Digging for Gold in Western Victoria

BY ANGUS HUGHSON | NOVEMBER 5, 2024

One of the most fascinating aspects of wine is how each and every bottle, at least in part, reflects not only terroir but also the cultural foundations and personality of its winemakers. A shared history of triumphs and tragedies leaves an individual mark on every country, region, people and its resulting wines. Wines from Bordeaux carry an aristocratic self-assuredness, as does the local populace, which contrasts against the more freewheeling and free-spirited styles of the Southern Rhône.

Australia has its own strong demarcations, although at more of a state than regional level. Within that mix sits Victoria, the Oenotria of the New World, with 21 wine regions shoehorned into the country’s southeastern corner.

Victoria has long been considered Australia’s cultural heart. Less brash than other state capitals, Melbourne was the country’s original home to quality dining and an appreciation for the finer things in life, driven both by immense early wealth thanks to the 1800s gold rush and the city’s rich multicultural heritage. Informed by cooler climate conditions, Victoria is where elegance and subtlety regularly hit their peak in the form of wines that are compact and controlled expressions of variety and place.

But the state is not home to endless acres of vines as far as the eye can see. Victorian regions are more of a step back in time, where grapevine monocultures are rare. Vineyard land is only a part of the mix, set between fields of grain and roaming livestock. Over the last 100 years, industrious producers have discovered the best sites, planting and training vines to create unique local wines.

Victoria's western and central parts are arguably the state’s most historically important. The early gold rushes brought prospectors from around the world to try their luck. This was also a time when immense wealth saw impressive volumes of red Bordeaux, Champagne and, perhaps surprisingly, Sauternes finding their way into Melbourne and across Victoria (Australia still retains a particularly strong taste for Bordeaux’s sweet wines). While a handful of vineyards existed before the gold rush, the industry really took off as the mines ran dry and new Australians, many of whom had arrived from Europe, put down their roots and moved into agriculture—including the planting of vineyards. Some utilized their mining skills; Seppelt, for example, excavated a vast cellar for sparkling wine maturation.

The central and western wine regions of Victoria are vast. Nine total regions contain 6,500 hectares under vine in an area of around 6 million hectares. Climactic variations are extreme. Henty, on the cool southwestern coastline, is exposed to the Great Southern Ocean, differing radically from further north and the warmer continental regions of Goulburn Valley and Heathcote. There’s also a pocket of cooler, high-altitude vineyards in the Strathbogie Ranges. Victoria offers a myriad of microclimates for various grape varieties, but Syrah reigns supreme.

Mount Langhi Ghiran vineyards, including the original old block Shiraz planted in 1969.