Digging
for Gold in Western Victoria

BY&nbsp;ANGUS HUGHSON |&nbsp;NOVEMBER 5, 2024One 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.

<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/statics/victoria-australia-map">Victoria</a>
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.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1730818352291-Mt+Langi_copy.jpg">Mount Langhi Ghiran vineyards, including the original old block Shiraz planted in 1969. 

160 Years and
CountingFor global wine consumers, big and burly Shiraz is Australia’s vinous calling
card. Yet this is a relatively modern interpretation of the grape variety that has
only taken hold in the last 30 years. A much longer history exists for
more midweight Syrah styles, going back over a century. Arguably, central
Victoria is ground zero for Australian Syrah, with some vines still in place
from early days, including Tahbilk’s 1860 vines, Gervasoni’s 1863 blocks and
Best’s’ Nursery Block and Concongella Vineyard from 1858. In the distant past,
producers occasionally labeled Central Victorian Shiraz as Burgundy to reflect its
lighter weight and more aromatic profile. While local wines have built some
muscle since those early days, they still carry a more streamlined shape compared
to many of their competitors from South Australia. Syrah is well suited to
Victoria’s cool and dry climate, although significant differences exist between
wines from the different regions. Other plantings here include Cabernet
Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and a host of other alternative varieties, such as
Grenache, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Viognier and Fiano. Still, these newer
varieties have yet to significantly stamp their authority on the local wine
scene against the might of the local Shiraz.

Some wineries, such as Seppelt and Best’s, never wavered over their long
history and retained a loyal clientele thanks to their refined and complex
styles. Some of these wines have shown considerable longevity. The local curio
of Sparkling Shiraz has a proud history of wines that can flourish for decades
in bottle. Seppelt, in particular, has been a beacon of quality in the region
for over a century. Some would argue that the modern Victorian Shiraz style may
never have built its enviable reputation had it not been for the investment of
the Seppelt family (who also had significant assets in the Barossa) from the
early 1900s.

These midweight Victorian Syrahs were the benchmark before the red wine
boom of the 1980s and the 1990s, but their popularity waned as consumers moved
to explore new regions and varieties. However, there has been a renaissance toward
these characterful wines in recent years as wine drinkers place increasing value
on subtlety over sheer weight and volume.&nbsp;

While the Seppelt and Best’s wines from the small enclave of Great
Western were the early leaders, their successes saw new blood exploring nearby
regions, including Heathcote, Pyrenees and the wider Grampians. Somewhat
surprisingly, Cognac stalwart Remy Martin also moved into the Pyrenees. Initially
drawn by the opportunity for local brandy production under the Chateau Remy
label, Remy Martin renamed the winery Blue Pyrenees Estate in the 1980s,
shifting to a focus on premium red and sparkling wine. Remy Martin took control
of Charles Heidsieck Champagne in the same period and brought some of their
knowledge and techniques to regional Victoria, though production of bottle-fermented
and sparkling wines in Victoria existed as far back as the 1890s. Remy Martin was
not the only international group starting to take notice of central Victoria,
with the Goelet family founding Taltarni in the nearby Pyrenees region around
the same time they launched Clos du Val in Napa Valley. Trevor Mast from Mount
Langi Ghiran was one of the first locals to truly capitalize on the region’s
potential. When Mast’s 1994 Langi Shiraz graced the cover of Wine Spectator
in 1996 alongside Penfolds Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace, modern Victorian
Shiraz was finally on the map. Mount Langi Ghiran remains a leading and
dependable voice in the Grampians to this day.

Shiraz hails from four significant regions in central and western
Victoria, each with its unique style—Heathcote, Bendigo, Pyrenees and Grampians
(which includes Great Western). Heathcote is perhaps the best known, home to
the richest and most flavorsome examples. Located on the northern side of the
Great Dividing Range, Heathcote is blessed with pockets of some of the world’s most
ancient soils, deep red in color and up to 500 million years old. The best
vineyards in the region are situated on these rich, red Cambrian beds. While
Jasper Hill was one the first modern wineries to uncover this quality terroir,
they are now joined by a whole host of vignerons helping to build the region’s
reputation as a leading home of Australian Shiraz in a uniquely savory style. Strong
diurnal temperature swings drive this profile, a function of the predominantly
warm continental climate and the mountain ranges on either side of the region
that funnel cooler southerly winds up through the vineyards during the growing
season. Bendigo, to the west, does not benefit from the same southerly
influence, generating a riper and more generous style, but still retaining some
spicy elements.

Various mountain ranges begin to assert their influence as we travel
further west and south, first through the Pyrenees and then the Grampians. The
climates here cool rapidly, as the vineyards generally sit in the foothills and
benefit from the breezes that sweep through the regions. Soils also vary, with granitic
influences in the Grampians and loam, sandstone, gravels and quartz in the
Pyrenees. This ancient landscape is not overly fertile, which, coupled with dry
growing seasons, evokes intense, flavorsome and broody expressions that often
improve with at least a couple years of cellar-aging.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1730818068690-Macedon_copy.jpg">The cool rolling hills high up in the Macedon Ranges.

