With more wineries than you can shake a leg at, the greater Perth area has a plethora of mouth watering taste sensations....
I am just your average gal, who likes a glass of wine on occasion. OK, maybe more often than every now and again. Wine is liquid sunshine and makes every meal and get together, just a little bit more delectable. Having enjoyed tasting rooms from California to Canada, France to South America....New Zealand and the great Barossa Valley....I can honestly say one of the greatest experiences is right here in Western Australia.
With over 330 days of sunshine a year and a Mediterranean climate to boot, the river valleys surrounding the most remote capital on the planet have a wide assortment of incredible and tasty fermented grapes. Just in the past few years names like Grenache and Nebbiolo have entered the picture as well and they are fantastic! Within 30 minutes to a few hours drive you have Pemberton, Swan Valley, Coastal, Perth Hills, Margaret River and the Great Southern to entertain you. Cozy and eclectic bed & breakfasts dot the landscape along with quaint villages, pottery outposts and the ever gorgeous landscape of green rolling hills or vast swaths of turquoise Indian Ocean views.
With locally made cheese, produce stands, random Camel's and the always present Kangaroo, there is something to continuallyentertain you along the drive. With over 150 wineries to enjoy, many of which with superb menu's to compliment your glass of vino, I recommend taking a few days or even a week per region. Bring your kayak to relax along the miles of rivers and streams along with your surf board or sand castle building supplies, to make your trip even more well rounded. These tasting rooms and rolling hills filled with Vitis vinifera are simply stunning, each and every one, quite different but quite lovely. None of them have tasting fees and the bottles of wine range in the $15- $45 AUD range, which is exceptional value for the quality of wine produced. Even better, you join a wine club and they deliver FREE of charge to the greater Perth area anytime you order a case or more, with an additional discount off the already low prices, this is simply a no brainer.
We left Perth close to 8 am on a Saturday and were smack dab in the middle of Ferguson Valley within a few hours. Two breweries and ten wineries, what more could a gal ask for? More hours in the day apparently, along with a fabulous designated driver. All, in an adorable country community which oozes the definition of bucolic. Did I mention the gnomes? You will have to just see for yourselves, they are literally everywhere. Continuing on down the road to an area called Peppermint Grove to spend the night; overlooking the ocean as the surf lulled us to sleep, we thought the day couldn't get any better. However, the next morning proved us wrong with even more delightful and engaging wineries, breweries, art galleries and cheese tasting rooms.....so many of which we couldn't keep track, nor see them all before heading back to Perth. Only 2 hours away, yet it felt like we had traveled to far and distant lands.
