Breakfast was local bread and local jam and honey eaten while listening to the ocean. It came from the welcome / breakfast hamper we were given at the start of our stay.
Today was wine tour day! So first of all – absolutely thrilled with MR Pick Me Up and his (Chris’) service. I contacted via email, confirmed via email and sorted out the itinerary and required pre-pays on my end via email as well, which is exactly my kind of service! Our original itinerary had 5 stops but we snuck in an extra one and the entire day was absolutely fantastic. Not to mention great value for a private tour.
We were collected at 10:15am from our current accomodation at Indijup Resort and headed up the road to stop 1 at Happs Winery. They have more than 40 wines to try and it’s self serve! So you just help yourself. I’ve never seen anything like it. They have a huge range of different wines and the only downfall was as they had moved their tasting stuff outside (due to mask mandates) they were struggling to keep the white wines cool. Warm white wine on a 36C day is not the nicest taste. We bought a lovely rose and Sangiovese from here though, both were very smooth and appealed to both our tastes.
Stop 2 was a quick pop in to the relatively unknown Mongrel Creek who have a well regarded sparkling red we picked up to take home. This winery and cellar door doesn’t advertise and is owner operated so it can be hit and miss on whether it is open.
Stop 3 was at Blind Corner an organic and biodynamic winery. As with any of the organic wines, the taste is always a bit different and we enjoyed the unusual flavours and textures here. Although being an organic winery, our amazing driver Chris did have to relocate a GIANT orb spider from our table before I could sit at it without freaking out. They also have an adorable 4 month old puppy on site and to be honest I missed some of the tasting notes because the puppy and I were making friends.
Stop 4 was at Aravina Estate for lunch. We did a 3 course lunch with paired wines which was delicious and we did a lot of people watching from their outside deck. In particular, 8 helicopters landed during our lunch to drop off people at the winery! By this point it was around 35C and I was starting to struggle with the heat.
Stop 5 was Goon Tycoon and Yallingup Cheese Factory. We initially sat outside (there was a dog – I couldn’t help it) but eventually the heat got too much for me so we relocated inside. Their wines here were unusual – and quite tasty – and we bought a few including a Shiraz and a Chenin Blanc. The outside view over the dam (pictured below) on a cooler day would be absolutely lovely and you can buy an accompanying cheese plate to go with your tasting as well.
Our final stop (stop 6) was Wild Hop Brewery where we enjoyed some cider and deep fried pickles. It was extremely hot here with no accessible sea breeze or air flow and both of us struggled. I think on a cooler day it would be great but by this point it was just too hot for me! Wearing masks inside and lining up for the bathroom didn’t help.
At 5pm Chris dropped us back to our accomodation where we had pre-ordered the farm BBQ pack for delivery at 6pm. It came with multiple salads, steak, chicken, sausages and delicious rolls for us to cook on our personal BBQ – which B did while I lounged happily in the plunge pool and watched the sunset. The BBQ hamper will do us for two meals but could also have been one meal for a hungry couple.
Mel's Travel Blog 