By Max Allen, Photo by Simon Griffiths
Harvest
Home Country House Hotel is a wonderful place to stay,
with idiosyncratically decorated Victorian rooms, old-fashioned
shared bathrooms and not-to-be-missed food. 1 Bank Street,
Avenel, phone (03) 5796 2339, website www.harvesthome.com.au
Other accommodation includes: Lakeside Resort Nagambie,
277-279 High Street, Nagambie, phone (03) 5794 1410,
e-mail info@lakesideresortnagambie.com.au; Nagambie Lakes
Country Resort, Weir Road, Nagambie, phone (03) 5794
7221, website www.northeastsearch.com.au/lastresort;
Nagambie Motor Inn, 185 High Street, Nagambie, phone
(03) 5794 2833, website www.nagambiemotorinn.com.au;
Rosemont Guest House Nagambie, 217 High Street, Nagambie,
phone (03) 5794 2554.
The Nagambie Lakes region
is blessed with two exceptional restaurants. The Harvest
Home Country House Hotel and the neighbouring Avenel
Wine Centre (strictly speaking, just outside the subregional
boundary) are run by the visionary Suzi McKay. Using
excellent produce — much
of it local, much from her own sizeable vegie garden — McKay
cooks refined country food. Expect antipasto-style entrées
focusing on charcuterie and smoked meats, and robust
mains such as char-grilled magret duck breast on polenta
with orange porcini glaze. The back garden and renovated
shed (complete with wood-fired ovens and open ranges)
hosts weddings, functions and a monthly farmer's market.
A must-visit. 1 Bank Street, Avenel, phone (03) 5796
2339, website www.harvesthome.com.au
The other outstanding restaurant is at Mitchelton, where
long-serving chef Bernard Hayes has left the stoves in
the winery's spacious restaurant to become hospitality
manager, making way for young chefs Brett Dobson and
Matt Aitken who are doing great things. Try the boned
quail, grilled with prosciutto, vine leaves and grapes,
or roasted Middle Eastern lamb with chickpeas, couscous,
coriander and baba ghanoush. Winemaker Don Lewis is particularly
adept at matching his wines to the restaurant's menu.
Mitchellstown Road, Nagambie, phone (03) 5794 2388, website
www.mitchelton.com.au
Good things are expected at Kirwan's Bridge Winery restaurant — just
opened at the time of going to print — where chef
Matt Milsome, who previously worked with Jacques Reymond
in Melbourne, is creating in the kitchen. Lobb's Lane,
Nagambie, phone (03) 5794 1777, website www.kirwansbridgewines.com.au
As far as non-winery restaurants go, Scullers Café Restaurant
is your best bet. Jeff and Chris Callan serve fairly
standard, faintly 80s fare, such as chilli prawns with
tequila-lime dip and marinated baby octopus salad. 284
High Street, Nagambie, phone (03) 5794 1828.
You will also find many of the following excellent food
products at cellar doors across the region:
McDougall & Maclean Handmade Preserves. Try the boysenberry
and blackberry jam, as well as more unusual products
such as fennel pickle. For enquiries, phone (03) 5790
4387, email mcmac@mcmedia.com.au
Helvetia Olives sell wonderful little ligurian olives,
as well as olive saplings taken as cuttings from an ancient
tree on the property. Open Saturdays and Sundays, 10am-5pm,
Goulburn Valley Highway, opposite the shared Dalfarras
and McPherson Wines winery, phone (03) 5794 1988, email
helvetia@bigpond.com.au
If you like a good, green-tasting, peppery olive oil,
try Manse Hill Olive Oil. For enquiries, phone (03) 5799
0001.
Purbrick and Crawford preserves include a famously rich,
dark, shiraz jelly. For enquiries, phone (03) 5792 4179.
The Herb Barn at Killeen produces stunning, delicate
herbal teas and infusions. For enquiries, phone (03)
5798 5249.
Finally, don't miss Avenel Meats — a great, old-fashioned
father-and-son butcher famous for its sausages. 10 Bank
Street, Avenel, phone (03) 5796 2491.
The Nagambie Lakes wouldn't exist if it weren't
for the Goulburn Weir, built between 1887 and 1890. The
sheer scale of this engineering feat is awesome. The
region is also well known for its rowing events, which
take place throughout the year. The biggest of these
is the Head of the River regatta in March, when at least
10,000 people descend on Nagambie for the weekend.
