Yarra Valley 'Winecountry'

If you’re looking for a region within easy driving distance of Melbourne that offers a sensational array of sophisticated pleasures and dazzling scenery, they don’t come much sweeter than the Yarra Valley.

Barely an hour’s drive from the heart of Melbourne, this captivating region combines world-class food, wine and spectacular natural attractions. Before you begin your tour of the region, pick up a copy of the Yarra Valley Wine Touring Guide, a self-guided tour that starts with the smaller boutique wineries, including Yering Farm, Seville Estate, Evelyn County Estate and Elmswood Estate. The guide is available from any of the local visitor information centres.

Find cottages and self-contained accommodation in the Yarra Valley

The Yarra Valley is the coolest wine region on the Australian mainland, yet its ability to produce outstanding wine is beyond question. Wine grapes have been grown in these flowing hills since 1838, when a vineyard was planted at what is now Yering Station – the birthplace of the Victorian wine industry. In 1889, a cabernet from the Yering Valley Vineyard won a grand prix at the Paris Wine Exhibition, the only wine from the Southern Hemisphere to achieve such a distinction.

Home to more than 55 wineries, the Yarra Valley has achieved good results with practically every variety of grape. Its chardonnays and Rhine rieslings are an unqualified success, and the gewerztraminer is regarded as some of Australia’s outstanding examples of that style.

The greatest strength of the Yarra Valley is its red varieties, in particular its cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir. But more recently, the region has been acknowledged for its ability to produce great chardonnays, and the famous French Champagne house Moet & Chandon chose this area to grow the chardonnay grapes for its sparkling wines, which can be sampled at the Domaine Chandon winery.

Apart from its wines, the Yarra Valley is a prime source of fresh produce, as you’ll discover if you call in at the monthly Yarra Valley Regional Farmers’ Market at Yering Station.

Renowned for their fine food and quality produce, Yarra Valley markets are a great way to meet the growers and stock up on fresh local produce, as well as handmade crafts, plants and seedlings. Time your visit to coincide with one of these local weekend markets, or discover the joys of farm-gate shopping, the foodie equivalent of wine-tasting at the cellar door. As you tour the region, keep an eye out for the roadside stalls selling fresh produce along the Yarra Valley Food Trail, or pick your own fruit at local berry farms. The region also produces freshwater salmon and trout, salmon caviar, ice cream, hazelnuts and chestnuts, organically grown fruit, berries and vegetables, handmade cheese, pastas and preserves.

The Yarra Valley also has a lively festival calendar. An annual highlight is the Honda Yarra Valley Grape Grazing Festival, when more than 20 wineries get together to choreograph a weekend of wine, food, music, local produce and fun. In 2004, the event will be held on the weekend of 14-15 February. Throughout the rest of the year, music features heavily on the Yarra Valley’s list of festivals. Among the highlights are Domaine Chandon’s Opera in the Vineyard; the Jazz in the Vines Festival at the TarraWarra Winery; and Rochford Wines Summer Music Festival at Rochford’s Eyton Winery.

There are several tour operators that offer various food and wine tours of the Yarra Valley, and leaving the driving to someone else makes good sense if you plan a day of wine-tasting. Limousine tours, mini-bus tours or bicycles are just some of the options, but one of the best ways to experience the vineyards is from a hot-air balloon. Balloon flights depart just after dawn and drift effortlessly and silently above a carpet of forests, farms, and the green corridors of the vineyards, before setting you down for a breakfast of sparkling wine and local produce at one of the wineries. Several local operators offer balloon flights, and thanks to the region’s stable weather patterns, flights operate all year round.

The Yarra Valley is also a great place to shop for all things handmade. Visit the Yarra Glen Craft market on the first Sunday of each month, stock up on pasta at The Yarra Valley Pasta Shop, and shop for gifts and souvenirs at Redgum Gallery in Lilydale. In Marysville and Warburton you’ll find galleries with local products made from recycled timber and local clay.
If your taste in travel runs to wilderness as well as wine, continue past Healesville through the glorious Yarra Ranges National Park to Lady Talbot Drive, just out of Marysville. The first 11 kilometres of this 48-kilometre scenic loop drive follows the Taggerty River through Marysville State Forest, then enters the Yarra Ranges National Park. The first stop is the Phantom Falls car park, then a short walk to the viewing platform. In spring, when the falls are fed by melting snow from Mount Margaret, they are at their most spectacular, sending a veil of spray rolling through the valley.

The drive continues past a succession of wild wonders – including Keppel Falls, the Taggerty River Valley, and The Beeches, an ancient rainforest with mossy stands of myrtle beech trees that soar into the heavens. If the sun is shining, take the four-kilometre Beeches Walk loop track, which crosses the Taggerty River where it meets Whitehouse Creek. The trees here are mountain ash, the second largest species in the world after the California redwood.

“The Yarra Valley is the coolest wine region on the Australian mainland, yet its ability to produce outstanding wine is beyond question.”

Quality accommodation in the Yarra Valley

Amethyst Lodge - Yarra Glen, Victoria

Chateau Yering Historic House Hotel - Yering, Victoria

Marylands Country House - Marysville, Victoria

Stonelea Country Estate - Acheron, Victoria

Susan’s in the Valley - Healesville, Victoria

The Sebel Lodge Yarra Valley - Chirnside Park, Victoria

Valley Guest House - Yarra Glen, Victoria

Woodlands Rainforest Bungalows - Narbethong, Victoria