Swan Valley Tours: Wine Aplenty

Organised tours normally send me running for the hills but when a mum from school suggested getting a gaggle of us together for a wine tour in the Swan Valley, I surprised myself with my enthusiasm. It had been a long time since I last visited the region (pre-micro breweries and the like) and even longer since I took earnest interest in wine beyond convivial quaffing of the stuff with friends. I figured this tour might be just the thing to break my wine appreciation drought.

I should mention here that I was once a wine fanatic. I used to buy a bottle of wine a week for the purpose of cellaring and even started building my own wine appreciation website. Over time, I amassed a good collection of whites and reds, and possessed a formidable knowledge of grape varietals and viticultural techniques. I’m sure my promising career as a sommelier could have been taken to stellar heights (ahem…) but motherhood isn’t often compatible with voracious and frequent wine consumption. In fact, I would say that I’ve really only started enjoying wine again in the last year and a half. It helps that my eldest can serve up breakfast to my youngest while I nurse the occasional wine headache.

The friendly & enthusiastic Kerryn from Oakover

More than keen to get reacquainted with the world of wine, I hopped onto the tour bus (a new and clean 24-seater) with thirteen other Mums and made our journey out to the Valley. Some people may be surprised to know that the Swan Valley is actually the oldest wine region in Western Australia; sadly its venerable heritage is often overshadowed by the volume of quality wines produced by the South-West region and the Great Southern. The Swan Valley does have some mean competition in our State but I was happy to see from the tourist map that the region has become home to a lot of new wineries and other attractions which clearly keeps the punters coming back, especially for Spring in the Valley.

Our cheerful bus driver/tour guide Kim announced our first stop which was a small winery called Garbin Wines. Unfortunately, after piling out of the bus, we discovered that the winery had shut up shop for the day due to personal circumstances. Undeterred, Kim suggested popping in on Houghtons instead. I was a little disappointed as I’d been to Houghtons before (pretty sure everyone used to mainline Houghtons White Burgundy at one stage) and while you can’t argue that this historic winery produces some serious wine, I was rather looking forward to making some new discoveries.

Houghtons wine tasting room

Houghtons had updated their property since my last visit and wine tastings were now conducted in a light and bright, modern building which had ample space to showcase not only the wine but local produce and art work. There was a lot of space to walk around and it could have easily accommodated at least three other wine tasting groups. We were corralled into one corner by a young girl who seemed way too disengaged for 11 o’clock in the morning. Only four types of wine (SSB, sparkling, Cab Merlot, Shiraz) were on offer to taste which displeased one of the Mums (we’ll call her JM) who has some considerable wine knowledge and connections. She and I had talked up the virtues of the modern Rosé to another Mum so JM insisted that the girl bring on the Rosé from Moondah Brook (bottled at Houghtons). We wished she hadn’t.

The Moondah Brook Rosé Cabernet was tragic. Some may argue that Rosés themselves are a crime against humanity but when done right it’s an agreeable drop, especially for certain demographics. Unfortunately there was nothing pleasant about this Rosé at all: the nose (raspberry cordial), the palate (syrupy) or the colour (vibrant is an understatement!). I could only describe it as an alcoholic Kool-Aid. On the plus side, Houghtons sparkling was a delight and it was nice to know that their Classic White (formerly the Burgundy) is still a pleaser. It would have been nice to try some of Houghtons other offerings but we started feeling bad about being such an imposition to Miss I-Don’t-Really-Want-To-Be-Here that we gave up and got back on the bus.

Oakover Wines was a completely different experience which restored our faith in customer service. The woman in charge of our tasting group was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about wine that I can just about forgive Oakover for having a Flash intro on their website. She carefully explained each of the six or so wines on offer and didn’t bat an eyelid when JM requested a tasting or two from their premium range. I wasn’t a fan of their SSB (too light for my taste) but Oakover’s classic white hit the fruit note perfectly for me and I spent a good few minutes with my nose stuck in their Cabernet Merlot (herbaceous!). I would have bought a couple of bottles at Oakover if not for suddenly not seeing anyone in my group and fearing that the bus had taken off without me (some childhood fears never abate).

Nigel from Jarrah Ridge

Our third and most eagerly awaited stop was Jarrah Ridge; a lovely small-scale winery. This was where we were on the promise of a cheese platter once we arrived. I’ll admit to being more concerned with feeding myself (I only managed to down half a bowl of muesli in the morning rush) that I didn’t get to appreciate the Jarrah Ridge range as much as I should have. They had a range of very nice, easy-to-drink whites and a light Shiraz called Milly Milly. Customer service was excellent with a very knowledgeable and attentive gentleman at the helm whose goal was to ensure that everyone tried everything and that we all knew how to pronounce viognier properly before we left. Nil wine purchase again (nothing was a must-have) but left with a bag of marinated olives and a selection of cheese. Kudos to Kim and SV Tours for equipping the bus with an esky!

Carilley Estate restaurant area

It was time to have some lunch so Kim got us back into the bus and headed over to Carilley Estate. There was no wine tasting planned here but we were all served a glass of their wine to accompany lunch. I chose their Chardonnay as I’d overheard some ho-humming about their Chenin Blanc before my glass got filled. It was a pleasant drop, but either I had reached my wine consumption threshold by that stage, or the wine wasn’t terribly remarkable. Customer service was fair, but you could have easily been served by a team of ASIMO robots and not really noticed the difference. The lunch platter had something for everyone…

Our last winery visit for the day was to Charlies Estate which has taken the place of Evans & Tate. As such, the site has the old rustic appeal of a well established winery. Sadly, Murphy’s Law prevailed and I ended up mostly on the telephone during this visit, trying to find a solution to get my unwell toddler daughter out of daycare and into our home (hubby came to the rescue in the end and my little dumpling was right as rain by the following day). I well and truly needed a drink by then and chose a sufficiently drinkable SSB and a signature Shiraz to chill out with. Nougat sampling was an added bonus but I was a little disappointed to find that the nougat were from Golden Boronia. They do make awesome nougat but again, I was looking forward to trying something new.

We sadly ran out of time and had to drop our visit to Elmar’s brewery but still got our chocolate fix at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory (two complimentary truffles). It was quite amusing to see that their Valley store was doing a roaring trade, as was their flagship store down South when I was visiting a few years ago. I guess most people like chocolate or at least know someone who does. I myself stocked up for the long weekend and my hips are regretting it now.

Overall, the tour was a great day out and with a bus load of fun company, it beats trying to do your own navigating and sightseeing in the Valley (you do need to cover an expansive area to see a good amount of attractions). Retrospect is always a darling; I would have suggested a few of my own Valley favourites from years back such as Sittella and Chesters which both have great food and wine as well as an impressive estate. Other than Oakover, I wasn’t too bowled over by any of the wine tasting but at the same time I’m happy to report that all wines (except that Rosé) were certainly better than a poke in the eye. The tour worked out to be just over $100 per head (including transport from our locality) and we did get to sample a lot of wine and eat enough food to keep us sane (and relatively sober).

If the tour’s ultimate goal is to whet one’s appetite for the Swan Valley, then it certainly achieved that. I would however recommend visiting only three wineries and perhaps having lunch at a brewery, or including a wine tasting at the winery that will serve lunch. There’s really only so much wine you can drink before it all starts tasting the same. The Chocolate Factory is more or less a novelty visit but I can’t see too many people having a problem with popping in. It does have a nice cafe and makes a fine rest stop before the journey home.

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