Even for me, sipping wine at 10:30 in the morning is a tad early. With that said, however, the tour that we took with Epicurean Food and Wine Tours from Melbourne was a delightful day. I have written posts before in which I discuss pricey restaurants that do not necessarily deliver value for the extra that you pay and this falls somewhat into the same category of entering into a more expensive tour, wondering if it was the appropriate choice. The hotel concierge told my husband that with the tour being restricted to no more than 10 people and the special lunch option included, he thought we would prefer it to the standard tours offered by other companies. I suspect that if what someone wants is a scenic drive and a sampling of local wines, the other tours would be fine. For us though, the concierge was correct. By a coincidence of scheduling, we actually had a private tour, but the minivan could have comfortably held ten, I think. Our driver, Bill (name used with permission), was Melbourne born and raised and thus provided a wonderful commentary on the city as well as the wine industry in general and the Yarra Valley in particular. He had also traveled extensively in his previous career and we engaged in conversation about a range of topics during the scenic hour-long trip. Pastoral is a most applicable term for the rolling hills with mountains in the background, acres of grapes, diversified orchards, sheep, cows, and horses behind fences.

We stopped at five different wineries during the day with a leisurely two-course lunch at Domain Chandon, one of only four places outside of France where they bottle the famous sparkling wine as well as have still wine offerings. The first stop was at the second largest winery in Australia, the family-owned DeBortoli Estate, where we enjoyed a cheese plate with our early wine. We were so impressed that we are going to check with Total Wine when we return home to see if they are familiar with them. Except for Chandon, none of the other three wineries export appreciably to the United States. In fact, Dixon Creek Estate owned by Graeme Miller (he was out), once had significantly more acreage, sold much of it to DeBertoli, then started again with some new wines. Our third stop, Domain Chandon, was situated at a lovely place that was previously a dairy farm and they beautifully restored the old main building. Being very cautious of operating outside of France, they searched in Australia for 18 months before deciding on the property and they buy grapes from many different Australian growers. Cold Stream Hills was close by and they are well known within the region and also do ship overseas, but not in a major exporter way. Our last stop at Dominique Portat was sheer pleasure for me since the family (originally from Bordeaux) has the tenth generation now producing wines. They also have delicious macaroons and coffee that we enjoyed before the final samplings of the day. We purchased a total of three bottles during the day; one of which we will drink here and take the other two home. I do not make Trip Advisor recommendations lightly and Epicurean Tours deserved the high rating that we gave them.