Swan Valley
Perth City and Fremantle offer a wonderful food and beverage
scene this side of Western Australia but up and coming Swan
Valley is becoming known as Perth’s Valley of Taste. This is where
Western Australia’s award-winning wineries and craft beer
breweries are located, along with local farms and countless
gourmet artisans. Swan Valley is also Australia’s first ‘humane food
region’, which encourages its restaurateurs and diners to know
where their food is sourced from and to choose cage-free eggs and
free-range meat. Covering all Swan Valley has to offer will take
quite a while so choose where to go with the Swan Valley Food &
Wine Trail Map. Available all around Swan Valley and at the Swan
Valley Visitor Centre, the map highlights the best eats and drinks
and other places of attraction within the area.
For those interested in craft beer, Swan Valley is
home to breweries and cideries producing
contemporary and creative beers and cider, and
a day tour on the Swan Valley Cider + Ale
Trail is sure to quench thirsts. Start off with
Funk Cider, a boutique natural cidery with
12 taps of weekly-rotating fresh ciders.
Funk Cider is an offshoot of the Michael
Brothers Traditionally Pressed Juice
Company. The Michael Brothers use
cold-pressed apple juice to create their
preservative-free and unpasteurised wildly-
named ciders like The Crowd Pleaser and Sex
Machine that use real fruit in its infusions for
full-bodied flavour (funkcider.com.au).
Next on the tour, sample beer from a number of Swan
Valley’s craft breweries. Most of them serve beer paddles of about
five to six craft beers, along with tasting notes for visitors to
understand the complexities of the beer brewed in each brewery.
Homestead Brewery is one place to head to on an empty stomach.
It has an outside dining deck that overlooks an incredible view of
the vineyards, and serves Western Australian favourites like
mussels, Moroccan lamb and beer battered fish and chips.
Homestead Brewery is the only one of its kind in Australia with
German-manufactured Schulz brewing equipment and serves a
mix of ciders, ales and beers on its sampling paddle
(mandoonestate.com.au).
For craft beers, try Mash Brewing, an award-winning brewery
that serves well-balanced beers that will satisfy craft beer newbies
and enthusiasts with its selection of smooth and easy drinking
beers (mashbrewing.com.au). Those with a penchant for unique
craft beers should visit Feral Brewing. The experimental brewery
features 16 taps pouring fresh and unpasteurised beers full of bold
and punchy aromatics. The boutique brewery is a small batch
producer that only makes enough craft beers for sale on its property
so for a taste of smoked hickory undertones, or coffee and citrus
notes, make a trip to Feral Brewing (feralbrewing.com.au).
Before Swan Valley had its craft beers, the area was and still is
known for its wineries and vineyards. Swan Valley is the state’s
oldest wine region that recently celebrated 180 years of
winemaking in 2014. With its reliably warm and dry climate, the
region has become well-known for its Chenin Blanc, Verdelho,
Shiraz and Petit Verdot varieties.
There are many vineyards that can be visited in Swan Valley,
such as Sandalford Winery, one of the oldest and largest wineries in
Western Australia. In addition to touring the vineyard and tasting
wines, stay for lunch at Sandalford Winery, where beautiful
Australian produce is paired with its own wines (sandalford.
com). Another Australian wine mainstay in Swan Valley is
Houghton Winery & Café that has been around for more than 175
years. The picturesque property steeped in history has
magnificent hundred-year-old Norfolk pines and a Jacaranda
grove. Dine at the semi-alfresco café that offers a selection of
delicious lunches based on local, seasonal produce (houghton-
wines.com.au).
For dessert, visit Margaret River Providore, where visitors can
take a Chocolate & Wine Masterclass. This romantic Valentine-
esque pairing matches chocolate bitterness and praline fillings
with different types of handcrafted liqueurs and wines for a sweet
afternoon tasting class (providore.com.au).
Come dinner, dine at Fillaudeaus Restaurant that sits
adjacent to Pinelli Estate Wines. The award-winning
winery is second generation-owned and the Cellar
Door has free wine tastings (for groups smaller than
10) of its sparkling wines, flavoursome whites,
robust reds and refreshing moscatos. For a food
and wine experience, Fillaudeaus Restaurant
next door serves traditional French cuisine with
its cellar door wines (pinelliwines.com.au).
Besides ciders, craft beers and wines, visit
Swan Valley for its gourmet artisans. Join the
Cheese Maker at Olive Farm’s The Cheese Barrel for
a day of haloumi cheese making that class takers can
take home at the end of the day (thecheesebarrel.com.
au). Other gourmet artisans to check out include The
House of Honey for locally produced honey and mead
(thehouseofhoney.com.au), Morish Nuts, a household name for
nuts and nibbles in Perth (morish.com.au), and Mondo Nougat
& Chocolate, an Italian confectionary that has been producing
cakes, desserts and nougats since 1989 (mondonougat.com.au).Jetstar flies up to three times daily between Singapore and Perth, the
gateway to Western Australia (from £65; jetstar.com).
For more information on Perth, visit experienceperth.com
Discover more food and wine trails in Swan Valley at swanvalley.com.auMAKE IT HAPPEN