Montalto Vineyard, Olive Grove & Sculpture Park - Mornington Peninsula
Montalto. Another gem in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula wine region. A nice easy drive from Melbourne and no bumpy gravel roads to get there either.
We dropped in there after our lunch at Port Phillip Estate, and it was absolutely overflowing with people. At first we didn’t attempt to get a table, because our intention was to taste some wines, and purchase a glass to carry through on our walk through the huge sculpture park surrounding the vines.
Unfortunately their sparkling wasn’t available for tasting, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me on such a busy day. But it was available for purchase, so I ordered it at the bar and the person ahead of me in the queue finished a bottle, so I was lucky enough to try it as it should be sampled – freshly popped.
It greeted me with an explosion of super-fast moving bubbles that danced around flute as though they were racing eachother. And the more sparkling I sample, the more I seem to gravitate towards the ones that are very pale in colour, as was this one. It was a beautiful balance of refreshment, dry to taste, and with plenty of flavour that was transported by the frenzy of bubbles.
Walking through the sculpture park with my guests was a beautiful way to spend a sunny afternoon, and it also made me want to savour the glass and not drink it too quickly, so that it would last right through our sculpture viewing trail.
After our sculpture viewing, we had to put our name on a list for coffee and sweets. Since we were at the tail end of our day, we were happy to wait. We waited 45 minutes for a table, after being told one would be ready in 20 minutes. And when we sat down, we were told they were out of all deserts bar one. Our order was simple, 3 coffees, a tea and some water. The water never came, until we asked and re-asked for it. The coffees took about 30 minutes and were cold by the time they came to us. The tea was completely forgotten.
This was the worst experience I’ve had at Montalto, and I’ve been there quite a few times before, but never seen so much disorganisation. The staff were trying their best, but it simply wasn’t good enough.
The downside to this place : if you don’t show up at 11am, you’re not likely to get a table for quite some time. And when you do, the service may be friendly, but it’s too slow, even for something simple like coffee.
Thankfully I have discovered their sparkling which was definitely a winner.
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