Renée's posterous

I'm really proud of my little rhyme above! I can only really rhyme when I'm excited about something. Today we were hitting the wineries that I like to call the "outliers". Off the beaten track and hard to get to. So we headed west from Lilydale to a winery called Yarra Burn, which really wasn't that far away, and who were really friendly and accomodating. When we went out the back to talk to the winemakers I realised that I knew one of them! Then 2 others came out from the lab and it was like this huge EIT reunion! So unexpected and probably really loud and annoying for the other office staff! This really started our day on the right foot and put a spring in my step.

Further north we headed up towards Panton Hill which has an amazing hippy - historical feel to it. There is a general store there dating back to the 1890s! Incredible! Here we were met by the icy cold shoulder of one particular winery who wouldn't even give us a minute out of their day to not only hear our speel but even meet us! The girl who greeted us said that the owner wasn't interested in being involved and then she said "but I personally think that is a fantastic idea - so I don't quite know why" . We are exciting people to meet! Surely you would want to at least shake our hand and look at our beautiful artwork...? No? Pity...

Nevertheless we shook our heads, bit our tongues and jumped in the car - onwards and upwards! Our next stop has got to be my most amazing experience of our whole trip! We stopped in at a winery called Red Box and met the owner, Colin, who expressed some interest in our artwork and casually invited us to have a coffee with him. I knew that Marie was dying for her midday coffee so we were more than happy to take him up on his free offer and promptly sat down inside the cute, quaint little cellar door. Over a coffee we learned of this amazing character's history. The sort of history that if I told you, I'd have to kill you... he seemed like one of those treasures you stumble across in life who are just full of amazing stories! His doors were made from old wood from an old refrigeration plant and this wood still had holes in it from the bolts that were used in construction. So they put in these holes old wine corks! Perfect really! He then took us to his beautiful mudbrick house and showed us a stunning old stained glass window which has been dated back to the 1700s! along with a giant old piece of wood from Melbourne's first wharf which was put in place 150 years ago... so many treasures here! Colin then suggested that when this product is all up and running, perhaps I make a speech at his local Rotary club - which I've done before and would jump at any opportunity to do again!

I was sad to leave Red Box because I felt like there were so many stories I would love to learn about from Colin. But our focus was on the doors and we stopped at the lovely Panton Hill winery before heading back east across to Yileena Park winery where we learned that the bush fires of 09 came within a metre of their cellar door and miraculously spared their beautiful building and vineyard. Roundstone up the valley unfortunately was not spared, and as we drove further north we could see that the damage of the fires was still apparent. However, it is incredible to see green growth and new bark filling the area and we can see and feel the strength and tenacity of the human spirit overcoming this huge tragedy.

We have visited 62 wineries in the Yarra Valley... we have one left to visit, before heading back to the city to spend some much needed time resting and relaxing with family and friends.