Wine Tasting in the Yarra Valley, Australia - Yarra Valley Wine Tour Review

Today I want to share my guide to wine tasting in the Yarra Valley with you. This region surrounding the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia is a great place to taste some of the country’s best wines.

Wine Tasting in the Yarra Valley

It’s harvest time in Australia’s Yarra Valley. The vines are heavy with grapes and wineries across the region are ready to turn the fruit into Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays.

We’re not far from Melbourne, but the vineyards and mountains make us feel like we’re in a different land.

Speaking of Melbourne, we started our journey there in the morning. I arrived last night and stayed at Quest Docklands. My stay was compliments of Quest Serviced Apartments, a company that has locations all throughout the city.

My modern, one-bedroom flat was huge. It had a good size bedroom, a spacious living room with a desk for working, an open-plan kitchen for cooking, and a tile bathroom with laundry facilities.

I got a peaceful night’s rest at Quest Docklands and woke up to a great little breakfast box full of cereal, milk, fruit, and granola bars. It was good sustenance to prepare me for my day of wine tasting in the Yarra Valley.

Yarra Valley Wine Tour

I was picked up directly by Fiona from Epicurean Food and Wine Tours. She’d offered me a complimentary spot on her Small Group Tour of the Yarra Valley.

Fiona drove me and a couple from Texas to the vineyards in a comfortable van. It was equipped with WiFi, which I loved, but by the time we got to the Yarra Valley an hour later, the views out the window were far more interesting.

Take De Bortoli Wines, for example. It’s one of the largest wineries in the Yarra Valley, but it’s still family owned. The cellar door and gift shop were busy that morning, but we were given a special wine-and-cheese tasting.

We sampled no less than ten great wines, from an award-winning Chardonnay to the famous Black Noble, which was somewhere between a Port and a Muscat.

From De Bortoli Wines we continued our wine tasting in the Yarra Valley with a stop at Yering Station. The winery was modern and light, with contemporary art throughout the tasting room, shop, and restaurant.

I didn’t like their wines quite as much as I liked the ones at De Bortoli Winery, but the grounds were beautiful.

I even took a peek at the five-star hotel down the footpath, a property called Chateau Yering. It looked like a British stately home transplanted on Australian soil.

Inside Chateau Yering I discovered sumptuous historic interiors, a heavy low-lit bar area, and a fine-dining restaurant.

Next on our itinerary for wine tasting in the Yarra Valley was Domaine Chandon. It was fun to visit the Australian location after having been to its Napa Valley counterpart in California just two weeks prior.

We sat for lunch in the winery’s bright, window-lined restaurant, which had stunning views of the vineyards and mountains in the distance.

My simple linguine with salami and pesto was outstanding. It was one of the best pasta dishes I’ve had in ages. The accompanying wine pairing allowed us to sample everything from sparkling to Shiraz, too.

After lunch we took a self-guided tour of the winery, where we saw the grapes being brought in by the forklift load. It was exciting to be wine tasting in the Yarra Valley during the harvest season.

Leaving Domaine Chandon, we stopped at one final winery, James Halliday’s Coldstream Hills.

The small, unassuming cellar door belied the high quality of the wines. By the time our tasting was over I’d fallen in love with more than one Pinot Noir.

Our day of wine tasting in the Yarra Valley finished with a stop at the Yarra Valley Dairy and its adorable farm shop. Everything from the cheese counter to the chocolates made me want to stay forever.

We did a quick cheese tasting, sampling the farm’s delicious feta, then sat by the window enjoying pastoral views while having tea and cake. It was a great way to end the day.