For a start, something was lacking in my tasting experience, and the something was the high-quality sherry-style wines produced in Australia. Looking at the photos on the website it was obvious the buildings and grounds would provide Madam with heritage-oriented photographic interest while I had a taste or two.
Once we’d picked up a guide book and the map it was time to think about lunch, but even before the German-accented lady drew a circle around it on the map, Madam had decided lunch was going to be a picnic basket from Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop. She’d also set her heart on trying the ice-cream there.
We drove out through light drizzle, parked and wandered indoors to find that the picnic basket was an eat-it-here affair of pate, dips and bread.
There was an area where we could taste the pate, and once we’d made our selection it was a case of grabbing a table overlooking the lake which, even through the drizzle, was a pleasure to behold.
I’d opted for mushroom pate and a glass of Beer Brothers Semillon Chardonnay for lunch, while Madam’s had the red pepper version and a non-alcoholic Cabernet.
Looking at the contents of each little basket you might feel you’d need a bit more to keep you going for the rest of the day.
I found there was just enough to fill the yawning void without leaving you too bloated to be able to fit in a little liquid afterwards.