All posts tagged: yarra valley

The best hot chocolates in Melbourne

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Oh Winter… sometimes you wonder if you actually hate this cold season or in fact love it to bits. Despite the coldness, there are a few things we know you love about Melbourne Winter – the fashion, the mulled wine and of course the hot chocolates. We have hand picked our top five favourite venues in Melbourne, where the best hot chocolates are served. Warm up this winter with our favourites below and tell us which one is your favourite, or maybe share YOUR favourite hot chocolate venue with us if it is not already mentioned below! Atypic Chocolate, South Melbourne Based out of South Melbourne Market, Atypic follow a profound ‘bean-to-bar’ process, showing off the chocolate making process through their street facing window. They welcome picky patrons, inviting you to customise your winter warmer by selecting your milk and your chocolate blend. Make your selection from white chocolate matcha, Solomon Island dark chocolate, spicy dark chocolate or a seasonal dark chocolate blend and enjoy. More info: here. Little Big Sugar Salt, Abbotsford Looking for …

WIN: A double pass to Hot Chocolate Festival

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Competition now closed Just as you start to wonder if this cold Winter will get any colder there is Hot Chocolate Festival, keeping you warm throughout the chill days in Melbourne. Lovers of hot chocolate will have 31 different reasons to brave the winter chills and venture to the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie or the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie for this seasonal celebration of a Winter warming favourite. Because we know how much you love hot chocolate, this Winter; we have 2 x double passes to chocolate tasting at the Hot Chocolate Festival (valued at $40 each)! Enter the competition by filling the form below. Competition closes on 27 July 2018 Read more about the festival here.

HOT CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL 2018

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Australia’s most decadent food event returns this August with a month long, Hot Chocolate Festival set to warm up visitors to Victoria’s Bells Beach or Yarra Valley regions. Lovers of hot chocolate will have 31 different reasons to brave the winter chills and venture to the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie or the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie for this seasonal celebration of a winter warming favourite. European Chocolatiers at each destination have devised 31 different flavours over 31 days in August – with eight different hot chocolate creations introduced each week. A couverture chocolate base, seasonal and exotic ingredients, fresh herbs from the kitchen garden and inspiration from local surrounds will take the classic chocolate and milk combination to hot new heights. Expect temptations such as decadent Hazelenutella, Piping Pistachio, Heavenly Chestnut, Triple Chocolate Brownie, Mint Madness, Cookies and Cream, spicy Pumpkin Chai and even Smashed Avocado and a Black Sesame Crunch, while a collection of showstoppers will get temperatures rising when hot chocolates get adventurous and interactive with elements such as exploding marshmallows, melting chocolate discs …

Brownie Festival

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It’s a brownie bonanza – in honour of Yarra Valley Chocolaterie’s signature couverture brownie, they are getting set to create a bountiful selection of flavours and taste sensations from 14 to 25 June. Expect a range of different decadent brownie flavours and brownie inspired treats and desserts in their all day Cafe and showroom to devour, while true brownie devotees will love the hosted ‘Ultimate Brownie Tasting Sessions’. Taste 10 Brownie Bites, sip on the cleansing cocoa tea blend and try the specially created Brownie Bomb and Brownie Ice Cream for $18 per person. Only very limited spots available at 11am, 12pm and 1pm sessions on Saturdays and Sundays during the Festival. Bookings a must via our classes section on the website. Earn some brownie points and plan another visit to the Chocolaterie. Content: Yarra Valley Chocolaterie When: 13 ~ 24 June 2018 Where: Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery, 35 Old Healesville Road, Yarra Glen, Victoria, 3775 More information: Check their website.

