We were surprised to find out we were the only people on the full-day wine tour, which included visits and tastings to five Margaret River wineries, lunch in one of the wineries and a final visit to a chocolate factory in Cowaramup (just a few steps from where we had spent three days earlier in the week).

Steve was our guide – not quite a local as he had only lived here for 20 years, but he did know a lot about the industry. The day did start with a hiccough though – when the van door refused to open to let us in. Luckily Mick was able to help him out!

Our first stop was Leeuwin Winery – and even though it was not quite opening time, we were able to taste some excellent wines here (in a private tasting).

This vineyard is famous for its music events (as well as for its wines). Although Covid has impacted the last few years, the winery has 3 events booked for 2023. There was a wall of ‘fame’ showing the headline performers who have performed in the beautiful grounds of this winery. The list was impressive and included James Taylor, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Michael Crawford, James Morrison, George Benson, and Roxy Music, just to name a few.

This winery has an underground art gallery featuring full-sized paintings of different labels they commissioned for different wines from well-known Australian artists. The gallery looked out onto a magnificent lawn and garden area.

We left with three bottles of Leeuwin wine which we will enjoy during the rest of our holiday.

A lot of money has been invested in many of the Margaret River cellar doors. We have been very impressed by the sheer scale of some of them.

Then for something completely different, Steve took us to a small vineyard (only 24 hectares) called Brown Hill Estate. It was a similar experience to our visit to Cape Grace Winery, a winery we visited earlier in the week. I was sorry I forgot to get any photos here, but it was just a large green shed where we were made to feel very welcome by Gwen – the owner – who had planted all the vines with her husband back in 1995 when they moved down from Kalgoorlie.

Their point of difference is that every red grape is hand picked and sorted on tables in the big green shed before undergoing a great deal of attention to make a number of different wines. Many of their wines have won medals in different shows, and some have been awarded 93+ points by Halliday.

We bought a case of mixed wines from here which will be waiting for us when we return to Queensland after our holiday. Gwen gave us a (free) bottle of the 2018 Chaffers Shiraz – as she said they believed in a ‘baker’s dozen’. Another reason to recommend them.

We had lunch at Xanadu – another impressive looking winery – where we tasted some of their wines before our meal. While we liked some of their wines, we did leave here empty handed.

We had tasted a bottle of Voyager Chardonnay during our stay in Fremantle. Although we had never heard of Voyager before that experience, today we found ourselves in their impressive cellar door and gardens. Made in the style of South African gardens – with loads of white-washed rendered walls and rows of roses.

We left here empty-handed as well, partly because the wine tasting experience was a little underwhelming.

McHenry and Hohen was our final winery for the day. And by significant contrast, our guide here knew her stuff and was able to guide us through the tasting. Mick was very impressed, because she knew the alcohol content of each of the wines we tasted without having to refer to the bottles. And, more importantly, the wines were very good.

We left here with a few bottles in tow. I keep saying to Mick that we will end up with more than we can consume on our trip. But he is confident we can do it!

As you could appreciate, after such a busy day, we needed to have a low-key meal at home for dinner and an early night!