Okay you guys. I knew I was signing up for something special when the word “Dude” was in the company name. Matt’s mum was heading over for her second visit, so we thought we’d head “douth” (down south) to the Margaret River to escape Perth for the weekend.

Wine for Dudes wine tours lived up to expectation. It was a really fun wine tour! Plenty of knowledge about the region and the wines, without being at all pretentious. No wine snobbery here. And let me tell you something: Wine for Dudes picked the BEST places to stop. Each place gave us something a little bit extra-extra to experience. I’ve been on plenty of wine tours (I swear I don’t drinking problem, I only drink on days ending in “y”. YEA DAD JOKE.) and I’ve never done what we did at our second winery stop, and it was super fun. Read on friends!

Wine for Dudes owner and all round cool guy, Johno, picked us up from our accommodation at Bunker Bay, and dropped us off at our first stop, where we hooked up with the rest of the tour group and our tour leader Greg. Thompson Estate is known for its chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and blends of cabernet. Each wine was lovely, but what was really unique was being able to test the wine straight from the barrel!

Smelling the wine in the barrel.

Tasting wine from the barrel

Next up, we visited Hay Shed Hill Wines. These were my favourite wines. They were all delicious, but the Bordeaux blend “Morrison’s Gift” was just divine.

Hay Shed Hill Wines have a restaurant attached called Rustico and we stopped for lunch. Rustico served up some delicious pizza and salads, which I could just not. stop. eating.

BONUS ROUND: you could also blend your own wine! Before lunch was served we were given a carafe of shiraz and a carafe of cabernet sauvignon and we were taught to blend wine! Once we were taught the best blends, we were left to concoct our own glass to have with lunch.

There was also the most beautiful vineyard at Hay Shed Hill Wines. Matt and I frolicked through it after lunch, you know… for the ‘gram.

Fermoy Estate where there was so much discussion on the history of the area. There was more wine, which was awesome too, haha! They were also selling some really beautiful wooden homewares.

Next level: olive oil tasting directly next door at Pukara Estate! Can you believe it’s right next door to Fermoy Estate?? There were so many flavoured oils and sauces, it was nice to soak up some wine, haha.

Afternoon tea was up next at the Margaret River Chocolate Company. You could order a tea, coffee or hot chocolate, or just get that sugar high!

OMG IT’S BETTY! Betty is the old wine dog that greeted us at Lenton Brae Winery. She was elderly and gentle and just generally lovely. I probably need to tell you about the wine though… We were taken to the wine cellar where we could sit and sample the wine, which was nice after a long day on our feet. We were also given grapes to sample! They were ripe and sweet!

Last but not least, we rocked up to Cheeky Monkey Brewery and Cidery. There are beers, ciders AND wines here, so there is allll the delicious beverage choices. Another picturesque location, we sipped beers, enjoyed the sunshine and chatted with Greg until it was time to end the tour with a drive back to Bunker Bay with Johno.

Wine for Dudes picked the raddest locations (what? I’ve said dude a trillion times and that was okay) and keep the whole tour real. They pick new places so that each tour is different from the day before, so I’m sure when I go back for a second go there will be new places to explore.

I did an Instagram story of my day with Wine for Dudes! You can find it on my Instagram under the Margaret River story.