Day 181 Mount Barker, WA

The south west of Western Australia boasts that is one of Australia's premier wine regions and many would agree.  Most of us would remember Vasse Felix, that is the oldest vineyard in the Margaret River region, and gave us an introduction to what this region had to offer.  I hardly touch wine these days saving it just for special occasions and I can't say, even when I did enjoy white wine, that I enjoyed the Margaret River wine all that much much nor the New Zealand wines.  I don't know why the taste is so unappealing to my taste buds. Perhaps it is DNA, just like my abhorrence to coriander that to me tastes like stink beetles 😩

Today we enjoyed lunch and wine tasting at the Plantagenet Winery that is less than 100 metres from our caravan park.  This is a very old winery for this region with the first wine being produced in 1975.  Their icon wine, with only 1118 bottles produced and sold only through the cellar door, is their 2018 "Lionel Samson" Cabernet Sauvignon. It has won accolades Australia wide and sells for $150/bottle.

Even though it is a short distance we drove to the winery as at is a cold and showery day.  I chose to be the designated driver. As we walked in the door of the very small intimate cellar door/restaurant we were met by one of the two staff that were on duty for today.  They, like everywhere in Australia, are understaffed.  Please bring back the backpackers!  We had pre-booked a table even though we were told it was not necessary but while we were being seated our waitress said that she was glad we had booked as they were completely booked out!  She was telling us the truth as we saw at least three groups of people walk in the door and were turned away.  Actually we have learnt from experience to always book a table even when told otherwise.

The menu is not extensive and is more cafe style but there was a whiteboard of "specials" that looked interesting.  There was a Lentil and Vegetable soup for entree or Beef Bourguignon for main and Sticky Date for dessert.  Philip chose the soup for entree and Pulled Pork Pizza for main while I went for Garlic Bread followed by the Beef Bourguignon.  There are suggested wine pairings for our mains and Philip decided on the Pinot Noir to go with his Pizza.   

While we waited for our meal I chose the sparkling Blanc de Blanc and Philip the Rosé.  I loved my choice and came home with a bottle for the cellar.  The kitchen is well run and it took no time at all for our éntree to arrive at our table.  Philip said that his soup was filling and delicious and just the thing needed on a cold day. My garlic bread arrived with the soup and I was pleased to see that it was actually thin sliced garlic bread. Perfect.

I wondered how Philip would fit in a pizza after his large bowl of soup but he had ordered the 9" pizza over the 12" so it wasn't too big.  If pizza can be healthy, this one would have to be it.  It was jammed packed with a variety of vegetables and the pulled pork was almost a garnish. It looked delicious and my small taste of it confirmed that.

My Beef Bourguignon was packed full of baby potatoes, mushrooms and carrots to accompany the melt in the mouth beef.  The tantalising smell of red wine permeated the whole dish and it was truly a wonderful meal.  I must admit to wiping the bowl clean with some of the large quantity of the bread that accompanied the meal.

After our dishes were taken away I ordered coffee while Philip stayed with his Pinot Noir.  We decided to share a sticky date pudding to see if it tasted as good as it looked.  I have to say that yes indeed it did taste pretty darn good.  We couldn't do it justice though and left half of it behind as our bellies were bursting.

We swung by the cellar door before we departed and purchased a six pack of the pinot noir and a bottle of the Blanc de Blanc. There is also a small variety of food products for sale at the cellar door and we could not resist a bottle of honey from this region and I read that the hives were set in amongst the Karri so it should have a wonderful taste.

We are now home and waiting for the NRL Grand Final.  We both want Parramatta Eels to win after their defeat of the NQ Cowboys.  Fingers crossed.