WA Suggestions

[SueNZ]

Gosh, I see it is just over 3 years since I logged onto AusWine. Never forgotten however. Hi Gavin and crew. Lots of changes for me. I've moved house and been widowed. Now I am revving up my wine interests again.
I've got 3 days in WA at the end of July, arriving Sat 30 in the pm, departing Tues 2nd in the evening. I stupidly booked this trip on a whim and should have allowed for longer in the region but my outward flight is locked in.
Would like forum members advice on the best way to get from Perth to Margaret River and suggestions for the best value tours for a geeky wine lover. Perhaps find my way to MR on Saturday evening, spend all of Sunday & Monday in MR, then back to Perth on the Monday night for a look see at the wine region there. Thx Sue

[Mahmoud Ali]

Glad to see you back but sorry to hear about the personal tragedy. I wish I could give advice but I've never visited any Western Australia pin wine regions so I am unable to advise. I'm sure a few posters will come a long and make suggestions.

Cheers.....................Mahmoud.

[TiggerK]

Great to see you back here Sue, as a fellow Kiwi I've particularly enjoyed your notes, and like Mahmoud I'm sorry you've had a difficult few years. Wish I could help too, but I'm sure many here can!

[Ian S]

Hi Sue
Great to see a note from you - but terribly saddened by the news.
Welcome back to the forum
regards
Ian

[Stavros]

Hi Sue,

Not sure if you will get a tour out of Perth for MR, but there are a plethora of wine tours that operate out of MR, Busselton and Dunsborough. It might be best to check with the respective towns tourist websites.

As for getting there on Saturday evening. i am not sure if coaches leave Perth at that time of the day/evening, but best find out.

I'd be tempted to drive down. Its pretty straight forward on good roads, although 3 hr drive might be a bit too much after the flight. So much to do and see there. it will get you around to places scenery that might not be in any tours itinerary.

Good old TripAdvisor might be your best friend when it comes to seeing what the folk think of the tours and Accom.

regards

S

[Rocky]

Sue

As a regular to MR and assuming you are happy to drive then I would strongly suggest:

Hire Car
Overnight 30th in Perth and if you earlier enough on the Sat then pop out to the Swan Valley for a few wineries
31st: Drive to MR region. It is a 3.5 hour drive. Overnight in the region
1st: MR wineries and overnight in region
2nd: Drive back to Perth

There are popular boutique escorted winery tours based out of the MR region but I prefer the freedom of driving. I could imagine that if you did a tour from Perth it would only be down and back in the day and extremely tiring and feel rushed.

Regards

[paulf]

Hi Sue
Welcome back, and my condolences.
I was over there at the end of January so I can give you some tips. I had 5 days down there and I wanted more (although my credit card was quite relieved that I wasn't there any longer)
There are buses but not that many of them, so given that you are only there for a short while I'd hire a car so you don't waste much time.
I stayed in just outside of Busselton when I was there, which was nice but it does limit your wine tour options as a lot of the companies won't pick up form there. So if you want a wider range of options then stay in Margaret River itself.
There are a lot of tour companies that have tours listed but they need to get enough numbers to run a tour so you will find a lot of them won't run. Many of the tours won't go to the top tier producers but there are a couple that do. If there are particular wineries you want to visit, you may want to book a driver or drive yourself. If you wanted to spend an extended amount of time in one of the wineries that aren't that far out of town like Xanadu, Voyager or Cape Mentelle then you could taxi out. Voyager and Cape Mentelle have a number of different tour options where you can do a combination of tours, tastings and lunch.
You can phone up or email the people at http://www.margaretriver.com just before you go and they can book you in on any of the tours. You can find a list of the tours with a bit of info, on the website.
I did a wine tour with Taste of the South tours which was good fun and reasonably priced, with a nice lunch. There were a couple of places where I didn't think the wine was great, but there were also a couple of places that I went back to and bought stuff later on. Having said that, because I was in Busselton, we went to a different set of places than if they went from Margaret River. I also did a brewery tour with them which was also good fun, although no beer was included so you had to buy what you wanted.
If you've got specific places, or wine styles you want to focus on, I'm happy to give a more details. I know there are a few West Australians that frequent these forums who would also be good for a bit of advice too.

regards

Paul

[SueNZ]

Thanks for of all your suggestions. I agree it will be easiest to hire a car. Anyone have suggestions for must visit wineries that fly under the radar.

[paulf]

There are so many wineries there and a lot that don't have cellar doors, or are only open by appointment.
I liked all the wines at Amelia Park and the entrance to the tasting room is fun. Windows estate was good - they also have the advantage of sharing the tasting room with a cheesemaker. Juniper Estate Cabernet is a favourite of mine so I made sure I went to the cellar door, although I am not sure if that fits the definition of under the radar. Fraser Gallop has a cellar door now, which I didn't get to as it only opened while I was there so I didn't hear about it until after I had left. For a change of pace I liked The Beer Farm (but only if the weather is nice).
I'm sure others will have some different suggestions.

