Grampians Wineries Part 1 - Best's Winery, Great Western

With the weekend just gone being the beginning of Melbourne's Spring Racing Carnival, my partner and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to take a much needed long weekend away (especially since we live in such close proximity to Flemington Racecourse!).

Our chosen destination was the Grampians in North Western Victoria, heading towards Adelaide. Neither of us having travelled there before, in my true travel planning style, lots of googling was conducted to get a full list of places, wineries and farms to visit.

My food and wine knowledge is minimal, as you will learn throughout this blog. However, its these trips that teach me more and more each time. I like to try the wines I have never heard of and eat foods that I wouldn't normally eat. However, I'm still partial to a good old pub parma every now and then!

Over the four days I managed to visit a total of three wineries in the region.

First stop was Best's Winery in Great Western. The winery was first established in 1866. The Cellar Door had a great little museum of all old wine bottles and equipment, Henry Best's diary, old pieces of wine stone from the old oak barrels and plenty of photos of the winery and its makers over the past century or so. We tasted most wines on offer but I purchased a bottle of the Cabernet Sauvignon, I think it was a 2006. They have some original vines there from back when the winery was established and are still creating wines from those vines today.

Something new I learnt...

Pinot Meunier - One of the three main grape varieties used in the production of Champagne. Although winemakers have only recently acknowledged Pinot Meunier instead of emphasising the use of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Best's originally produced 85% Pinot Meunier, 15% pinot noir blends and continue to produce these today from the original vines.