A weekend in Victoria – Part I
When I had an event planned in Melbourne on a Tuesday about a month ago, before COVID-19 hit the western world fully, Liam and I decided to make a weekend in Melbourne out of it. We both hadn’t been to Melbourne in about 10 years, and Liam still has some friends there. One of them is Marty, who promptly invited us to stay over at his place on the Saturday. Marty and his gorgeous family live in St. Leonards, on the Bellarine Peninsula. If you have no idea where that is – join the club as I certainly didn’t either. The Bellarine Peninsula is about an hour and a half drive west of Melbourne and it’s basically opposite of the city, across Port Philip Bay. We only spent a day in this beautiful area and thanks to our amazing hosts, we got to see (and taste!) a lot of great stuff.
St. Leonards is a peaceful little gem along the coastline. Marty’s siblings live in Melbourne but it’s easy to see why Marty’s family chose to live here. Their house is in walking distance to the beach, and the wonders of the Bellarine Peninsula are just on their doorstep. St. Leonards can be reached via car, train or boat from Melbourne – however as we experienced, the boats don’t go very frequently so best to check times in advance.
Our first stop right after coming to St. Leonards from the airport and after freshening up just a little was the Scotchmans Hill Winery. Established in 1982, Scotchmans Hill is a producer of premium cool maritime climate wines and is rated among James Halliday’s Top 100 Australian Wineries. Wine tastings are 10 AUD (5 GBP / 5.50 EUR) for five wines and they take place at the atmospheric Cellar Door, an old French provincial farmhouse or “barn” directly situated on the estate. We loved their red wines, Marty’s wife Jayne and I were in particular fans of the Pinot Noir, and I also very much enjoyed the mild and very elegant Riesling desert wine. We left with a couple of bottles each, and moved on to a gin tasting like no other.
The Whiskery is the cellar door for Bellarine Distillery, a renovated farm shed with a rustic and comfy vibe. Many people were scattered across the grass outside, sat on picnic blankets or deck chairs and enjoying the delicious food, cocktails and other drinks. We opted for a sharing platter of food and a gin tasting. The gin range includes interesting combinations of ingredients, such as my favourite, the Rosey. A rose-coloured gin, this delicious beverage features sweet dried apricots, black limes and a peppery finish. Each of the four different gins was served with their appropriate “accessories”, e.g. the Trooper & the Roo, our last tasting, contains cocoa so it came with some chocolate to supplement the taste.
By now it was mid-afternoon and let’s put it out there, we were already a bit cheerful on our way to our next stop – Bennetts Winery. This wonderful place features a large, wooden outdoor patio overlooking the vineyards, live music and VERY tasty pizzas and wine (my favourite was their Sauvignon Blanc). Although we had originally intended to move on to another place after this, we ended up eating and drinking our way through the remainder of the afternoon, enjoying the views, chatting, laughing and hiding under the large umbrellas when a little drizzle sat in. Eventually, we moved on to the comfortable couches inside of the venue when it got a bit chilly, before ending the night with a few more beverages at the local pub in St. Leonards.
