Our recent trip to Yallingup gave me my first drive of a modern Mercedes-Benz. Older modern, let’s say. It was a W212 E350 sedan. I have a far-away relationship with Mercedes-Benzes, only ever fortunate enough to be slung the keys to an affordable classic owned by a friend. Of all Mercedes-Benzes, it’s this traditional mid-size car and the larger S-Class that define the brand for me.
That started with a W115 280E 20 years ago or more. I was its guardian for no more than a day or so, as I delivered its owner to the nearby domestic airport and kept the car safe until her return. For an evening, the Merc was mine. I wasn’t about to extend it in any way, not with its 350,000 kilometres or so on the odo. I simply enjoyed it for what it did best. It was an elbow-on-window sill cruiser. We ambled at modest speed about Bassendean for an hour or so, the multi-layered timbre of its smoking, rasping, metallic twin-cam six echoing deliciously off the walls and houses. Windows down. Left hand on top of the steering wheel. That’s how you do it.
Years later, a drive of a W124 300E Coupe made me seriously want one. The qualities of its forebear shone through unmistakably. With more power, you would still justify winding the windows down and ambling about town. Deep down, the W124 was capable of 10 times as much. I scoured the classifieds for years, but never made the leap.
To make the leap now, you’d do it with a car like this E350. Windows and sunroof open, you feel the direct link to its ancestors. Immense solidity, a deliberate heft to its doors, steering and controls, a superbly unfussed and unflappable ride, an engineered feel that only lots of money can buy, and a sensation of ‘guiding the ship’ are all shared with the cars that have gone before it for 50 years. Only an immediacy to throttle inputs took me by surprise. For me, it’s seriously powerful.
As I was the driver for the day, I had lots of opportunity to compare its different approach to my Peugeot 508. Their characters are poles apart. You feel the power, weight and assuredness of the Mercedes and it commands your deepest admiration and respect. You feel the lightness of the Peugeot, because it actually is very light. Its doors, brakes and steering are all feather-weight. Even with obviously less power, It moves immediately and dances and twirls in your hands in a way the Mercedes would not, and it earns an admiration of a different sort. Both are extremely likeable and as different as two cars can be.
Holger’s Mercedes ferried all of us on a pre-Easter weekend of wine tasting in Yallingup and surrounds.
Virtually all the vineyards charge a tasting fee these days, unless you buy. We bought – or Jonathan did – at all of them, but some big names are punching well below their weight. Some lesser known names are putting out some beautiful wines. Here’s my own ranking of our visits. I don’t have Jonathan’s palate for wines, but years of being his partner have rubbed off fairly reliably in my own assessments. I stopped drinking today after the first vineyard, so I start with my favourite (also his) and rely partly on his, Holger’s and Anna’s tastings from there.
Clairault. 8/10. They sit you down for tasting here. It’s a Covid left-over that they’ve discovered works very well in a near post-Covid environment. It does, too. Why stand? Top-notch setting, concept, Shiraz and Semillon Sauvignon Blanc.
Cape Naturaliste. 7/10. It’s the doggy winery. They love their dogs here. The doggies and the snails put their best feet forward for the photo opportunities. And they love their wines, which are not doggy at all. It is the only winery (so they say) that offers as a ‘standard’ vintage wines for their tastings. They’re all four to five years old .They’re quite beautiful on the whole, and easily warrant the purchase of a mixed case.
Howard Park. 7/10. Another fine setting, with excellently soft sparkling whites. Taste and buy reliably.
Cullens. 3/10. There was much to disappoint and little to wow the taste buds or the wallet here. As one of Wilyabrup’s oldest yards (equal oldest, in fairness), we expected more. We’ve enjoyed more in the past. A lot of what we sampled here would benefit from a little more ageing. There seemed a scarcity of vintage. Buy by all means, and leave the top off for a while, maybe.
Hayshed Hill. 3/10. This is another who’s given us some wow in the past. Not today. You’d happily snort it down at a dinner party, but wines really have to rise to the top on a tour weekend, and these just couldn’t quite cut it.
Margaret River Chocolate Factory. 8/10. Usually a 9 or a 10 from me, but take note, the tastings are temporarily removed because of Covid. Can’t blame them. They’d be more Germ Factory than Chocolate Factory. Let it pass, but I quickly indulged a purchase of their Redgum choccie crumble.
Reliable fare at Caves House filled our tummies for dinner and a sharpening of our pool table skills leave us wanting another trip to our favourite getaway location, as it always has.
