Winery Tour

Yuko and I have just got back from a Winery Tour up in Yarra Valley, as provided by Yarra Valley Winery Tours.
The day started at 09:00 when we walked over to Her Majesty’s Theatre, which would the collection point. As it was a bit chilly, and seeing it may be a good idea to settle our stomachs, we had some coffee and a large muffin breakfast.

So, we headed off for our tour at 09:30-ish, with the first stop at Yering Station. There, we were given a quick run down on how to taste wine, before we started to do so. Yering Station was pretty good, and a very informal place. (The Guide was using PacMan as metaphor on the wine fermentation process! :) ). Their fortified Shiraz (which for intense purposes was similar to a dessert wine, or a Port… but you can’t call it Port if it’s not from a region in Portugal) was bloody marvelous. We’ll have to get some of that.

Next off was Rochford Wines. Pretty good stuff, and the lunch there was very nice. The tasting was so-so though, and it place exuding a slightly posh-we-know-better-than-you feeling.

Third, we went to St. Huberts. Very casual again, and they had a cracking white wine, made from a German grape variety. 20% discount if you brought three bottles! So we did! :)

Last, we headed off to Domaine Chandon. That was pretty interesting walking around the plant to see how Sparkling Wine is made. The day was finished off with some Sparkling Wine and Cheese. Yuko and I did some more testing, and we purchased 2 further bottles of wine (this time Shiraz).

Great day out, and very casual. Now we want to explore all the other vineyards!!! ;)

Other stuff

Bloody hell, reading the news, seems like the UK has run out of water… well not quite. But worrying nonetheless.

In Japan, a fair few months ago, the youngest daughter of the Emperor got married, and in the process became a commoner. I get a bit of a chuckle about how she is trying to adopt to normal life, and indeed how the Japanese tabloid press seems to be reporting on it. Here is a link on how she copes with shopping. Exciting stuff! ;)

Meanwhile, over in Shibuya, it seems the politicians are trying to clean up the place by getting rid of the Love Hotels. If you ask me, that’s just stupid, because a lot of Japanese will no longer have a place to go to… well, get jiggy with each other. Looks like Yoyogi Park is going to get a lot more busy :)