Yarra Valley Grazing Tour: Wine, Gin, Cheese & Chocolate Experience

Totally recommend taking the Yarra Valley Gourmet Tours under Go West! Our tour guide Alisha was super fantastic and sassy, love the way she gave little tidbits of facts about each stop that we were going to. That made each interaction with the proprietors super fun & genuine. For this tour we went to the following: 1. Balgownie Estate - had a tasting of 5 wines there introduced to us by Nicola. Each wine was delicious and had a nice time walking around the place afterwards. 2. Coldstream Dairy - we were greeted by Sparkles the dog, and their peppercorn cheese and cranberry cheese were so good I ended up buying them both. They also do jams & preserves. 3. Four Pillars Distillery - we got the G&T Paddle where we tasted 3-4 types of gins with a mixer of our choice (I took lemonade). Really super experience! My favourite was the Bloody Shiraz Gin with dark citrus. 4. Rochford Wineries - this was the lunch stop for our tour (I had the 16 hour slow cooked beef oyster blade - sooo tender) and after that we had a wine tasting introduced by Freddy. They also sell whiskies (large and small bottles) and other wines like Moscato (must try!) 5. Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery - we were ushered into a room where they gave tastings of their chocolate. The milk chocolate coated raspberry licorice and the choc coated freeze dried strawberries are the kicker! Really fantastic experience for my first time in Melbourne, 5 stars recommendation for those who want a nicely paced food and wine tour!

In the morning, the Go West Tours car picked us up at the hotel entrance on time. After leaving the city of Melbourne and driving for about an hour, the surrounding scenery has changed into vineyards and farms. Arriving at the first Balgownie Estate, we tasted 5 wines during the introduction by the winery commentator. Second stop, go eat cheese! I ate three kinds of cheese with biscuits and many kinds of jams at the cheese shop (Coldstream Dairy). Then go to FOUR PILLARS, a famous gin distillery here. The distillery prepares 4 different glasses of gin for each person, and you can choose to add tonic water, lemonade or sparkling water. At this time, many people's cheeks started to turn red. Then go to Rochford Winery for lunch, with your choice of red wine or white wine. After the meal, everyone had a wine tasting, and they tried four types from the winery’s wine list, plus a dessert wine. The last stop was at a chocolate and ice cream shop, where everyone was allowed to try more than a dozen kinds of chocolate. We also bought two large balls of ice cream ourselves, and our stomachs were full of sweetness. Get in the car with a tipsy and sweet taste, ready to return to Melbourne. This one-day tour of wineries in the Yarra Valley is really rich in content. It is worth mentioning that the driver and tour guide Terry.R is enthusiastic and humorous, and his driving skills are top-notch!

The trip was Great! Git a variety…cheese, wine, chocolate, and Gin. particularly good when some of us do not drink. The lunch was like a gourmet dinner quality, what a surprise. Our tour guide Lucy was excellent. Her pleasant personality and the lively briefing throughout the journey had made the trip so much more fun, bonding the people together. Blessed to have her.

There’s a lot of pick up locations to choose you can chose which location to pick you up! Went on the tour with Tom (Go West!) he was amazing… a non stop eating and drinking, went to Balgownie then somewhere a family owned dairy for cheese platter then a new add on activity at Four pillar “Gin Tasting” after that another wine tasting at Rochford together with lunch. For this Gin Tasting, my preference is better to had Gin Tasting after lunch instead of empty stomach. As for lunch time, we had choices of steak/salmon/chicken/vegetarian, foods were super delicious!! Highly recommend!! Lastly end with nice chocolate tasting and the chocolates were yummy Strongly recommended for this tour!

Our guide, Bill, was fantastic—friendly, extremely funny, and full of energy. The trip was excellent, with great wine, gin, pizza and cheese tastings. One suggestion for an even better experience: ending the tour with some ice cream in the Yarra Valley would be a perfect final touch.

The Yarra Gourmet experience was a lot of fun! I got to taste a variety of wines , gin, cheese and chocolates. the lunch provided was delicious and definitely worth it.

This tour by Go West Tours was the best tour we had in Melbourne. We were given ample time at each of the 5 locations. Our favourite was the Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery. The coconut-macadamia praline was so tasty that we bought so many of it. The dairy shop where we had the cheese tasting platter was good too. Only felt that the lunch could have been better. Otherwise a great trip!

Despite being anosmic from birth, I really enjoyed the gourmet tour. It was a delightful exploration of taste and the overall experience. Our guide, Laney, was incredibly fun and made the experience enjoyable for everyone.

A trip that is absolutely not to be missed, whether it is the cheese factory, the chocolate factory, or the three key wineries, they are unparalleled, and the lunch at the winery is even more surprising. In terms of cost-effectiveness, it should be the best choice for the entire Melbourne itinerary. In addition, the driver and tour guide Aaron is funny and attentive, and his explanations along the way are clear, which makes the whole trip more interesting.

This is a must - do in melbourne. We were taken to 5 different places with 2 sessions of wine tasting which were soooo good. The lunch was perfect. The cheese was amazing. I love the cheese with cranberries. The organic farm was impressive to me with how they put alll their hearts in growing the organic produce. Lastly the chocolate factory was like a dream. The scenery was so prettyyy and i loved it. Our tour guide Jon was wonderful, too. Please dont miss it, you will like it as much as i do.