Smackdown at Queen Victoria Market on the 26th and 27th of March showcased Melbourne’s best indigenous and international snacks. It was also an opportunity to sample over 30 wines from supporting partners in the winemaking regions of the Grampians and Pyrenees. Pack your toothbrush and drive down the Western Highway to the Grampians and Pyrenees if these wines grabbed your curiosity or you have a weekend free.
These two historic wine districts nestle into each other, encompassing some of the state’s most breathtakingly picturesque countryside. Small, family-owned vineyards can be discovered down tree-lined lanes: country wineries where life moves a little slower — cellar doors where you can meet the men and women who make the wine and travel back in time while you drink it.
The Grampians region is named after the majestic Gariwerd/Grampians sierras, which rise above 1000m and dictate the soil and environment of a location where ripening grapes thrive on warm summer days and chilly summer nights. Just over an hour west of Ballarat, Great Western is the region’s heart. For nearly 150 years, this ancient town has been associated with sparkling wine. Seppelt Wines’ underground cellars, or drives, were dug by gold miners in 1868 and span three kilometres.
They can house over three million wine bottles and are open for tours every day. Book a tasting at the grand cellar door and sample a flight of Seppelt’s wines, including their flagship Grampians shiraz. The soil and climate of the Pyrenees and Grampians are said to help produce Australia’s best Shiraz, and Seppelt uses local shiraz grapes to manufacture its St Peters and Arrawatta Hills Shiraz, which include scents of dark cherry, blackberries, traces of star anise, and a touch of pepper.
Best’s Great Western has been producing Shiraz for over 150 years. The basement door is set in 1860s red gum slab stables and looks out onto some of Australia’s oldest vineyards, owned by the Thomson family for five generations. Best’s is noted among wine enthusiasts for its single-variety Pinot Meunier, a rare cousin of pinot noir used to manufacture Champagne.
Rotundone Road is a tree-lined backroad that connects the Grampians to the Pyrenees wine area. The road weaves its way past the enormous granite outcrop of Langhi-Ghiran into the mediaeval goldfields of the Pyrenees, named after the compound that gives local Shiraz its distinctive peppery features. Mount Langhi-Ghiran, is a 1969 winery with a bush-cool cellar door, picnic grounds, café, and tasting flights to sample their award-winning cool-climate Shiraz and riesling. Mountainside Wines is located near the base of Mount Cole. Make a reservation for a wine tasting with winemakers Shane and Jane Goninon, a food and wine pairing session or a half-day tour of other local wineries with Shane.
Rotundone Road leads northeast into the Pyrenees to Dogrock Winery, an elevation vineyard with views of the Pyrenees ranges’ peaks and slopes. This landscape is filled with mediaeval villages, forested hills, meandering tree-lined roads, vegetation, waterfalls, and rivers flowing through it.
The Pyrenees’ temperature and elevation, up to 700 metres, provide cool summer nights and mild to hot summer days, ideal circumstances for fully ripening grapes. Dog rock focuses on estate wines made from small parcels of traditional French and German grapes like Shiraz and riesling and Portuguese grapes like Touriga Nacional, arinto, and Azal. Blue Pyrenees in Avoca was founded in 1963 by Remy Martin, a French brandy house, but it is currently locally owned and focuses on quality table wines.
It is surrounded by native forest and produces Shiraz and the highly respected Midnight Cuvee sparkling wine, made from conventional Champagne grape varietals that are hand-picked at night. Serve with a Blue Pyrenees tray with tasty cheeses, meats, purees, and pickles. Summerfield Winery at Moonambel’s Mark Summerfield raises his rare breed sheep and pigs, which he roasts and serves alongside his large, robust reds like cabernet sauvignon, Shiraz, and merlot.
Sally’s Paddock is located in Redbank, in a historic red brick structure with hand-hewn rafters. For nearly 50 years, wine pioneers Neill and Sally Robb have focused on delicate, delectable pinot noir, fragrant and sophisticated cabernet francs and their legendary Sally’s Paddock blend of six red types, all produced on the same vineyard without a single drop of irrigation water.
Pyrenees Unearthed, a day of tastings, bands, picnics, and food trucks held beneath the shade of ancient river gums on the banks of the Avoca River in Avoca showcased the Pyrenees wines on April 9. On the 29th and 1st of May, hundreds of people go to Halls Gap for the Grampians Grape Escape, a long weekend of wine, cuisine, music, and entertainment surrounded by mountains and natural flora.
The Pyrenees Wine Region is on the territories of the Dja Dja Wurrung, while the Grampians Wine Region is on the lands of the Djab Wurrung and the Jardwadjali Indigenous people.