Scotch College

What a wonderful winter wine walk!

Walking in fine winter weather, wine tasting, a picnic lunch, the company of good Scotch family friends … what more could you want?

All those positives and more were the story of the Old Scotch Bushwalking Club's wine and food walk on Sunday 4 August. Expertly organised by Ian Marchment, the walk was thoroughly enjoyed by more than forty walkers from the Bushwalking Club and the Old Scotch Wine and Food Society.

We met convivially in the car park of Stonier's winery at Merricks, and soon headed off down a rather muddy equestrian track towards Red Hill. This track, once part of the Red Hill-Bittern railway line, offered us distant glimpses of a greyish Westernport Bay and the Nobbies. Stopping for morning tea at the site of the old Red Hill railway station, we were soon off through stringybark woods, over fences, past vineyards and along muddy tracks to the welcome sight of Paringa Estate for our first wine tasting. Paringa's 2000 Estate Chardonnay, 2001 Estate Pinot Noir and 2000 Estate Shiraz - all multiple prize-winners - were tasted and admired.

Lunch beckoned, but first we needed to cross a few more gates, and 'greet' some horses as we crossed a paddock before reaching Merricks Estate, our lunch venue. We tasted the '99 Chardonnay and '99 Pinot before most of us headed for the nearby dam with its picnic tables, to eat lunch in the warm winter sunshine, while many enjoyed a glass or two of Merricks Estate wines.

Suitably refreshed, and having covered 10km before lunch, we now had to negotiate only a 2km stroll back to Stonier's car park for the final tasting. Out on the sunny verandah, we tried and approved the winery's 2001 Sauvignon Blanc. It was a highly suitable way to finish a memorable walk.

David Ashton