Yarra Valley Wine Country

Yarra Valley Wine Country
near Melbourne, Victoria

But just outside of Melbourne is the wonderful Yarra Valley wine country. Just as Napa is to San Francisco, the Yarra Valley wine country is less than an hour from Melbourne. Our first stop was the beautiful Domaine Chandon, the 4th of the worldwide Domaines that includes Napa, Argentina and, of course, France.

On our way to lunch, we stopped at a small winery...

Before arriving for more tasting and lunch at Yering Station.

Spectacular scenery and one of the most sensational menus and meals of the past year. Kudos to Chef Laura Webb-James.

The 2010 Yering Station Reserve Pinot was outstanding.

Each and every dish was both a visual and taste delight.

Our starters were Scallops, smoked jalapeno and corn salsa, avocado, creme fraiche, corn wafer...

... and Cauliflower, pannacotta, tempura florets, chanterelle mushrooms, shallot souhise.

Mains were Panko and olive crumbed veal rib with summer vegetables, marsala jus...

... and Baby snapper, prawn cocktail, creme de cuvet fumet.

And we cheated on the Atkins today with wonderful salt and vinegar thick cut chips.

For dessert, the hazelnut, caramel marshmellow and salted popcorn candy bar with popcorn ice cream was simply out of this word.

What an absolute delight. For anyone visiting Melbourne, a trip to the Yarra Valley and lunch at Yering Station is an absolute must.