Yarra Valley

The valley is 60 to 80km east of Melbourne, about 60 to 75 minutes via the Eastern Freeway and Maroondah Highway. The drive is a gradual unwinding: outer suburbs giving way to farmland, then the folded hills and state forests of the Great Dividing Range. It's the closest great wine region to a major Australian capital, which means weekends fill quickly. Wednesday to Friday touring is an entirely different experience.

October and November, when the valley is emerald green and the weather is unpredictable in the best possible way, is the window most regulars quietly prefer. Harvest runs late March through May: Pinot Noir typically in March, Chardonnay to mid-April. Winter (June to August) is when the chefs and winemakers take their holidays; fires are lit by 11am in most cellar doors.

Pinot Noir and Chardonnay drive the region's reputation: elegant, cool-climate expressions with real ageing potential, quite different from warmer regions to the north. The food scene is legitimately world-class; the valley feeds Melbourne's best restaurant kitchens and has developed a farm-to-table culture entirely its own. Cellar doors range from the grandly scaled (Domaine Chandon, De Bortoli) to intimate single-hectare producers who open by appointment only.