The Swan Valley, as mentioned before, is a great location for sampling all manner of wines from crisp Sauvignon Blancs to the full bodied Merlot. The range of wines is created by over 40 wineries; some are traditional family run vineyards whilst others are boutique wineries who utilise consultant winemakers to make their own blends and labels. The Swan Valley Trail presents all of the wineries in the area so after consulting this and the friendly women in the Visitor Centre chose two to visit.
After a funny morning with overcast skies with glimpses of blue, the sun came out creating an excellent time to visit Sandalford Wines and Lancaster Winery, an example of both the traditional and new.
Sandalford’s huge premises facilitates exclusive concerts on the lawns, vineyard tours, restaurant and conference options to maximise the opportunity of the many visitors to the area but also diverse enough to maintain income during bad years.
It was a slick operation with a cellar door open most of the day for sales and tastings although did tend to offer tastings from its Margaret River operation more frequently that those grown outside the window.
Their wine range catered for all budgets from the crisp Elements range, grown in Swan Valley to the more exotic Estate Reserve, grown in Margaret River. The Classic Dry White is Sandalford’s best seller and at $20 a pretty good buy. It was definitely my favourite :) although the 2007 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon came a close second.
It was an impressive sight being guided around the production facilities especially considering that the processing only occurs for a few months of the year. I was told that last year the Rose variety had sold out completely within a few weeks of sale.
The second vineyard on the list was the boutique Lancaster range. After having tasted a few at Sandalford, I could only try one here but what a wine but what a wine it was – the blended Verdelho, “a wonderful lifted tropical fruit precede a tightly structured and refreshing crisp finish. Guzzle it down with all the seafood in sight”. Another bargain at $15 a bottle! Lancaster was a special place as all the tastings take place out in the vines from a tin shed. Normally cheese tastings are on offer but unfortunately they’d run out :(
It did feel strange simply driving up into these places and asking to taste some of their wines especially when there’s no obligation to buy any but today was different as I purchased a bottle of both to share at a later date.
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