Bar & Bites: Cider house rules and the best of the Perth Hills on show during Bickley Harvest Festival

There are golden experiences in them Perth Hills. This realisation dawned in Isaac Newtonian fashion, when an apple literally clunked onto Bar & Bites’ noggin during a family fruit-picking session at Core Cider House in Pickering Brook last weekend. The cidery is one of more than 20 venues taking part in the Bickley Harvest Festival kicking off on May 3 and 4, before running throughout May. Team B&B was thoroughly impressed with Core Cider, from the (quite strong) sparkling apple, pear and ginger cider to the tourist-ready tucker, including macadamia crusted crocodile tail with delicious lemon myrtle mayo and Fremantle octopus with romesco. The orchard itself is stunning. Before hitting Core, we tasted wine at La Fattoria, a restaurant and winery an apple’s throw down Merrivale Road. Former teachers Eric and Lucy Radice run “the farm” — Eric’s Sicilian family have been on the property for around 80 years, one of many Italian immigrants in the Bickley Valley. La Fattoria has 10 different varieties of Italian grapes, including Nebbiolo, Sangiovese and sun-lovin’ Montepulciano, making 13 wines plus limoncello, grappa and an intriguing fig leaf liqueur. Another local winery is Plume Estate, run by relative newcomers in affable Dutch couple Marcus and Anita Geisler. Perched atop one side of the valley with sweeping views, Plume is a cellar door offering tastings and sales of estate-grown wines plus tasty plates courtesy of the Geisler’s daughter-in-law Bianca Raub. Her speck and onion flammkuchen (basically a flatbread pizza) was excellent, especially with a glass of pinot noir. We also squeezed in a quick wine tasting at Lawnbrook Estate, which has a restaurant, vineyard and distillery on its beautiful grounds. Their sparkling pinot noir chardonnay, rested on lees for a few years, is a ripper. Bickley Valley boasts cider, beer, wine and, of course, spirits. B&B dropped into HHH Spirits, at this stage a big shed off Walnut Road to try Zimbabwean-born civil engineer turned distiller Hilton Izzett’s liquid alchemy. While this is currently a much less polished hospitality offering than, say, Core or Plume, whisky and gin devotees should pencil this into any Hills itinerary. And given Bickley Valley is less than a 40-minute drive from the city, this unheralded slice of WA makes for a brilliant day trip. Visit bickleyharvestfestival.com for more. GLASS ACT IN THE SHADOWS During May, Northbridge mainstay Shadow Wine Bar is pouring all wines by the glass, giving patrons a chance to try some drops usually only available for those forking out for a bottle. The grape idea is part of the Coravin World Wine Tour, a global initiative from the wine preservation device hitting five capital city venues across Australia. This means Shadow will be pouring hard-to-find drops from the likes of Occhipinti, COS, Farvie, Ochota Barrels, Juniper Estate, Picardy and Dormilona. Located at 214 William Street, Shadow Wine Bar is open Monday to Saturday from noon until late. OH, VIENNETTA! A beloved dessert gets a local makeover with Chicho Gelato banging out a Viennetta gelato cake for Mother’s Day. Nothing says “good on ya, Mum!” better than a Dubai chocolate base layered with pistachio gelato, chocolate sheets and rosewater gelato. Costing $90 each, Mamma’s Viennetta gelato cakes are available for pre-order until midnight on May 6, with pick ups from Chicho’s Fremantle or Mt Lawley stores from May 7-11.