greenery.
Some pissed off for no reason.
Sheep! I had never seen the black head species until today. They looked so cute! When I walked towards them, they just ran off. I reckon they witnessed too many of their friends turned into lamb chops.
The Yarra Valley is recognised as one of the world’s great wine growing regions. It is also the place where the Victorian wine industry was born in 1838 when a vineyard was planted at what is now Yering Station. Today the Yarra Valley is home to over 55 wineries, and is Australia’s finest region for pinot noir and sparkling wines.
We went straight to De Bortoli Wines, as we heard rave reviews about the 75 years old winery, and the international awards that they had won.
They had acres of vineyard, man. This was my first time seeing such a big plot land just to make wine.
I could only imagine how this would look like with all the grapes ready for plucking.
They had a new Cheese Maturation and Tasting Room within the cellar. The cheese served were beautiful, and much tastier than anything you could find outside.
The restaurant there was fully booked due to Father's Day so we scouted everywhere for lunch, and ended up at Yarrawood.
Having your wife with you in this beautiful setting, what more could a man ask for?
I loved this little red cottage on the hill. Imagine waking up in one of these everyday, greeted by the morning sun and rows of chardonnay grapes across the vineyard.
It was a little cafe with not many choices. I just had a simple pasta with chicken.
We also went to Warratina Lavender Farm, situated at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges.
They grew many species of lavenders there. This was the Munstead variety.
There was this little bee so busy at work that I had to gave him some credit for it.
The Lavender Harvest Festival would be held on the 4th Sunday of November each year. We were 2.5 months early to see them demonstrating old-time crafts and skills of yester-year along with food, wine, music and dancing.
Slightly disappointed with the lavender farm, we placed all our hopes for the herb farm at Lillydale.
The farm specialised in herbal insect repellent, medicinal herbs, fragrant herbs and culinary plants. It was quite small and we didn't get anything in there.
Time to head home.
Eliss had to have the famous Greco cakes at Crown Casino whenever she visits Melbourne. They had refurbished and replaced the dessert chiller with a huge range antipasto.
We ordered 2 cakes to share. You cold sense her excitement when they arrived.
We sat at the bar counter, facing the hot kitchen. We were trying to learn some tricks from the chefs as they whipped up gigantic T bone steaks, seafood risotto and steak skewers.
Now we know which are the most popular dishes and how they are prepared. You know now as well.
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