Victoria State’s world-famous wines and delicious Modern Australian cuisine are vacation highlights for a huge number of visitors every year. The state is proud of its wine-making traditions, and wine and food tours top the agendas of the majority of travellers arriving from across Australia and the world. Two favourite destinations are the spectacularly lovely Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley, set within an easy drive of lively Melbourne with its great choice of accommodation, restaurants, nightlife and outdoor activities.

A favourite way to explore the wineries whilst enjoying the sheer beauty of their surroundings is to book a specialized wine and food tour. Melbourne’s Wine and Food Lovers Tours, conveniently based in the city, are experts in fine wines and local gourmet foods who know the best places and the most unusual vintages. The dedicated couple who own the business offer a variety of delightful wine and food experiences, including their unique Cider and Ale Trail and Wine and Chocolate Indulgence tours. Highlights include balloon flights over the valley and visits to micro-breweries as well as wineries.

Yarra Valley wine tours introduce vacationers to an iconic land of rolling, green hills and verdant valley floors covered with the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines whose grapes are used to create the delicious vintages for which the region is famous. Many small wineries utilize traditional techniques in their wine-making, and each has its own distinctive flavor. The vines flourish in the region’s cooler temperatures, as do visitors from the continent’s hotter states. Connoisseurs of individually-produced fine wines will love the leisurely wine tours around the valley.

A taste of the Yarra Valley is offered with the Wine and Chocolate Indulgence Tour, taking in the Oakridge Estate, Pimpernel Vineyard, cutely-named Squitchy Lane and the Coldstream Hills, ending up at Kennedy and Wilson Chocolates. It’s a feast for the eye as well as the taste buds, and the luxury chocolates are to die for! The Yarra Valley Cider and Ale Trail covers a choice of no less than eight micro-breweries producing boutique ales and ciders and starts with the Kellybrook Winery, the first cider-makers in the valley famous for their apple brandy and sparkling cider. For a totally unique overview of the valley, a balloon tour can be taken before the Cider and Ale Trail.

Several of Wine and Food Lovers’ all-time favorites are the Mornington Peninsula wine tours, taking in the spectacular scenery of the protected state park and as popular with ecotourists as they are with gourmets and wine aficionados. Mountainous in its interior and with pristine beaches, the peninsula is a nature-lovers’ paradise complete with well-known small wineries making good use of the Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay grapes grown in the cooler, maritime climate. As well as its wineries, the valley is known for its micro-breweries making fine ales and ciders, and sampling is the best part of the tours.

Tours offered in Mornington Peninsula include Red Hill off the Beaten Track, great for wine, food and culture and including the scenic drive from the city, stops at Foxey’s Hangout and Dunn’s Creek vineyards and a visit to a cheese factory at a pretty farm. The amazing, unspoiled natural beauty of the peninsula is a highlight of Wine and Food Lovers’ T’Gallant to Montalto tour with its drive along the dramatic coastline to the T’Gallant artisan winery and several more vineyards. The charmingly-named Ten Minutes by Tractor vineyards are three wineries clustered close by each other and home to the famous McCutcheon Chardonnays – a real treat for lovers of fine wine.

For a more energetic option, Wine and Food Lovers Tours offer guided bike rides around the Nagambie Wineries, giving a chance to lose the calories gained by tasting wines and enjoying a great lunch The Tahbilk Estate is its highlight, set along the Goulburn River and known as one of Australia’s most historic wineries. A gourmet lunch is taken here, and there’s the option of a four kilometer walk, a visit to the winery museum and, of course, tastings of rare Rhone Valley Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier whites and the famous Shiraz Rhone reds.

Patricia and John, the owners of Wine and Food Lovers Tours are professional tour guides as well as experienced bushwalkers and lovers of fine wines and gourmet foods. Their expertise ensures enjoyable experiences, whether by comfortable people-carrier buses, on bicycles or even on foot, and their extensive knowledge of the region and its wineries gives an unforgettable taste of Victoria State’s gourmet delights.