The Deep
South

Then, the climate turns almost on a dime. Southern Victoria presents a
very contrasting picture, with the Great Southern Ocean offering up a
completely different set of conditions without the warmer influences of the
country’s interior. Gone are the meager, rocky soils and tough, dry country,
here replaced by lush green landscapes and rolling hills. Humidity draws in off
the ocean, lending vibrancy to the land and the resulting wines. Shiraz also
takes a back seat, with Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir taking center stage.

At the far southwestern corner of Victoria sits the unusual region of
Henty, which is one of the coolest on the Australian mainland. It’s a significantly
large region yet boasts less than 200 hectares of vines. Henty punches well
above its weight, with impressive quality on display from leading producers
such as Hochkirch and Crawford River. The region does have its challenges,
though, enduring battering winds and storms, but the hardy locals are accustomed
to these conditions and ride them out. In particular, Riesling and Pinot Noir are
varieties worth tracking down.

Closer to Melbourne, the regions of Geelong and Macedon Ranges take a
more Burgundian direction, competing directly with Yarra Valley, Mornington
Peninsula and Gippsland as reliable homes of serious Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Geelong is the warmer and drier of the two regions and is able to yield quite characterful wines from later-ripening varieties such as Gamay, Shiraz and Viognier.
There is unrealized potential here. With sophisticated wines now coming from
the likes of Bannockburn and Mulline Vintners, Geelong is very much a region to
watch.

Macedon Ranges is a couple of steps ahead thanks to its high altitude and
reasonable rainfall, which allows the region to produce haunting Pinot Noir and
stellar Chardonnay. Bindi Winegrowers is one of the local stalwarts and was an early
mover to the region, with Indian-born civil-engineer-turned-vinegrower Bill
Dhillon planting the first blocks in 1988. It was a brave move, as the fickle, elevated
Macedon climate is one the very coolest in
Australia. In the early years, some vocal local critics refused to believe that
the Macedon Ranges could give rise to wines equal to those of more fancied
regions, such as Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula. But time and vine age have
proven them wrong, as Macedon Ranges is now one of Australia’s leading sources
of fine Pinot Noir and particularly Chardonnay. For custodian Michael Dhillon,
Bindi is still very much a work in progress, making constant tweaks in pursuit
of higher quality and exploring different sites, clones and planting densities
on its large property. The recent Block 8 plantings comprise seven clones of
Pinot Noir at densities of up to 22,600 vines per hectare.

The clonal mix on the property is particularly interesting. Many of
Australia’s premium wines rely on heritage vinestock. The first significant
selection was imported in 1832, including the Burgundian MV6 Pinot Noir clone.
MV6 purportedly hails from Clos de Vougeot. In recent decades, many Australian
winemakers have chosen to plant new Dijon clones, but Dhillon still prefers
clones that have adapted to local conditions over time—including MV6 and the
P58 Chardonnay, reputedly from Le Montrachet. This is the story for many of
Australia’s leading Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, which reference the classics
while also creatively utilizing heritage vinestocks to provide a local flavor
and a point of difference.

The story of western and southern Victoria is complex, which is not
surprising considering its wide range of climats and terroirs. However, the
overall refinement of the wines ties these regions together, retaining
generosity of texture and flavor across the board and reaffirming Victoria’s
deserved place in Australia’s fine wine narrative.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1730818425060-Sanguine+Estate_copy.jpg">A sunny autumn day at Heathcote's Sanguine Estate. 

Vintages

Thanks to the third consecutive La Niña season (also the most intense of
the three), 2023 was a challenging vintage across much of Victoria. Significant
rainfall and humidity over a cool year presented challenges in getting fruit to
full ripeness, also generating disease pressure. High acidity and delicacy of
flavor are the key characteristics of the 2023s. Top producers with fastidious
viticulture and low yields made the best of a trying season.

The 2022 vintage had a difficult start. Cool, windy and unsettled
conditions with localized frost made for less-than-ideal flowering and fruit-set
across much of southern Victoria. Rain events to the east created disease
pressure. Central Victoria experienced the best conditions of the year, with
Heathcote enjoying an outstanding year. Overall, the season remained cool, yielding
fresh and vibrant wines.

I tasted most of the wines for this report at home in Sydney in recent months,
with a small selection tasted during a short tour through Victoria.© 2024, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.<hr> You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="http://https://vinous.com/articles/barossa-2022-run-don-t-walk-aug-2024">Barossa 2022: Run, Don’t Walk</a>, Angus Hughshon, August 2024<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/the-yin-and-the-yang-of-western-australia-may-2024">The Yin and the Yang of Western Australia</a>, Angus Hughson, May 2024<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/victoria-cutting-edge-meets-classic-mar-2024">Victoria: Cutting Edge Meets Classic</a>, Angus Hughson, March 2024

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