Wining and Dining



The boy works as a banker and I was lucky enough to join him and a majority of the guys and girls he works with on their End of Financial Year wine tour. I was abit like- "huh?" at the fact that they are celebrating end of financial year, but hey- who am I to turn down wine tasting and delicious food?
We made three stops on our tour through the Swan Valley, first stop being Ironbark Brewery. After jumping off the bus (avoiding any pesky puddles) and sprinting (gracefully) through the light rain, we found ourselves in a warm, musky brewery, our noses filled with the aroma of beer and cider. Rounds of beer tasting platters were ordered, champagne and white wines in hand, we made our way to the rustic tables and began our day of wine, beer and laughter.

Next stop was Black Swan Restaurant & Winery. We had a wine tasting organised, with all wines from the winery of course. There was a mix of red's and whites, including the Classic White, Late Harvest, Rose' and Merlot. Then came the part I was looking forward to the most- food.

Entrees provided were chargrilled Turkish bread, house labne and dukkah, sumac dusted baby squid, with a quince mayonnaise and grilled chorizo with crumbled chevre'. For mains, the boy and i shared two dishes- he ordered crispy pork neck, tiger prawns with an onion & muscatel caramel. The prawns were to die for. Soft and succulent, seasoned to perfection and juicy, which went really well with the saltiness of the pork and the sweetness of the onion. all in all- good dish :) My main was the house fettuccine, with confit duck, four mushrooms, porcini stock and shaved parmesan. The duck was cooked to perfection- balancing the dish with the extra meatiness of the mushrooms. Added cracked black pepper lifted the flavour of the dish.
The next and final stop on the tour was Elmar's in the Valley. This is where the boys seemed to go all beer crazy, ordering steins like beer was going out of fashion. Good atmostphere, friendly service and a good band outside was just the way to end off an awesome day of drinking, eating and dodging the raindrops, who no doubt waited for our tour bus to stop before deciding to fall.


For the few hard core people, there was also a quick trip to Botanica to finish off the night.
Vanilla martini to end the night? I'll drink to that :)