For a leisurely tour of the wineries and the water, book
yourself on a Goulburn River Cruise. Most cruises include
a visit to Tahbilk and Mitchelton, and vary from 90 minutes
to four hours. Phone (03) 5794 2877, email ijjr@mcmedia.com.au
For a week from the first weekend in May, the Nagambie
Lakes wineries are holding their annual After Vintage
Celebrations which will include a night of live blues
music at Kirwan's Bridge Winery restaurant on Saturday,
4 May. Then, on Sunday, 5 May, in the courtyard under
the old plane trees at Tahbilk, the region's winemakers,
restaurants and food producers will team up for a wine
and produce market, with more live music. Other planned
events for the week include a pizza and shiraz afternoon
at David Traeger Wines, and a series of "foodie" films,
to be screened at the Mechanics Institute in Nagambie
(accompanied by wine and food, of course).
The region also hosts the World's Longest Lunch as part
of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in March, and
the Great Australian Shiraz Challenge in October.
For more details about accommodation and events in the
region, contact the Nagambie Lakes Visitor Information
Centre, phone 1800 444 647 or (03) 5794 2647, website
www.mcmedia.com.au/nagambie
For further information about wineries, contact Sarah
Beaumont, phone (03) 5796 2687, e-mail info@nagambie-lakes-wines.com
Tahbilk
You have to visit Tahbilk — even if you've
been before. The atmosphere is rich with history, the
place is simply beautiful and there are often stunning
bargains exclusive to the cellar door, such as a bin
end 1995 riesling for $7.95 the day I was there. It's
also worth joining the Tahbilk wine club and checking
out the website for special offers. Goulburn Valley Highway,
Nagambie, phone (03) 5794 2555, website www.tahbilk.com.au
Mitchelton
Where Tahbilk's cellar door is wonderfully
old-fashioned, Mitchelton's is all light and (1970s-style)
modernity. Heaps of different wines, gift packs and magnums
are on offer in a spacious tasting environment that also
includes semi-permanent art and photography exhibitions.
Mitchellstown Road, Nagambie, phone (03) 5736 2221, website
www.mitchelton.com.au
David Traeger Wines
There's been a significant improvement
in David Traeger wines in recent years — particularly
the shiraz from 1997 onwards. The cellar door is reached
by a flight of stairs which takes you down into a small,
exposed-brick 1870s cellar featuring dusty bottles stuck
in the nooks and crannies and plenty of local food produce
on offer. 139 High Street, Nagambie, phone (03) 5794
2514, e-mail traeger@eck.net.au
Kirwan's Bridge Wines
Open since 18 March, this is a
brand new addition to the region's wineries. When I visited,
it was unfinished, but the scale of the facilities, from
the size of the restaurant to the detail of the landscaping,
is on a par with Mitchelton. It will be interesting to
see whether the relative remoteness of the winery — it
is the region's most northerly — will prove to
be a problem. Lobb's Lane, Nagambie, phone (03) 5794
1777, website www.kirwansbridgewines.com.au
Burramurra
This is a converted enclosed veranda at the
front of Patrick and Merryl McNamara's house, which is
located at the end of a long, straight driveway off the
Goulburn Valley Highway. There is one wine for sale and
tasting — the very good Burramurra Cabernet Merlot — and
it will most likely be poured by one of the owners. Barwood
Park, Nagambie, phone (03) 5794 2181 or (03) 5794 2755,
e-mail burramurra@hotmail.com
Goulburn Terrace
Greta Moon has big ideas for a rambling
stilt house down by the river. As well as turning it
into a shared cellar door facility with McGee Wines (whose
vineyard is next door), Greta is keen for people to arrive
by boat: "I'd like to welcome jaded fishermen and
long-distance swimmers." She probably will, too.
Wattlevale Road, Nagambie, phone (03) 5794 2828, website
www.goulburnterrace.com.au
McGee Wines
Plans are in the pipeline for a shared cellar
door facility with neighbour Goulburn Terrace late this
year. For now, visit this family-run winery on the banks
of the Goulburn River. Wattlevale Road, Nagambie, phone
(03) 5794 1530, e-mail mcgee@mcmedia.com.au
Dalfarras/McPherson Wines
You can't miss this huge shared
winery facility right on the Goulburn Valley Highway
as you come into Nagambie. Dalfarras is the personal
label of Tahbilk's Alister Purbrick and his wife, Rosa,
while McPherson is a large producer of mostly non-regional
wines destined for export to the US. For more information,
contact McPherson Wines, phone (02) 9436 1644, and Dalfarras,
phone (03) 5794 2637.
