Drive across to Bickley Valley any time this month to enjoy a farm to plate (and vineyard to glass) experience

By creammagazine, May 9, 2025

Bickley Valley is only a half hour’s drive east of Perth – not far from Kalamanda – and happens to be one of the most peaceful and picturesque places I’ve travelled to lately. That it’s also home to so much fresh and delicious produce is something that’s got to be savoured.

While a serene regional scene for a greater part of the year, this month might see a little more motion and commotion as the Bickley Harvest Festival continues.

The Bickley Harvest Festival runs throughout the month, uniting more than 20 venues that are each highlighting the region’s best food, wines, ciders, spirits, produce and culture.

You can expect signature cool mornings and stunning vistas of the Perth Hills at their most glorious in autumn while Bickley locals share their stories, wares and – best of all – quality produce with you.

Cream checked out a few Bickley spots that we reckon ought to be highlighted on your Bickley itinerary.

First we visited Tonon Winery, whose owners Dan and Daniela Tonon, offer award-winning artisan wines, all harvested and created in small-batch. The variety of wines available at this estate is expansive – and impressive – with Tonon creating their own Vermentino, Fiano, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Tempranillo and even Perth’s truest version of Prosecco.

Being one of the more premium wineries in the Bickley Valley and hearing Dan speak of the estate’s beginnings and contemporary being, you can understand what all the fuss is about. The wines here truly are of international standard and you’d think many of them came straight from Italy itself. Dan Tonon is hands-on from the planting of grape seeds to the tasting of his wined during each barrel and fermentation stage.

Dan brought the property from third-generation winemakers when most of the fruit trees had been taken out, but he has since planted with passion and gradually seen it evolve into his own bounty of plenty. His knowledge stems from a family background in small-batch winemaking as well as from studies in viticulture and enology (ie: wine science).

“I really enjoyed there being a science aspect to an otherwise agricultural trade, says Dan. “And now I see there’s a third aspect – the artistic side to it. The artistic thing that happens for me is when I bring the fruit into the winery and see it change through the entire process.”

Dan, with a little help from the wife and kids, does just about everything: crushes the grapes, presses and tends to skins needing to be left on or whisked off, barrel-aging the wines, bottling them, labelling them, you name it. And speaking of which, most of his resulting wines are named after respected members of the family. His Andrew Alexander is named after his father, an inspiration to his own winemaking. Indeed, the result of a fine blanc de blancs Chardonnay that has aged on yeast lees for 48 months is a fine tribute to Dan’s own maker.

While Tonon wines are not certified organic (“To me it’s just another piece of paperwork”, says Dan), the process in creating them is certainly an organic one. Dan will talk you through each of his vinyard’s varietals, divulging the fascinating little story behind each. My favourite from our tastings at Tonon Winery is certainly the Vermentino but I’ll let you taste the rest and be the judge.

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There have been vineyards in the Bickley Valley since the early 1970s. Some are still owned by their original creators, others have been sold on to newer brewers and winemakers who bring fresh ideas to their planting, harvesting and fermenting processes. These new owners also hold onto important elements of tradition. One such vineyard that has recently changed hands but promises both is Plume Estate.

Owners Anita and Marcus Geisler come from different parts of the world (she from the Netherlands via New York City, he from Spain) and they’ve done a dandy good job at settling into the rural Australian lifestyle. In the serious realm of winemaking, they’ve actually done a masterful job, combining old-school recipes and charm with new-school nous.

Plume Estate was founded in the mid-1980s and has evolved from a grape-growing farm into a premier fine wine establishment. With their own restaurant requiring fresh ingredients daily for its colourful menu (looked over by daughter-in-law and fab chef Bianca), Plume’s owners always ensure quality produce is brought to the table daily.

The menu at this quaint eatery is limited in dish options but maximum in its quality ingredients, almost all sourced locally. The herbs used in the restaurant’s dishes: local. The honeys, the dairy, the produce: local, local, local.

We dined on a shared platter consisting of Dutch cheddar, Danish Blue, French Brie, olives, seasonal fruit, organic flour bread, onion jam, leberwurst, cornichons and a drizzle of divine olive oil.

