6^th September: Gingin (Chittering Valley Wine Trail.)

As you can see from the heading, we went wine tasting yesterday. What a good thing to do on a cold, wet and windy day out in the country!!  The wineries here are almost the best kept secret of WA. At Gingin, only 23 kms from Bindoon which is at the centre of the wine producing district, almost nobody could tell me where the wineries were. It was a bit better in Bindoon but unless you knew that, you would have no idea! The tourism information services in these towns need to get their act together because the wines are great! And the area is only 70 kms from North Perth on very good roads and so pretty!

The day was interesting! We by-passed Moondah Brook,owned by Houghtons and not tasting or selling to the public, moving on quickly to Riseborough, an independent small producer. A great tasting area with plate glass windows overlooking a lovely view! Nice wines at cheap prices and an art gallery above. We couldn't afford the paintings but we could afford the wine. We had a very nice time talking to the woman behind the bar.

Bindoon is on the Great Northern Highway and so is blessed with the noise of trucks going to and from Meekathara. It also has a Catholic Agricultural College and we found another Catholic school being built just south in the middle of a paddock. We had lunch in a park and then found Brierly Estate where we tasted on the verandah of a 90 year old stone house. It was very casual and Glen, the designated driver, played with the dogs, throwing the ball for one of them to fetch. 

 

Then we found the Chittering Valley Trail and went to Stringbark which has a very popular restaurant with a considerable number of lunching patrons. The lady at the bar was fielding a constant flow of bookings for tomorrow and the future and so it must be well known around the district and Perth. The winery had just won a gold for one of their wines, a Cabernet Shiraz which was very nice. Gail bought 4 and we are having one tonight for Fathers' Day dinner. They also had a Fortified Verdelo which was 13 yrs in the cask and absolutely yummy! But it was $75 a small botttle and so we didn't buy one but a guy came in and did while we were there! All their wines were expensive, starting at $18 (while Riseborough's were $10 0r less!)

Near there is another well known winery set up by a group of local business men at the cost of $60 million. They made some great wines over the years and made lots of money. However, they just sold the winery to a Chinese company for $3 million and they are sending the wine to China. They do taste but as nobody can speak English, it is not a fruitful experience! I do worry about how many Chinese companiesare buying up agricultural land and companies in this country. It is impossible to do that in China and I don't think that this particular transaction has benefitted Australia at all!!