Swan Valley Wine Cruise

The weekend was finally here. We wanted to get out of the city for a bit, but didn't want to drive too far. That is kind of tough, Australia is too big, and attractions are too far apart without it being a long day out. So we settled for a more leisure option, a wine cruise up to the Swan Valley with Swan Valley Tours.

We started with a river cruise on the Swan River; of course, start early and bright with 4 tasting of wine already on board...along with an impromptu catwalk to introduce the wine by local Aussie tourists. They sure knew how to party.

Then we switched to a land tour after being picked up at the Waters Edge Winery dock. We continued our tour to Pinelli where I purchased their fabulous "Family Reserve" Shiraz. They are a small producer, so I didn't think I would find a bottle here in the U.S.

Our next stop was at the Houghton, definitely a much bigger producer. The wine was only so so, but the estate was beautiful. We ran into a bunch of younger Aussies dressing up to do their wine tasting, some kind of bachelorette party. Anyway, we had a great antipasto plate for lunch. Yum.

There were four more stops, one for beer, two for wine (Jarrah Ridge and Charlie's Estates Wine), and the last one was at a chocolate place. But my taste bugs really lost count after Houghton. Needless to say, I needed a nap after this outing.