Australia is a country that is well known for it’s wine so when I booked my trip to Australia a wine tour was one of the first trips I knew I wanted to book. During my time in Perth I did a day trip to Swan Valley which is located approximately 25 minutes drive away from Perth. Located in the upper reaches of swan river between Bells Rapids and Guildford, Swan Valley has over 150 wineries and vineyards as well as chocolatiers, honey producers and ice cream makers. 

I chose to do a wine and chocolate tasting tour which I booked with Swan Valley Tours, I was picked up at a central location in Perth in a minibus as the party size for the tour was 10 people. I felt that I was lucky that it was a small group who were a really nice group of people and our guide was brilliant as he gave us plenty of information throughout the day and dropped us off at our hotels at the end of the day. We visited four different vineyards as well as having lunch at one of the vineyards. At each vineyard wines we tasted include: chardonnay, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, semillon, port, verdelho and chenin blanc. 

Our first vineyard was Sandalford wines which is a venue that is also used for outdoor concerts such as Michael Buble. Established in 1840 Sandalfords wines is one of Western Australia’s oldest and largest producers of premium wines which are made under a variety of labels. They have won numerous awards for the wine that they produce and export to over 40 countries worldwide. Once finished here we then took a short drive to Mandoon Estate which was established in 2008 where we had a delicious lunch. After lunch we then visited Lancaster wines which boasts some of the oldest vines there are in Swan Valley. To take a short break from tasting wine we then ventured to Margaret River chocolate company for some chocolate tasting as well as the chance to buy some chocolate. Margaret River chocolate company opened it’s first factory in 1999 before opening a second one in Swan Valley in 2000, the chocolate here is delicious and I would highly recommend trying the chocolate. Our final wine tasting was at Garbin Estate this is a family run estate which was established in 1956, upon our visit we were able to see where they make the wine. Garbin Estate was another vineyard that we visited that have won awards for their wine and they also export the wine they produce to China. 

Out of the four vineyards that we visited I found that Sandalford wines had the best tasting wine on offer. 

Swan Valley is not all about wine and chocolate tasting as there are other attractions in the area including:

Caversham Wildlife Park: a wildlife park giving you the chance to hand feed kangaroos, see koalas as well as milk a cow

Swan Valley Adventure Centre: the chance to go abseiling, rock climbing, kayaking as well as many more activities 

Vines Mini Golf: a 18 hole mini golf course

Swan Settlers Market: only open Saturday and Sunday as you are able to buy local art, crafts, jewellery and fresh produce

Have you been to Swan Valley before? Is a wine tour something that you would like to do?

LauraJane

At the time of this being posted we are in the middle of a pandemic, please remain safe and abide by any travel restrictions. Any further information on travel restrictions can be found on the government website.