Nagambie Lakes Sampler
Dalfarras Marsanne, $12.95
Traditionally released with
a little bottle age (current vintage at the time of writing
is the 1998), this has a rich, almost toasty flavour,
showing how the variety develops.
Kirwan's Bridge Marsanne, $13.90
A lighter, simpler version
of this classic regional style, with delicate honeysuckle
flavours and a crisp finish.
Tahbilk Marsanne, $9.95
The region's best-known white
wine — crisp, floral and riesling-like (and cheap!)
when young, it darkens and deepens in taste and colour
with age to become rich and honeyed.
Mitchelton Airstrip Marsanne Roussanne
Viognier, $26
With a decade's experience of blending these varieties,
winemaker Don Lewis has nailed this style — aromatic,
fragrant and exuberant, yet crisp, focused and long-tasting.
Mitchelton Blackwood Park Riesling, $15
Consistently
one of the best-value rieslings in the country. Displaying
floral, almost citrus zest flavours and lovely freshness,
it also ages well.
Tahbilk Roussanne, $11.95 (cellar door only)
Tangy, weighty,
with fresh hay flavours, this variety is turning a few
heads at the moment.
David Traeger Verdelho, $17.50
The Traeger verdelho is
quite unlike the tropical-fruity, fat white wines you
find in other regions. This is a dry, savoury, lemon-and-mineral-tasting
white wine that, like the marsanne, can age well in the
medium-term.
Burramurra Cabernet Merlot, $18
Fragrant purple wine
with violets and sandalwood aromas laid over the dark
currant fruit flavours. Good, intense, grippy palate.
Tahbilk Malbec, $12.95 (cellar door only)
A gutsy, rustic,
tannic red wine for lovers of the older styles of Tahbilk
wines — drink now with steak or leave alone for
a few years.
Mitchelton Mourvèdre Light Red, $12 (cellar door
only)
Delicious, simple, lots of fun and crammed with
pepper spice, cherry fruit and juiciness. A beaujolais
style very much in the tradition of Mitchelton's hit
wine from the 1980s, Cab Mac.
David Traeger Shiraz, $29.50
Rich, dark, brooding, sweet-fruited
and minty. Lovely deep red wine and one of the region's
best. Traeger also has a 1997-vintage old-vine shiraz
from Graytown (just to the west of the region) that is
about to be released.
Goulburn Terrace Shiraz, $22
More medium-bodied and spicy
than many other shirazes in the region, with vibrant
peppery/gamy characters and a tight, grippy palate.
McGee Wines Shiraz, $18
Similar in style to the Goulburn
Terrace, with spice, pepper and bright, dark cherry fruit
flavours and a moderately intense finish.
Mitchelton Print Shiraz, $50
A great counterpoint to
the Tahbilk 1860s — much more modern, oaky, plush
and rich, with more consistency between vintages and
a solid track record of improving and developing in the
bottle.
Tahbilk 1860s Vines Shiraz, $99.95
Indubitably the elder
statesman of the region, but be warned – this is
made from a single patch of very old vines and is highly
susceptible to vintage variation. As a result, it can
be inconsistent. The good years (1997, 1994, 1992, 1986,
1982) are extraordinary and worth every cent. The not-so-good
years (1996, 1990, 1985) are simply not worth the money.
Mitchelton Airstrip Marsanne, $27 (375ml, cellar door
only)
A slightly sweet, powerfully intense, robust white
wine made from partially drying marsanne grapes on straw
mats in the sun before fermentation. Only 900 half-bottles
of this wine are made each year.
Mitchelton Blackwood Park Botrytis
Riesling, $14 (375ml)
Very good, moderately sweet, marmaladey late-harvest
riesling with plenty of balancing freshness.
Mitchelton Blackwood Park Late Harvested
Riesling, $15
(cellar door only)
A simply stunning wine — intensely
sweet but still, with lifted riesling fruit and purity
of flavour.
Tahbilk Late Bottled Vintage Port, $24.95
A very rich
port — like a full tawny style — with woody,
nutty oak characters gained from spending years in old
whisky casks.
© 2002-2006, Australian
Gourmet Traveller Wine
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Where
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