Welcome to your day 2 in Melbourne!
There are plenty of things to do within Melbourne, but the outskirts are not to be missed too! One of the best ways to experience Melbourne is through a trip to Yarra Valley, the famous wine region. Australia is a known wine producer in the world and Yarra Valley is one of the places where the magic happens. Let's get tipsy and full in this blog post!
While browsing for a good Yarra Valley package, I came across KKDay. KKDay is one of the leading travel tour agencies in Asia; I've been seeing a lot of Blogger friends book their tours through KKDay as well so I decided to go for it. I've browsed a couple of travel websites, but so far, KKDay has the lowest rate for the Yarra Valley food and wine tour package I preferred. KKDay is a partner of GoWest Tours, one of the leading tour service providers in Melbourne.
Let's go to Yarra Valley!
At about 8:20 am, we were picked up by a coaster from our hotel. GO West Tours provide free pick- ups within the city centre; outside of it, you'd have to go to a pick- up point that they will email to you when you have completed your purchase.
Some interesting facts about Yarra Valley:
1. Yarra Valley is considered as one of the best wine regions.
2. You will find Moet Chandon's winery here!
3. The great Yarra River runs across the valley
4. During the Gold Rush period, a period in Melbourne where locals discovered abundant deposits of gold in the ground that it attracted tons of locals and migrants to the settle in the city, a lot thought that the deposits are concentrated at Yarra Valley, but turned out it actually was in Ballarat. It may not have as much gold as Ballarat, but it blossomed into one of the best wine regions in the world!
FIRST STOP: YARRA FARM FRESH
There was a period in Australia when the demand for wine was extremely low that it forced some of the wineries to halt production while others ended folding up shop. But as they say, when a window closes, another one opens; eventually, some turned to farming and this is how Yarra's produce industry began.
Yarra Farm Fresh is one of the produce markets located near the entrance to Yarra Valley. Our itinerary here is to sample freshly- squeezed and bottle juices, freshly- picked fruits, a multi- awarded nougat recipe, and to shop, of course!
I noticed that everything is big in Australia; they have gigantic fruits and vegetables, and best of all, they're so cheap!
Brussel Sprouts. Tastes amazing if sauteed in oyster sauce! Yum! How I wish I was able to take some home!
P.S. I loved the juicy pears and AMAZING nougat I got from Yarra Farm Fresh!
SECOND STOP: DE BORTOLI WINERY
Let the drinking begin! :)
Our second stop for the day was De Bortoli, one of the biggest and oldest wineries in the region.
De Bortoli Winery
De Bortoli is still a family run and owned winery that spans 3 generations; it started with Vittorio and Giuseppina De Bortoli, Italian migrants who have settled at Yarra Valley and opened what eventually became Australia's 6th largest wine producer.
De Bortoli specializes in a variety of wines, but they're very well- known for their dessert and white wines; the dessert wine is so good, I wanted to take a bottle home, but alas, not enough luggage space! Our wine tasting was accompanied by water crackers and smooth cheeses.
THIRD STOP: YARRA VALLEY DAIRY
Yarra Valley is also known for dairy; pure, fresh, creamy, smooth dairy, specifically cheeses! Yarra Valley is one of the known dairy shops in the region and they're famous for the ash- coated cheese that's full of smoky flavor! The ash is derived from coconut husk and aside from giving it that unique color and taste, it also helps preserve the cheese longer. I wanted to hoard cheeses, but I was still 14 days away from coming home so...le sad!
FOURTH STOP: ROCHERFORD WINE ESTATES
Rocherford is one of the leading wine estates in the valley; it is also where we had lunch. Rocherford is known for their reds and amazing food; I had a choice of 16-hour roasted oyster blade beef. Sorry, no photo because I devoured it right away. :p
FIFTH STOP: YARRA YERRING WINERY
Yarra Yerring is another famous all- Australian wine brand; they have very good reds, specifically Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon; by this time, I was tipsy, yet happy. Also, Yarra Yerring has such a picturesque lawn!
SIXTH STOP: YARRA VALLEY CHOCOLATERIE AND ICE CREAMERY
This tour is much- awaited by everyone and it's you can clearly see why because it was all about chocolate tasting!
We sampled their new artisan chocolates infused with various fruit and floral flavors. I loved Violet and Forest Berries, white chocolate with violet flowers and dried raspberries; such a delight! I don't remember finishing a huge block of chocolate in my entire life, except during that trip.
Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery prides themselves of pure, fresh, locally- sourced ingredients and products with no shortcuts; when they say pure chocolate, it's pure chocolate and I could taste it; there was none of the sharp, cloyingly artificial sugar taste that I get from most commercial chocolate brands. Oh, their ice cream is TDF! Wish we spent more time here so I could have eaten more ice cream lol!
We left Yarra Valley by 3pm and by 4:30pm, the husband and I were already back in our hotel, just on time, as the tour company has stated in the email.
Some things I loved about this tour:
1. Even if it's a wine- tasting tour, we still got to try some of the best foods Yarra Valley has to offer.2. Go West Tours is punctual, drivers and guides are respectful, and I love their story- telling portion during the tour.3. There's free WiFi inside Go West Tours coasters!4. KKDay, by far, is the most affordable website to go to book a Yarra Valley experience.
I didn't have any negative experience during the tour!
Again, I booked my Yarra Valley Food and Winery Tour via KKDay. Click HERE if you want to see the full inclusions of the tour, and more reasons to visit!
Visit KKDAY PHILIPPINES on Facebook for more information about this tour and to check out their other tour offerings around the world.
I highly recommend this tour to anyone who love food, wine, nature, and basically anyone who has a passion for the finest things in life!
Tomorrow, let's stretch our legs and go hiking at Grampians National Park!
Check out my Melbourne itinerary:
Check out my other Melbourne travel guides and blog posts:
3 Comments
So much places to go haaaay Thank you for taking us to Australia virtually.
ReplyDeleteThe Winery looks like a happy place Miss Martha <3
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your trip with us.
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I so love this tour! especially the vine yards, love it!
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think of this post! :)