Swan Valley is a wine region about 40 minutes drive north of Perth, Western Australia; making this an ideal day trip from Perth! The Swan Valley was an established wine region before the now famous Margaret River.
- Climate: Hot Mediterranean1
- Grapes: Due to the hotter climate in the Swan Valley, the grape varieties such as Chenin Blanc, Verdelho, Grenache and Shiraz thrive in this wine region. However the wine makers in the Swan Valley are experimenting with different grape varieties from the old world such as from Italy, Spain and Portugal.
- Wine Style: The Swan Valley is famous for their Chenin Blanc and fully body Grenache. The wine makers can make a variety of styles from sparkling, dry still wine and fortified ports; it is very diverse and you will end up tasting a lot of different types and styles.
Winery
As with most wine regions throughout Australia, most wineries will have a cellar door with tasting. There is usually a small fee for tasting (around $5 AUD to $15 AUD) per person (most places will allow you to share between two people as they know one of whom is the designated driver) with various rules such as based on tasting price you can select certain wines only, or selecting a set number of wines you can taste off their available tasting wine list; but pretty much all wineries will free the tasting fee per person for each bottle of wine you purchase.
- Tyler’s Vineyard (map) - A super friendly local winery, the cellar door is a shed with stickers of photos of their customers; and these photos can be used as the label for the wine bottles you purchase of them, they make them on the spot, a great little but fun gimmick that makes your trip to Swan Valley more memorable for years to come! If you have not seen a family owned and run winery, you should go and visit Tyler’s Vineyard, they do everything! Their speciality is all their wines are made from Grenache, so you can try the different ways the grape has been used from sparkling, rose to still white and red; I think only their port is not using Grenache.
- Olive Farm Wines (map) - This is a super interesting winery and well worth the visit as the wine maker has taken the philosophy (in my opinion) to “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks”. I lost count on the number of grape varieties they have planted, some of which only have 1 or 2 rows for vines, resulting in 1 or 2 barrels of wine from that grape variety! You must admire the creativity and skill to make so make wines from so many different grape varieties (from their website they claim 25+ grape varieties making 40 different wines styles); give yourself enough time for the wine tasting! PS: The only grape variety they don’t have is Grenache as due to the soils they are unable to grow, but the wine maker here produces the wines for Tyler’s Vineyard
- Sandalford Winery (map) - One of the older and largest winery in Swan Valley, they offer a huge range of wines and some of which from other regions such as Margaret River. The main operation is in the Swan Valley, with the vinification all performed in the Swan Valley even for fruit from their vineyards in the Margaret River.
Restaurant
- The Naked Fox Wine Bar, Kitchen & Café (map) - A lovely little cafe with large open lawn where you can have your lunch either in the patio or under the large trees on the lawn. The food is great and they have some interesting wine selections too; however since it is a small cafe, during peak times on busy days there maybe a wait on your food, so sit back and enjoy a drink in the open air!