Tuesday 13th December 2022
It was a bit of a tense start to the day! We had booked a wine tour and needed to be at the meeting point at 9.50am. The laundrette in our hotel opens at 7am, and apparently the wash and dry cycle are both 45 minutes. So we should have had plenty of time to wash our clothes. However, it ended up taking considerably longer! At 9am, our clothes were still spinning around in the dryer. Fortunately there was someone in reception, who told us we could stop the dryer if we tugged the door hard enough. Luckily this worked, and our clothes were completely dry. It did mean we were now running late, so ended up ordering an Uber to the bus pick up point and got there about 20 minutes early (so we’d probably just about had enough time to walk but didn’t want to risk it).
Our first stop was Lancaster Wines, a very picturesque winery. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best when we were there, so it was a bit on the chilly side. We tasted a few different wines, which actually ended up being my favourite wines of the tour. We also shared a huge cheeseboard, which was very good. The chilli cheese in particular was amazing.
Our next vineyard was the Pinelli Estate. This vineyard is owned by a family that originated from Italy, and the owner was very friendly and chatty. Pete and I noticed the huge, very cheaply priced bottles behind the bar and at the end of the tasting asked if they were cooking wines or something. Apparently not. The only one available to try was the Tawny (the Australian version of port). He gave us a sample and it was surprisingly good! Obviously we had to purchase a bottle – 2 litres for just $16 (about £9)!
We then continued to Mandoon Estate. This was a much bigger winery, and we tasted a few of their wines before eating lunch at Homestead Brewery. We had a shared charcuterie plate to start, then a choice from a few different options. Pete went for the burger and I chose a chorizo pizza. The burger was pretty good but the pizza was unfortunately burnt and very disappointing.
After lunch we went to Mash brewing. I’m not hugely into beers and this place felt a bit like a regular bar so wasn’t my favourite stop on the tour. We got to sample a few beers of our choice here, but none of them particularly stood out for me. They did have a cool looking tree outside though!
Our final stop was The Margaret River Chocolate Company, where we were able taste a few different chocolate based liquors before going across to the factory and tasting sons of the chocolate. I very much enjoyed this stop, and the chocolate was lovely.
We then returned back to Perth, and walked back to the hotel for what we thought were the final two episodes of Manifest on Netflix. The ending didn’t seem right at all. We then found out they’ve only released half the season, with the second half to follow on a yet to be announced date. Very disappointing! We’ll need to find something else to watch on the days we get back to our hotel before bedtime.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 