[DaveS]

Under the radar wineries, I'd recommend Deep Woods, Windows, Hay Shed Hill, Laurence, Clairault. All worth checking out!

[Ian S]

My thoughts are a few years out of date, but FWIW:

The venison farm do some really good cured venison (salami etc.) but presumably it can't be taken through *NZ customs, so would have to be eaten whilst there.

I think Willyabrup Dreaming Pottery is the place we got our Bunyip teapot from. It's a wonderfully charming piece that rather appropriately gurgles when poured. It's still going strong a decade on from when we bought it.

For wines: Juniper indeed good, though I was surprised they don't make more of the link with family artist Robert Juniper at the cellar door. Woody Nook aren't the greatest producer, though far from the worst, but theirs is a wonderfully rural cellar door, which makes for a lovely counterpoint to the fancier ones. Woodlands very much on the radar these days, but still very good indeed. Asking locally can be fruitful, as it can unearth new names (Brown Hill on our last visit - not the best, but certainly interesting and thus well worth the visit).

Regards
Ian

*I think you'd all be amazed what you can bring back to UK from mainland Europe. Coming back from Italy this year I had a few good slabs of 'Malga' cheese from the Trentino mountains, Parmesan and smoked mozzarella from Bologna, regional Salami from Trentino, Amalf Coast Lemons, Italian Nespole (Loquats), two types of fresh pasta, but sadly no fresh mushrooms or truffles this time.

[Dave Dewhurst]

I would have a look at Brown Hill as Ian suggests and also Windance. Happs are worth a visit and have a huge range plus a decent premium range. If chenin blanc floats your boat, Marri Wood Park (next to Windance) is worth a look. Hay Shed Hill do an interesting selection. I would strongly advise booking a lunch at Vasse Felix. Very very good and the Heytsbury Chardonnay is awesome. I have always found the big names a bit sterile to be honest.

Cheers

Dave

[michel]

plus 1 for lunch at Vasse Felix
or dinner at Leeuwin estate

[conformistpete]

If you are driving yourself down and need a tour I used Top Drop wine tours a few years ago and was impressed. Very flexible with where they take you etc.

My favs are Juniper, Woodlands and Hayshed Hill.

Enjoy your trip.

[SueNZ]

Thanks all. I think I will, as Rocky suggested, pick up a rental to drive to Margaret River area with some sightseeing stops on way there and way back, but rather than drive around the wineries I'll take a one day wine tour while I'm there. Looking at Margaret River Wine Tours, seem to be fairly upmarket, but I will check out the other reccos - I see Top Drop has won lots of awards. Don't know if I can also do Swan although I would like to but don't arrive Perth until about 3pm.

[SueNZ]

An update on my MR tour planning:
Filled in the web contact form for Margaret River Wine Tours. They answered within hours but unfortunately on my date they are on holiday - probably well deserved.
I filled in the web contact form for Top Drop. After two days and no answer, followed up with an email. Another two days and still no answer.

[Rocky]

SueNZ

Suggest you phone them as there could be any reason for not answering emails.

Regards

[SueNZ]

SueNZ

Suggest you phone them as there could be any reason for not answering emails.

Regards

Yes, will think about that when a free calling weekend to Australia comes up if I haven't organised something else by email in the meantime.

[paulf]

An update on my MR tour planning:
Filled in the web contact form for Margaret River Wine Tours. They answered within hours but unfortunately on my date they are on holiday - probably well deserved.
I filled in the web contact form for Top Drop. After two days and no answer, followed up with an email. Another two days and still no answer.

The tour operators don't want to talk to you yet because they don't want to have to commit to running or not running the tours at this stage. They normally won't run a tour with less than 4 people (unless you booked your own charter). I had the same thing in January, so it will be a little harder during this time of year. I think most of them advertise the tours as running in the hope that they will get a group of people sign up, but I reckon that a large % of the tours advertised don't actually run. I think that a lot of people book these things at the last minute too
I tried to book ahead as well, but ended up turning up to the Margaret River Tourism place on the day I got there and sorted it out. MR tourism people could see how many people were booked on each of the tours too which helps to work out which ones are going to run.
In your position, I'd probably just wait until the week before you were there and send the people at http://www.margaretriver.com/an email. They should be able to send you a list of tours for the days you want and they should have an idea about which ones are more likely to run.

[SueNZ]

Thanks Paulf. You may be right as I have now had a reply from Top Drop and they said they do not have a tour on that date! I have now been in touch with the Margaret River Busselton Tourist Association and already had a very quick and helpful reply.