Let's get Tipsy!

Saturday 11^th February, 2017.

Mel picks us up right on 10am. Mel is a resident of Augusta with a young family and a baby on the way, and she takes us to her favourite places in the area, as far north as Margaret River township. The first place we visit is the Hamelin Bay Winery, whose logo just happens to be a Wyvern, a winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail. The wine is good too, so I just have to buy some. It’s a beautiful setting, as you’d expect from a winery, rolling hills, covered in vines, large interior and external terrace overlooking it all. Next stop is a place that doesn’t have a cellar door open yet, so we’re getting a preview and we’re supposed to be having our wine tasting on their verandah but it’s still blowy and a bit rainy, so we sit inside around their dining table. Sascha and Ben have big plans for their property and Kerfuffle Wines, and I’d love to be able to visit again in a couple of years. Ben has a degree in agriculture and viticulture and Sascha has a degree in wine making (I forget the proper name) and they met when Sascha came to Ben to source some grapes for her wine. He was close to ripping out his 19 year old vines, so Sascha saved the day! 

All this wine onboard, it’s time to put a bit of food in our stomachs, so Mel takes us to Whirlwind Olives, to taste some oils and dukkah and of course, some olives. 

Arlewood Estate, winner of James Halliday’s 2017 Dark Horse of the Year award for 2017, is our next port of call and our hostess confesses that she’s a bit nervous, this being her first solo attempt at a tasting. If she hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t have known!

It’s getting on and we decide lunch would be a good idea. Mel likes to go to the Margaret River Distilling Company, for something a little different. They also have a distillery called Limeburner’s in Albany, but down there they concentrate on whisky, whereas in Margaret River they distill whisky as well as gin, so while our lunch is being cooked, we are able to have a tasting. Trevor chooses a bourbon style whisky and of course, I have their ‘base model’ gin. Trevor doesn’t mind his, but mine is too ‘botanical’ for my liking. Lunch is ready, so we eat while planning our next move. There’s a couple of options, but the ones we like the sound of are a micro-brewery and the chocolate factory. So Mel takes us to the Colonial Brewing Co where Trevor bought a beer tasting paddle that had 5 beers to taste. Unfortunately, we didn’t really like any of them enough to have a full glass. Temper Temper Fine Chocolate on the other hand, has so much yummy chocolate that it’s hard to choose. There’s lots to taste, chocolate made from origin specific cacao, from all over the world. The absolute best is the Wild Amazonia chocolate, but sadly, it’s also the dearest, so we settle for a taste or two, or three…… I do make a purchase, but it’s going to be a gift for someone. Next door there’s another olive product shop, this one with body products, room fresheners, olives and various other foods, including pickled zucchini, something to remember to try making at home. 

We headed back to Augusta from there, discussing plans for dinner. We told Mel about our attempt to try shark in Albany and we said we were going to walk to the fish and chip shop at the top of our street to buy some. Mel said that wasn’t the best place in town and that she was going around further to Colourpatch Café to buy fish and chips for her own dinner and offered to bring us some back and we could just pay her for it. Good deal! So we finally got our shark, bronze whaler. Full marks Tipsy Tours!