Ugly Duckling Wines — Attraction in West Swan

We travelled to a ‘boutique’ winery called Ugly Duckling Wines. So much better than going to the BIG well known impersonal wineries. These types of wineries have to offer different and unique varieties of wine but at the same time be competitive in price and of quality in taste. In all regards this winery was a great surprise. The Chenin Blanc was thicker than most (almost like a ‘sticky’) – initially gooseberry and sweetness hits the palate but it soon dissolved into a longer dry ending. Fabulous for seafood or spicy meals. The winery has an equally good unwooded Chardonnay & a light Rose based on ages Shiraz. Also a heavier red called Red Duck – all wines were of superb and surprising quality. Stay for lunch & enjoy either their homemade pies or cheese or meat platters with crackers (or cwackers in these parts). This winery was the duck’s nuts – you have got a buy a wooden duck as a souvenir. So if you are staying in Perth or surrounding areas put this winery on your hit-list. It’s not too far from the Margaret River...

The winery is easily accessible and served food and wine in this winter. There is a gelato shop within the same winery that served ice cream and coffee beverages. They offered free wine tasting, both red and white, and also premium wine at a small fee of $2. We get to sample 4 different wine for each of us and can be different for each one. The service was very good, never rushed and no pressure to buy. We find the wines delicious and bought 3, all are price reasonably under AUD30. We ordered the trio platter for 2 and the presentation is passion. The chilli jam and caramelised onion dip and Brie cheese works very well with the Turkish and flat bread. Portion is good size, 4 ⭐️. The beef and Guinness pie was pretty normal and not as good compared to the Trio of Taste. It has nice outdoor sitting and live band during our visit. It gets more crowd from 1pm. But the place is big and can take a lot of visitor. Highly recommended. Good place to chill for...

Shame … lovely scenic surroundings at the Ugly Duckling … but the staff spoiled it by refusing to share their Wi-Fi password with us today!? We wanted to share the lovely experience with friends and relatives on Facebook and instagram etc …. but had no Wi-Fi connection … surely tourist places like this should be going out of their way to encourage tourists to pass on the message / photos of how good these places can be? Shame, indirectly they are losing out on potential customers/tourists :-( Note all the other tourist venues we visited along that road had fully working WiFi with...