This is the second tour I had been on in the Swan Valley and both have been booked with Swan Valley Wine Tours and the lovely Brad was our guide for the day.
We visited the Pinelli and Lancaster wineries before lunch at Houghtons. When we arrived at Houghtons, were ushered down to the cellar for lunch. There was no greeting involved and an extremely disappointing lunch.
We received a small platter for every two people, unfortunately for our group, they were short a platter and no substitute was offered.
The ‘salad’ was dry without any dressing so we had to ask for balsamic vinegar to make it a little easier to eat the spinach, that was all there was in the bowl.
There were a few meats and vegetables on the platter and a thin slice of Turkish bread each. We were denied more bread for the table so I left the table still feeling hungry.
The disappointment didn’t end there. We went for our wine tasting and we’re served by the two rudest people I have ever met. I’ve never had eyes rolled at me so many times and one employee by the name of Amy told a member of staff not to serve us anymore.
They then pulled the driver aside and spoke to him about us. He told us not to mind the the staff as they are rude and impolite to everyone and it is far down his lost of good wineries in the Swan Valley.
It really brought the atmosphere down to be treated in this way when we were just there to enjoy ourselves.
Hopefully it improves as it’s not a winery I would return to.
We visited other wineries throughout the day, our favourite being Talijancich.
We were very warmly received by Chantelle and Ebony. This particular boutique winery is a family run business and we tasted the wine named after Ebony herself. We also tasted a wine that was sold out so we felt very special, it was fabulous!
There is such a huge difference between boutique wineries and commercial wineries. Boutique wineries walk into their livelihood when they step onto their estate and I hope it never changes.
Thanks for reading! ♡
Lifestyle by Lily 
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