Wine on tap at Swings Taphouse & Kitchen in the Margaret River Wine Region
Disclosure: The Travelling Corkscrew was invited to dine at Swings Taphouse & Kitchen with compliments of Swings Taphouse & Kitchen.
Wine on tap, say what? I didn’t really believe it until I saw it, but it’s true! Swings Taphouse & Kitchen in the Margaret River Wine Region are serving up carafes of wine on tap via ‘sight glass fonts’, a worlds first!
The Swings Taphouse is located in the Margaret River Town centre (where Wino’s use to be) and is brought to us by the well known Margaret River winery, Swings & Roundabouts. Swings Taphouse is simply gorgeous with a roof of grape vines around the porch of the restaurant and small lights dotted throughout these. Beautiful!
To me, this type of restaurant suits the Margaret River wine region down to a tee. It’s laid back, causal, and you literally could sit there all night long nibbling and sipping away. The menu is made up of small sharing plates (tapas style) and alongside the wines on tap there is also a good selection of wines by the bottle, boutique beers, cider, cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.
The thought of ‘wines on tap’ intrigued me. It is very much a European style of wine drinking, a great way to serve up table wines suited for drinking now. The wines are kept in small presursied kegs and basically it’s taking out the need for bottles, corks, caps, foils, labels, etc therefore it’s very environmentally friendly. Also for wine drinkers like ourselves it means we can drink great quality wine at a friendly price!
The tapped wines start at $7 per glass, $15 for half a carafe (350ml) or $28 for a full carafe (750ml). What I love about this, is that between two you can share a 1/2 carafe with your starters and then move onto a different one with your mains and perhaps even another half with the sweets! The Le Cheuset carafes are made of high quality stoneware that helps to keep the wine’s temperature from fluctuating and the bottles also have hand written notes on them with bits and pieces about the wine, cute touch!
So how was the ‘wine on tap’?? First we had a half carafe of the Swings 2013 Chardonnay: on the eye it was a crisp lemon colour with a slight peach tinge. The nose was full of peach, nectarine and a touch of vanilla. In the mouth it was fruity not oaky, very fresh and refreshing and I’m sure if you’re not a Chardy drinker you’ll love it! The second carafe was the Swings 2012 Shiraz. In the glass it was a purple-garnet colour. Aromas lifted out of the glass of blackberries and freshly cracked pepper. On the palate it was super friendly and approachable with plentiful berries, that black pepper coming through and a touch of anise. Both wines were very pleasant and I definitely wouldn’t mind having them on tap in my house!
There is one problem with the menu. A very big problem… You’ll want to order everything! Mr. Spittoon and I went for the (click on the items to see a photo):
- Grilled asparagus, prosciutto, granna padano & truffle oil – $16
- Pork sliders, pickled cabbage, American mustard – $13
- Beef short rib, skordalia, smoked paprika & cumin oil – $24
- Roasties, rosemary salt & aioli – $8
I was shocked at how quickly the food came out. The service was absolutely fantastic, very attentive and friendly. Mr. Spittoon is still talking about the sliders 3 weeks later! He wants me to try and make them, but I just keeping saying I couldn’t do them justice. Perhaps if he can build a tap for our own wine on tap at home then I’ll give it a go 😉
There are cheese plates and pizzas with gluten free bases available on the menu. Alongside the pizza bases there are also various gluten free options to tempt the taste buds as well as vegetarian and vegan options.
I was so rammed by this stage but after chatting to the lovely ladies on the table beside us, they literally twisted our rubber arms and convinced us that we must try dessert. We treated ourselves to the special of the day – lemon meringue pie for $13 and I couldn’t look past the fresh berries, amaretto panna cotta with almond in a jar for $13. Both were divine and the perfect end to our meal. We were so close to licking the plates clean!
We both thoroughly enjoyed our evening out at Swings Taphouse & Kitchen, the only thing which really wasn’t working for me was the size of the tables – they need to be bigger for more room for carafes and plates of deliciousness!
For more information please check out the Swings Taphouse & Kitchen website and the Swings Taphouse Facebook page. A huge thank-you to the Swings team for such a lovely evening, I can’t wait to visit again! Click here for more photos from the Swings Taphouse and my Margaret River trip.
If you’re planning a trip to the Margaret River Wine Region, make sure to check out the accommodation, wine tour & attraction ideas on margaretriver.com, email [email protected] or call (08) 9780 5911
