Old World, New World Wine Tour - Day One
Arriving into Melbourne, you will be picked up from the airport and driven to your luxury accommodation on the Mornington Peninsula, about 90 minutes drive. Surrounded by mounds of native grasses and indigenous spotted gums, the new Port Phillip Estate winery, emerges from the landscape as a dramatic curved sculpture made of rammed-earth. Inside, a large cellar door and tasting room, and a light-filled restaurant open out on to an expansive outdoor deck. Underneath, state-of-the-art winemaking facilities share space with six luxury accommodation suites, complete with private decks. Views across the vines to the sea are panoramic. This will be your home away from home during your visit.
Our first evening at Port Phillip Estate will be a relaxing one where you can enjoy the surrounds, welcome drinks with Nathalie and anticipate the first of our four special wine pairing and degustation menus. This will be one highlight of the tour as Nathalie has selected 8 wine regions of Australia for you to sample. Over four evenings, you will taste the best wines from two regions, matched exquisitely with menus specially prepared by Nathalie.
Overnight: 5 star luxury suite with vineyard and ocean views
Meals Included: à la carte dinner and wine in Port Phillip Estate’s fine dining restaurant. This evenings featured wine regions: Barossa Valley and Claire Valley
Transfers: Melbourne airport to Red Hill
Old World, New World Wine Tour - Day Two
You will wake up to an Australian summer’s morning and you will notice the air is fresh and scented with eucalypts. The northern winter is fading as a memory as you enjoy the gourmet breakfast at Port Phillip Estate. Our first winery visit is to the family owned and run winery – Montalto. The owners John and Wendy want everyone who visits to feel rewarded for the time shared. This philosophy extends to everything they do. A warm welcome. Finely crafted wine. Food that feeds the senses and the soul. A beautiful and bountiful property growing grapes, olives, fresh produce. A diverse and engaging setting for sculpture.
Our visit to Montalto’s Winery you will experience first-hand the winemaking and grape growing process with this unique behind the scenes tour, hosted by Montalto’s highly awarded wine maker - Simon Black. Taste Montalto’s range straight from the barrel and understand the important changes taking place in the vineyard as the grapes mature and in the winery as the wines develop.
A tour of the winery will demonstrate how they do it and why, together with the little things that make a difference. The tour finishes with a 3-course lunch at Montalto’s restaurant, featuring the best of the estate’s produce with matched wines.
Just a few minutes drive away is Red Hill Estate. Renowned for its fine estate wines, as well as its superb, panoramic views of Western Port Bay & beyond, Red Hill Estate is a boutique Australian, multi-awarding winning wine producer that has enjoyed an iconic presence on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula since 1989. Red Hill Estate continues to be one of the most popular & enduring wineries in Australia and we will enjoy a private tasting in their rustic cellar door.
Dinner will be at La Pétanque, an award winning restaurant set on a 20 acre property. The restaurant is the passion of owner, Philippe Marquet. After decades working for iconic Michelin’s Star restaurants, Philippe decided to open his own restaurant, a place where flavours, fragrances and the sounds of the countryside would be the essential components to create a relaxing and natural sensorial experience.
Chef Daniels Kerekes is inspired by the South of France using modern techniques, quality, locally sourced seasonal produce together with herbs and flowers from the kitchen garden. The kitchen team creates unique dishes that will surprise and intrigue all senses. Your visit to La Pétanque will be a marriage of the finest Margaret River and McClaren Vale wines and produce as recommended by Philippe himself. The relaxed country setting makes for a memorable dining experience.
Overnight: 5 star luxury suite with vineyard and ocean views
Meals Included: gourmet breakfast at Port Phillip Estate, 3 course lunch with wine pairing at Montalto's 1 star restaurant, à la carte dinner and wine in La Pétanque award winning restaurant. This evenings featured wine regions: Margaret River and McClaren Vale
Old World, New World Wine Tour - Day Three
After a leisurely start to the day, we will taste the wines and enjoy the fine cuisine of Paringa Estate, one of the most awarded wineries in Australia. Renowned particularly for Pinot Noir and Shiraz, Paringa Estate was crowned Australia's Best Restaurant In A Winery as recently as 2014. So you are in for a sensory treat with both food and wine as Nathalie has consulted with Chef Julian Hills to prepare a special degustation menu for us. First we will enjoy a tasting with owner/winemaker Lindsay McCall who will takes us through his finest award winning reds.
Mid afternoon will see us take a slightly different path as we venture to the Peninsula Hot Springs, a magnificent natural spa that will delight you. Here, natural thermal mineral waters flow into the pools and private baths at this award-winning coastal oasis. An idyllic setting for relaxation and rejuvenation.
Dinner will be at Port Phillip Estate this evening where wines from the Coonawarra and Hunter Valley regions will be matched with a menu created by Nathalie in conjunction with the Chef de Cuisine
Overnight: 5 star luxury suite with vineyard and ocean views
Meals Included: gourmet breakfast at Port Phillip Estate, 3 course lunch with wine pairing at Paringa Estate's award winning restaurant, à la carte dinner and wine in Port Phillip Estate’s fine dining restaurant. This evenings featured wine regions: Coonawarra and Hunter Valley
Old World, New World Wine Tour - Day Four
Today will be a day of relaxation and exploring as you can decide what it is you'd like to do. The Peninsula is diverse - you may want to taste more wine, lie on the beach, play a championship round of golf, swim with dolphins, go sailing or explore the charming hamlets of Sorrento or Flinders. Nathalie will discuss with you your preferences and we will organise it. There is much to see and do, you are sure to be delighted.
