The Federal Hotel in Fremantle held their official launch on Saturday, 20 August, and I was lucky enough to be @perthcafeculture’s plus one.  What a beautiful old federation style building.  I love history and wandering around the old hotel yesterday was a wonderful lesson in looking back over the years.

But to the wine and food!  We were greeted on arrival with a glass of Laurent-Perrier champagne – pale golden in colour, lemony notes – a lovely fresh and elegant wine.  A good photo opportunity for my @winesandbooks instagram page.

The bar is well stocked with lots of variety and care taken in compiling – on the day we were there, as well as the champagne – there was MacPherson’s chardonnay pinot noir sparkling wine – this wine has a fresh and delicate nose, light fruit on the palate – a lovely combination of chardonnay and pinot noir  – persistent bead. There were also two Xanadu wines from Margaret River being poured – I finished on the Xanadu Exmoor Cabernet Sauvignon deep red in colour, berry fruit aromas, plum and chocolate on the palate.

The food was delicious and in copious quantity – on arrival there was a central table with cheeses, breads, fruit, chorizo, meats and more.  Oysters were also available.

The kitchen was delivering many different snacks:  Toasted bread with various delicious toppings, pork belly tastings, lamb croquettes and much more.

Going upstairs, you can walk straight out on to the balcony or turn right into the newly opened Herbert’s Bar, a lovely intimate space you can sit and have a drink, or move through to a lounge area where we sat – I loved the pine floorboards.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon at the Federal Hotel, and I can thoroughly recommend it from our visit.