We also tucked in to some delicious pizza-like dish called ‘flammkuchen’. ? The difference between the two is that flammkuchen has a thin, crisp crust on which only three ingredients (speck bacon, crème fraîche, and caramelised onions) are distributed. Pizza typically includes tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and multiple choices of meat and vegetable toppings – flammkuchen, and in this case, with so many wines to taste, is better for it.

The stand-out wines from Plume’s cellar door include their Sparkling Rosé which uses a “méthode traditionnelle” taking pinot noir grapes but allowing only a fraction of the time of average skin contact to create a pale salmon colour and deliver bright aromas with a fruity palate. A perfect match to quality cheeses, meats, pates and breads.

There’s also a wide range of whites and reds to address discerning palates including my favourite – the Plume Blanc that unveils an aromatic scent of tropical fruits, honey and citrus. It’s a nice blend of Semillon and Chenin Blanc just in case you’re like me and often want to try a couple of things on the wine list! Heck why not enjoy these varietals combined?

Plume offers some of the best, cascading views in the Bickley Valley so be sure to grab some shots of the amazing vineyard view on arrival. On that note, also be careful as it’s a steep turn off the main road and into the driveway entry at Plume, so steady does it.

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Our final stop on this mini famil of Bickley Valley was at HHH, just a hop, skip and jump away from Plume. Here we enjoyed tastings with owner Hilton, whose initials make up the specialist brewery’s name, and who shared with us samples of his fine gin, vodka and whiskey. We were actually familiar with the HHH label before venturing here, since one of our good friends, Mango, insisted we try their Wax Lyrical Gin, having purchased a bottle from the Perth Royal Show a couple of years ago. That sample was delicious, but it felt even more special sipping it as it was being poured by the man who made it himself.

Hilton is very passionate about spirit-making, so ardent that he’s even inventing his own machinery to help with the processing and fermenting of his spirits. The juniper seeds for his famed gin are carefully selected, as are each and every other ingredient.

Grassroots and community appear to both be a part of Hilton’s ethos. So good is this jack-of-all-gins at distilling, he has plenty of requests from people to set up shop – or in this case, distilleries – for them. It’s taken up much of his time in the recent past, so last year he decided to take a break from setting up for other folks, and getting back to his longtime wish of making whiskey.

“I was so overwhelmed with making stills for other people, I just didn’t have the time to do it.”

He’s since found the time, and reveals, “I released my first whiskey last year and it was only a hundred and thirty-seven bottles. And my second whiskey was 180 bottles.” Evidently, there’s incremental growth. Having tasted the good stop the growth chart arrow can only go upward.

Hilton is so down-home, his business’s tagline is simply “Bloody good booze in a bloody good bottle”, and its a line that rings true. The label itself might prove a bit sticky to find in bottleshops, but ask around and they’ll get the idea the stuff inside the bottle is beaut.

With his pet pooch Bobo always on hand for company, Hilton keeps busy putting good fruit through trusty machines, resulting in the finest of spirits. He has machines that purify the vodkas and gins, and help perfect the whiskeys so they taste like no other and, believe it or not, he makes many of these machines himself. Looking around, you think you’re in a scene from The Big Bang Theory – only better with the faint scent of good booze in the air.

It was a pleasure rounding our Bickley Valley trip off with a visit to HHH. This place is a typical example of the absolute passion the people of Bickley have for fine produce and a peaceful lifestyle. The air alone here is cleaner and more tranquil, save for the occasional zesty scent of a finely fermented gin or perfectly aged wine.

I may have been new to Bickley Valley this year but I now intend to put the Bickley Harvest Festival in the diary each year going forward.

Cheers to more future visits!

Antonino Tati

The Bickley Harvest Festival kicks off from May 3rd.

For more information, visit bickleyharvestfestival.com.

THE CREAM MAGAZINE BICKLEY VALLEY MINI ITINERARY:

Tonon Vineyard & Winery is situated at 44 Carmel Road, Carmel. Website: tononwines.com.au @tononvineyardwinery   /tononvineyardwinery

Plume Estate is situated at 91 Glenisla Road, Bickley (just three minutes from Tonon Winery). Website: plumeestate.com.au @plumeestate

HHH is based at 90 Walnut Road, Bickley Valley (just two minutes from Plume). Website: hhhspirits.com.au @HHHspirits