This evening will be a special treat as we visit Ten Minutes by Tractor for our degustation dinner and wine pairing. The winery is the convergence of a series of journeys that began almost 30 years ago, a series of individual threads that fortuitously came together over time to create the winery that exists today. Defined by place, three vineyards, only ten minutes by tractor apart in space and time, but separated by aspect and altitude, by slope and soil, by the winds which flow through the valleys running south into Bass Strait. Cool places. Elegant places.
Your visit to the winery will be a combination of private tasting together with fine dining in the multi-award winning restaurant. Chef Stuart Bell’s innovative menu is driven by fresh regional produce and his classic French training, with harmonious influences from Asian and European cuisines. Tonights menu will be paired with wines from the Rutherglen and Yarra Valley regions. A night to remember after a wonderful day exploring the Peninsula.
Overnight:5 star luxury suite with vineyard and ocean views
Meals Included: gourmet breakfast at Port Phillip Estate, à la carte dinner and wine in Ten Minutes by Tractor award winning restaurant. This evenings featured wine regions: Rutherglen and Yarra Valley
Old World, New World Wine Tour - Day Five
Our final day on the Peninsula is a little like leaving the best till last. Stonier Winery is our destination today. They focus on what the region of the Mornington Peninsula does so well, producing premium single vineyard and multi-site pinot noir and chardonnay. Their sparkling wines are a blend of some of the most pristine fruit sourced from pinot noir and chardonnay vineyards.
Winemaker Mike Symons believes that winemaking is very much about natural balance in the vineyards and then nurturing the vineyard flavours with minimal intervention in the winery. Mike works closely with a small, tight-knit vineyard and winery team at Stonier to make wines that reflect the quality and character of the region. Mike will join us for a private tasting of their magnificent, award winning pinot noir and chardonnay wines.
Lunch will be just across the road at the very authentic and quaint Merricks General Store. Fine food and the opportunity to buy wines from right across the Peninsula too.
After lunch we will leave the Peninsula and head to the Yarra Valley and Chateau Yering, about 2 hours drive away.
Overnight: 5 star luxury suite with vineyard and valley views at Chateau Yering
Meals Included: gourmet breakfast at Port Phillip Estate, à la carte dinner at the award winning Eleonore’s Restaurant.
Transfers: Mornington Peninsula to Yarra Valley
Old World, New World Wine Tour - Day Six
You will wake to a new atmosphere as we are now in the heart of the rural Yarra Valley. If this is your first visit to Australia, it's an authentic taste of the Australian countryside and rural lifestyle. Our day will start after a beautiful breakfast in the dining room of Chateau Yering and will take us on a journey tasting Nathalie's favorite, carefully selected Yarra Valley wines. This will be another wonderful opportunity to sample some of Australia's finest New World wines from an old and established wine region.
For variety, dinner will be just a short walk to Yering Station Winery and Restaurant. Set within stunning architecture, their signature restaurant overlooks expansive and magnificent views of the Yarra Ranges. Yering Station is thrilled to recently welcome Maxime Croiset as head chef. His French influence and experience in some of France and London’s finest Michelin Star restaurants will offer you classic French food with a modern Australian twist.
Overnight: 5 star luxury suite with vineyard and valley views
Meals Included: gourmet breakfast at Chateau Yering, dinner at Yering Station with paired wines selected by Nathalie.
Old World, New World Wine Tour - Day Seven
Our last day will involve an early start. Why? Because no trip to the Yarra Valley is complete without experiencing a sunrise hot air balloon trip, offering breathtaking views over the entire valley. Topped off with a champagne breakfast on landing, a magnificent way to start the day.
After time to recoup, we will visit the winery of Dominique and Ben Portet. The Portet family boasts ten consecutive generations of winemaking that began in Bordeaux in the 18th century. Today, the Portet name is most closely associated with the Yarra Valley where father and son team Dominique and Ben Portet, respectively ninth and tenth generation winemakers, run a successful family winery. It's a wonderful opportunity to talk through the Old World / New World paradigm with Dominique and Ben, all the while tasting their magnificent Yarra Valley Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Fontaine Rosé and Shiraz. Lunch will be on the terrace at Dominique Portet, weather permitting, on the 'long table'. A beautiful casual lunch at the cellar door - a quintessential Australian experience.
After lunch, we have the option of visiting Healesville Sanctuary, a bushland haven for Australian wildlife. Internationally recognised, it's your chance to see koalas, kangaroos, platypus, emus and every other Australian animal and bird, big and small. It is a fascinating insight into Australia's unique flora and fauna and not to be missed.
After such an eventful day, that is the conclusion of what is a wine tour full of experiences, contrasts and insights. You will be amazed at all that you will see, do, taste and sample in the course of seven days. It's an experience that will live in your memory, without doubt. Come and join us.
Overnight: 5 star luxury suite with vineyard and valley views
Meals Included: gourmet breakfast at Chateau Yering, al fresco lunch at Dominique Portet Winery.
Transfers: Yarra Valley to Melbourne airport or Melbourne downtown
