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Victoria - Goldfields - planning for gold

The Bendigo, Pyrenees and Heathcote wine regions

Sam Russell

The barrel room by candelight at Warrenmang Vineyard and Resort, Pyrenees region in Victoria [©Warrenmang Vineyard and Resort]

This welcoming corner of Australia became famous through gold. In the 1850s prospectors flocked from all corners of the globe. Fortunes were made. Wealthy towns grew with grandeur in central Victoria.

Inevitably the gold boom faded. In spite of recent efforts to re-open the shafts and drives beneath the city of Bendigo the precious metal remains a capricious source of wealth.

Yet here is an elegant city still, thriving with 100,000 people and a legacy of fine public institutions such as the mid-town 120-year-old Bendigo Art Gallery. It stages exceptional travelling exhibitions and has quality holdings of fine art. It has also a commendable café and is within metres of the worthy Wine Bank on View with its formidable range of local and imported wines.

There are three official wine regions hereabouts – Bendigo, Pyrenees and Heathcote. Visitors can base themselves in Bendigo and drive easily to all three – or instead stay in charming outlying towns. Tourism here is a big economic contributor and wine-travellers readily find pleasures in abundance.

In the near-south of the Bendigo Wine Region is a warm welcome at biodynamic Bress, a Halliday five-starred winery at Harcourt with much to enjoy. Wines, ciders, pickles and relishes, olive oils, vinegars, honey and wood-fired oven lunches – all at this friendly cellar door. Been wondering about the increasing interest in biodynamic horticulture? Bress is the spot for some insights.

At Maiden Gully in Bendigo’s inner-west, Balgownie Estate stands out. Forty years mature, this boutique vineyard has an expansive cellar door with a wine museum, café and sales area offering its entire range for tasting. It is a relaxing place to dally, perhaps lunching on baguettes or a platter of local goodies, a glass or two of wine (or perhaps a beer) – and coffee.

To the northwest of Bendigo through grazing country is Bridgewater-on-Loddon, home to a pair of interesting wineries. Just off the main road and around by the mill, Water Wheel – like Balgownie -- is open seven days a week.

Pondalowie’s unglamorous cellar door is nearby in an old hotel in Bridgewater’s main street. This is a low-key high-quality Halliday five-starred producer. If the co-owner and winemaker is not in Portugal advising Quinta do Crasto on the way to make great wine, he’s here at the cellar door and an interesting bloke indeed.

To the southwest is the Pyrenees Wine Region. There are no snow-capped mountains but this is a hilly landscape with myriad micro-climates contributing to diverse wine styles. It offers long views, uncluttered touring and excellent wine encounters. The following four of its principal cellar doors are close neighbours in Moonambel:

Dalwhinnie is one of the two Halliday five-starred wineries in the Region. It has one of those elegantly conceived cellar doors which bespeak optimism for the outlook of the wine game and a devotion to style and quality. It is the highest of the vineyards here but easily accessible. The outlook from the broad deck is spectacular.

Like Dalwhinnie, five-star Summerfield Wines makes a small line of heroic reds (as well as a sauvignon blanc) and is another friendly family-owned outfit. As with many of the wineries in Victoria it also offers accommodation.

Taltarni Vineyards has the amenable gravitas of age. It is one of the earliest Pyrenees producers. With the Australian flag at the gate are the drapeau tricolore (Taltarni has a French heritage) and the US Stars and Stripes – a pleasant patriotic profusion of red, white and blue.

And the cellar door at Bazzani Wines at Warrenmang Resort offers interesting Italian-influenced varieties you encounter rarely in Australia. These include dolcetto, nebbiolo, barbera, brunello and sangiovesi yet their flagship red remains – a shiraz.

And lastly, to the east, the Heathcote Wine Region beckons with its luminous reputation for shiraz.

At Tooborac, close to the town of Heathcote, is Shelmerdine Vineyards with its Halliday five-starred cellar door and café serving light meals daily. For 40 years this family has been involved stylishly and successfully with wine, gastronomy and accommodation.

Not a kilometre distant, the Tooborac Hotel and Brewery is a craft microbrewery in a 150 year old stone building with a selection of ales, porters and beers – not to be missed if you are a beer lover.

Along the road in Heathcote (with surely one of Australia’s longest main streets) there is much to do. The splendid Cellar and Store is an ‘enoteca with an unrivalled collection of … Heathcote shiraz.’ You can taste and buy wines, browse their range of local produce, buy hampers, eat well and enjoy good coffee in their courtyard. Or if there’s no time to linger, buy a pie at Gaffney’s prizewinning bakery across the road. It’s always busy.

Flynn’s Wines and Heathcotean Bistro is another Halliday five-starred winery with good local gourmet bistro-style tucker and a compact portfolio of wines. And its close neighbour Munari Wines is worth visiting – but negotiating their front drive requires unusual care!

In summary here are my personal Top Picks for travellers in the Bendigo, Pyrenees and Heathcote regions:

• Wine Bank on View, Bendigo
• Bress, Bendigo
• Balgownie Estate, Maiden Gully
• Pondalowie, Bridgewater-on-Loddon
• Dalwhinnie, Moonambel
• Summerfield, Moonambel
• Taltarni, Moonambel
• Shelmerdine, Tooborac
• Cellar and Store, Heathcote
• Flynn’s, Heathcote 

Notes from a wine traveller:

There are 600-odd cellar doors in Victoria. No tourist can do justice to dozens in one trip. Above, in no order of preference, are some I have enjoyed visiting. You might too. Check the details of trading hours on VisitVineyards.com (click on links above or related listings below).

Many are closed during the week. Others are ‘by invitation only.’ Some offer food. Many have coffee. I have also mentioned some non-winery places of interest. My Top Picks are personal choices. They are not intended to be the definitive top anything. That would imply I have visited every one of hundreds of wineries, restaurants or whatever. I haven’t.

I always rely on The Wine Regions of Victoria from Tourism Victoria, VisitVineyards.com, James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion, a selection of brochures and maps from the local Visitors’ Centres -- and an endless supply of curiosity. I recommend them all.

Regions

• Bendigo (VIC)
• Heathcote (VIC)
• Pyrenees (VIC)

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