The Auswine Forum

This is probably old news to most here, but I have just ventured down to South West Vic and stayed at the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. Now I had heard it was a pretty good pub by country standards and expected a reasonable wine list. What I didn't expect was a 54 page encyclopedia, a veritable orgiastic assortment of all things vinous.

Multiple vintages of most premium Aussies, First Growth's by the fistful, Burgundies by the bucketload, and so on and so on. Hard to believe but their was very little 'filler' on the list - all things I would like to actually drink, and the majority of wine was from recognised vintages.

I settled into a wonderfully textural Pascal Jolivet Sancerre and drooled my way through the list - food and service left a little to be desired on the night, but it was particularly busy as the waitress pointed out to us numerous times - restaurants do not offer discounts for being particularly busy, so no excuses.

A great list, and a much unexpected surprise in sleepy South West Vic.

LL

LL, there used to be a lot of pretty wealthy farmers around western Vic in the old days when wool was king. I'm not sure what would support such a wine list these days, maybe tourism from the tail-end of the Grampians?

For your next rural wine-list treat, make your way up to Mildura and dine with Stefano in the old cellar at the Grand Hotel. The food will be better too.

Thanks RB,

Still plenty of old money from what I could see - Hamilton Sheepvention was on, and whilst fine wool is down, there was still a lot of 'establishment' wines being slurped.

Spot on about Stefano's - have eaten there a couple of times, and it ranks as one of Victoria's top eateries, rural or otherwise. Food certainly better, but wine list does not hold a candle to the Royal Mail.

Oscar W's in Echuca is the other regional highlight that springs to mind. Great food, great list and even better view watching the paddlesteamers pass by.

Cheers,

LL

Hi! Thanks for the info!! I've heard that wines in Vic are great!!

I went there last year for a work related dinner, and found that the food and service were average, but when you see the wine list you dont care! We had about half an hour of silence perusing the list, but as the boss told me to not spend more than 150 bucks per bottle we were limited a touch, but still managed to bang through 5 bottles for 3 of us! a nice mix of aust,kiwi and old world.