Interview with Ben Portet – Dominique Portet Winery

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Ben Portet was always destined to be a winemaker. Growing up in the vineyards of his father, Dominique Portet, their long family tradition of winemaking dates all the way back to 1720 in Cognac France. Completing four vintages while still at university, Ben has lived and worked all over the world before returning to Melbourne to head up the winemaking team at Dominique Portet Winery in Coldstream, continuing on the family legacy for years to come.  As a 10th generation winemaker, how have you seen the wine industry change over time?   Well I guess the easiest analogy is that we work within a fashion industry so styles and regions come in and out of trend. Recently in Australia we have seen wines being produced that are made to drink now, they can be easy to drink at a young age and most importantly are fun to drink. Classics are always in style so that will never change but I  still see no match to opening an old bottle that you have aged yourself over many …

Four Pillars Gin

Take a ride on the Gin Bus

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If you’re a lover of Gin like us here at We Know Melbourne, you’ll want to sign yourself up for the Gin Queen on Tour 2016. With all Victorian gin distilleries based out of the city, the Gin Queen is making it easy to avoid the “Who’s driving” conversation when your friends suggest a day out to visit said distilleries. Since launching The Gin Queen in 2013, Caroline Childerley has actively promoted Australian gins through her tastings and masterclasses, she says; “I’m so proud of our hardworking Australian distillers and am constantly telling people to get out and see the distilleries first hand, but it isn’t always that easy as not all of them are accessible via public transport, so I decided to launch Gin Queen on Tour!” As part of the Gin Queen experience, you’ll be whisked away on  a private bus to one of Victoria’s leading distilleries where you’ll get to meet the distiller have a G&T, learn about their fantastic gin(s), and enjoy a light lunch before the gin bus departs back to the …

A Day at the Hot Chocolate Festival

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Over the weekend the We Know Melbourne team took a day trip out to the Yarra Valley, but this time it wasn’t for our usual wine, gin and cheese adventure. Instead our destination was the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie for the Hot Chocolate Festival. The Hot Chocolate Festival is an annual event that is now in it’s third year and throughout the month long festival, tasters (or should we say indulgers) can try over 31 different hot chocolates over 31 days! We booked ourselves in for the tasting session at 11am (as it was the only time available – book well in advance if you’re planning on going!) and the biggest mistake was sampling the chocolates around the chocolaterie beforehand – With over 250 products to try, we couldn’t resist! Drinking  8 different hot chocolates over the course of 45 minutes, it was easy to say that thanks to walking in on a full stomach and wanting to drink every last drop of hot chocolate (they were just so delicious not to), we put ourselves into …

Hot Chocolate Festival

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Indulge your sweet tooth at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie’s annual Hot Chocolate Festival. Taking place in the heart of winter, this year’s festival will take your chocolate obsession to new heights with 31 different flavours over 31 days in August. The flavours will be anything but ordinary with the return of some of last year’s favourites including  Strawberry High Tea, The Slam Dunk (think mini-doughnuts!), and last year’s best-selling Chocolate Brownie flavours; alongside this year’s showstopping new flavours, the Wagon Wheel with its dunk-ready marshmallow and jam chocolate-coated biscuit skewered with a straw for extra delicious slurping; or Hot Gaytime’s cheeky temptation of hot caramel toffee poured into a milk chocolate, topped with crushed honeycomb and served with a vanilla ice-cream. Yep, it will feel like you’ve died and gone to chocolate heaven. The hot chocolate concoctions will be whipped up by The Chocolaterie’s very own Belgian and French chocolatiers inspired by premium couverture chocolate, seasonal ingredients and items from their kitchen garden with 8 new flavours will be introduced each week. Grab a front seat and watch …

Dominique Portet’s 40th Australian Vintage

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Last night the We Know Melbourne team were invited along to a wine tasting soiree to celebrate the 40th harvest of Dominique Portet wines. The celebrations were held in the intimate industrial space of QT Strategies where we got to mingle with other food bloggers, wine lovers and of course the father and son team of Dominique Portet. The Portet family have been making wine for ten generations, originally beginning in Bordeaux in the 18th century. Today the Portet name is closely associated with Dominique Portet and Ben Portet, the ninth and tenth generation winemakers. Dominique originally from France, has worked with vintages all over France before moving to Napa for 3 vintages, and in 2000, started the Yarra Valley winery and cellar door. While his whole family is involved (including wife and 2 other sons), it is Ben the 10th generation winemaker who works at the winery alongside his father. A humble and gracious duo, we were delighted to have the opportunity to meet such a family so committed to winemaking. The evening was completed …