YARRA VALLEY, Saturday 1 August 2015: “I call this the roller-coaster road” our cheerful bus-driving wine-tour guide told us as our ‘thirty-seater’ leapt into the air for the tenth time in half as many minutes.
“Next stop is Chandon” he continues, “that’s Moet Chandon” – a pause, then, “Who knows how to pronounce ‘Moet’ ?” He asks somewhat redundantly. “With a ‘T’ or no ‘T’?” He insists.
A few half-hearted murmurs greeted his interrogation as the bus lurched into the air again. “Well it’s with a ‘T’ because “mo-ette” is originally a Dutch name which has retained its native pronunciation in French…” So began our tour of the Yarra Valley’s ‘Chandon’ winery.
Jim guides us from our mud-splashed coach into a cavernous space fitted out with large illuminated graphics telling the story of ‘méthode champenoise’ – he continues his day long monologue as we squint at the line-drawn images and pose for ‘Snapchats’ with a giant cork.
After climbing several flights of concrete stairs a balcony above a machinery filled factory reveals the true scale of winemaking here. ‘Thousands of this’ and ‘tens of thousands of that’ go into the giant steel vats arrayed below us each vintage.
“Who would like some bubbles?” Jim asks with a wink as we twenty or so guests of ‘Australian Wine Tours’ trot after his long-legged lead.
Industrial-bland gives way to sharply modern architectural design. Racks of fat, foil-capped bottles, elegantly and well groomed staff and a small crowd of ‘beautiful people’ greet our band of mostly Scots, Kiwis, Japanese and English retirees in sensible ‘walking attire’.
“Hmmm…. this place reeks of cash…” mouths one of our group as we are ushered towards a gleaming polished-wood tasting area to stand under the commanding gaze of a netballer-tall staff member in starched-linen apron and smart black skirt.
“Welcome…” she begins, “you’ll receive a full glass of our award winning sparkling wine to taste” she explains before extolling the virtues of the House of Chandon – “hands up if you’d like a glass of the Cuvee?” She asks before listing other options from a long list of Chandon products.
We grasp our stylish glasses and move onto a stone-flagged patio set against cloud obscured mountains and an impossibly neat vineyard.
“Can you take a picture?” asks one of our new Japanese friends as he holds out his smart-phone. Facebook satisfied we return to the tasting area to be engaged by another of the winery’s smartly dressed staff members. He runs through the wines on offer and then fills our glasses again.
“Ahhhh… that’s more like it,” a thick Scottish voice whispers as we all raise our glasses, and again, and again.
The Yarra Valley is home to some of Victoria’s premium wineries. Many have sophisticated restaurants and elegantly appointed tasting areas. Some like Chandon charge a small fee for tastings which is refundable if wine is purchased at their cellar door. Guided tours are an excellent and safe way to visit the valley given Victoria Police’s dedication to preventing drink-driving and the hefty fines and/or gaol terms for those caught ‘over the limit’.
See: http://visityarravalley.com.au/ for details.