from Australia with love....

I love wine.This will come as no surprise to those of you who know me.

Fizz, red wine, rose and white wine.In that order.  I shall be having a glass of red in an hour's time.Unless my friend Laura has already bought a bottle of white to share when I get to the pub tonight.

I love the whole ritual of having a glass of wine....pulling the cork out (or increasingly unscrewing the cap), listening to the sound of the wine pouring into the glass.And sitting there savouring that first sip.

I shall be featuring the local winemakers from Leicestershire in another post.....yes, there are some! But my heart, and my tastebuds are still back in Australia right now.In Margaret River.....

If you like your wine, then you are spoilt for choice there. Numerous wineries, some small,  some large are producing memorable, taste tingling wines for every occasion.

They sell their wines from the cellar door, and I spent quite a few days there travelling around the wineries...not just tasting the wines but admiring the gardens and settings......

One of my favourite visits was here

Established in 1986, I loved the broad sweeping avenue upto the cellar door

 There were pretty ,well manicured gardens too...

And this is where we tasted the wines....

Their Jete sparkling rose and sparkling white were as effervescent as the friendly and helpful assistant who poured a steady stream of  wines across the Howard Park and Madfish ranges.Bottles bought, I was hungry.Through the huge windows you can see above, I saw a group of people tucking in to lunch energetically.

When I asked where the menu was I found out that was lunch for the staff. And a good lunch it looked too. That's what I call spoiling the staff!


But many of the wineries do serve lunch....in beautiful settings.One of them is at Watershed....the Boy and I enjoyed a long, lesiurely Sunday lunch at Watershed Wines, five kilometres out of Margaret River itself.

After trying out a number of wines, I decided on this rose......ice cold, fresh and fruity.....exactly the right wine to accompany a tasty risotto and drink in the gorgeous view.

Whether you're really serious about wine, whether you're going out for a  drive and lunch, then  the wineries here have got it right...from the service, the ambiance and the settings. Everyone I met at every winery I visited were proud of what they produce....and so they should be.

Coming up shortly, back to reality...back to life in Leicestershire and Rutland....and how some back breaking digging will soon be producing dividends...