Wine Tasting in the Outback

“Who needs boomerangs when you’ve got almost a case of wine to declare?” asks Rex Crum, writer for BootsnAll Travel. I guess you don’t really need an souveneirs from a place like Australia when you can bring home fine wines from the Outback. What better way to share your travel stories than over a nice glass with good company? Read about Crum’s experience at the Kyneton Ridge Estate winery in his article Wines By The Hour In Victoria.

“Australian wines, especially shiraz (or as we often call it, syrah) have become popular in the States in the last few years, and Victoria has turned into the country’s wine center. Being big fans of the grape, and especially the pinot noir variety, Megan and I made sure we knocked on more than a few of Victoria’s cellar doors, most of which offer free samplings of their products.

Most of Victoria’s wineries are open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day, with some exceptions where it is requested that you call in advance to ensure someone will be there to pour for you. The Macedon Range wineries, in particular, are in rural settings, and at each of the three we visited, we were the only people in the tasting room.

There must be a trend of naming wineries after local sights, because in addition to Kyneton Ridge, we also partook in sampling the offerings of the Hanging Rock and Mount Macedon and wineries. Name recognition is everything in the wine business, so why not go with a name that everybody knows?”