Mini TR - Long Weekend in WA

[boomy]

Less then 3 minutes drive from our hotel we found NgILGI Cave.



The tour guide explained some basic rules and talked a bit about the history of the place. Dame Melba (who appears on the $100 note) is one of the famous artists who performed inside the cave, she even managed to bring down her grand piano! The cave was even marketed as honeymoon hotel once, not sure how the newlyweds managed with the unusual acoustics there...

 

[boomy]

Back to wine tastings, we headed to Cullen, home of my favourite red Diana Madeline.



Nice old style cellar door.



We had lunch booking here as well just after the tasting. From the whites, Kevin John Chardonnay was impressive and +1 loved their Sauv Blanc Semillon.



An interesting wine they are experimenting with is called Amber, a blend of Semillon and Sauv Blanc kept partly in ceramic vessels and the end result is red colour.



We almost finished the tasting, only Diana Madeline 2011 & 2013 left to sample. Since we had lunch booking they offered us to continue the tasting in the restaurant, bringing two glasses each to our table and asking us to guess the vintages (it wasn't too hard ).

 

[boomy]

some more photos from Cullen.

 

[love_the_life]

You seem to have fitted in an awful lot of wineries in a 'long weekend' The TR makes great reading. Have been to the west quite a few times but have not managed to get down to MR yet, something to plan for in the not too distant future by the look of it.

 

[LadyC]

Sounds like a great trip. I did a similar trip 10+ years ago and would love to do it again. Thanks for posting.

 

[boomy]

Before heading back to Perth we had 3 more wineries to cross from our list.

The first one was House of Cards. TBH I never tried any of their wines before but since I love playing poker and also a big fan of the TV drama going by that name I figured it worth to visit this place.





In case anyone wondered what's the story behind the unusual name: "House of Cards is inspired by the gamble that winemakers and growers take every vintage - you have to play with the cards that you are dealt". nice

They proud make all wines from 100% single vineyard and sell them for reasonable prices. I was indeed impressed with the prices and also with the label designs and names given to wines like: "The Joker", "The Royals". The owners here clearly don't take themselves too seriously.



Judging by the tastings, it's clearly not one of the premium wineries in the region but I did like "The Royals" Cab Sav, which was outstanding compared to the others.

 

[boomy]

Across the road from House of Cards we found Windows Estate. Well, we planned to go there anyway but the location was very convenient





This winery (as well as the next one) was recommended to us by friends and they did not disappoint. I thought the reds showed exceptional quality at a decent price tag.





The Basket Pressed Cab Sav was especially good value at $34 per bottle (case of three).
I was very glad to stop at this winery and looking forward to drink more of their wines as a new club member

 

[boomy]

The last winery we were going to visit in MR was Woodlands.



We arrived just before 5pm and found the nice girl working there ready to go home but when she saw us coming she invited us to come inside with a big smile.



This winery produces quite a big range of wines, including some very unusual to the area. I was excited to try the Nebbiolo but it was too weak and bland.
Some of the other varieties were very nice like the Malbec and Cab Franc.

 

[boomy]

But still the most impressive of all reds was Cab Sav, the king of MR!



The nice girl was generous enough to let us taste their most premium label - Thomas, which was also the most expensive Cab Sav we tasted so far in this trip.





We also got the chance to compare two very different vintages of their most premium labels, 2006 vintage which cost "only" $85 compared to 2012 vintage which coat almost double $150. The difference was absolutely amazing, could never guess these two wines are even remotely related. The former came from a "bad" year, very rainy, while the latter comes from one of the best, if not THE BEST (according to the owner) vintage so far. I found the 2006 not bad but would never pay $85 for it, maybe half. The 2012 was amazing but I just couldn't justify paying that much, considering how much wine we already bought on this trip. I'm sure that if we would visit this winery on our first day I would grab a few bottles because its truly a unique wine and deserve it's high price tag.

Ok, now it's finally time to drive back to PER airport to catch our red-eye flight to BNE.

 

[boomy]

The drive back to PER was a bit crazy. About half way through we hit a massive storm, strong winds and heavy rain. Now, I love challenging driving VERY MUCH so naturally I couldn't resist testing the 86's limits driving in these conditions. To my surprise, even though it's just a Toyota, it performed well after eliminating all the computer restrictions.
I don't think my +1 enjoyed the ride as much as I did but at least she kept cool about it (or maybe she was too scared to talk, I'm not sure ). A bad sign was when she said that she likes the QF PER lounge, obviously the ride made her unwell

Boarding was on time and we scored the business suites, again!



Cabin was not even half full. I can understand why red-eye flights are not the most popular...

This time we selected row 2, hoping to avoid any light and noise from the galley that may affect row 1 (middle).



The menu for supper and café breakfast.



Basic amenity kits are offered on Dom night flights.

 

[boomy]

The cauliflower soup was good light supper before sleep.



I noticed most, if not all soups QF serve in J and F are very tasty.

The wine tonight was unusual label and vintage. After a nice chat with the CSM enquiring how come I never saw this nice wine in Dom J before, he said they only have a few bottles left Ann's later came back with an unopened one for me to take home, how nice!



Unfortunately the flight was too short to sleep well, I wish we could fly longer
Breakfast was served 50 minutes before landing.



That's it, we landed in BNE early in the morning and our long weekend officially finished.
This last minute short trip to Perth and Margaret River was very enjoyable and we can't wait to return and explore other parts of the West.

 

[Steady]

A very enjoyable TR, thankyou boomy

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for a great TR. Looking forward to visiting there in the not too distant future - you have inspired me!

 

[kermatu]

Terrific TR boomy. Friends of mine had part of their honeymoon in the region last year and loved it.