Rutherglen, Victoria<

Hospitality - December 2004

It is hard to believe that the tiny Victorian town of Rutherglen was once home to 30,000 people. In the 1850s, people flocked there expecting to make their fortune from gold. Today the population has dwindled to just under 2000, the gold rush relegated to the history books as the townsfolk go about their business at a leisurely pace. It’s a friendly and natural town, the sort of place where people cheerfully strike up conversation with a stranger and shopkeepers go out of their way to help. Nowadays it is liquid gold that lures visitors to the region. Rutherglen’s fortified wines are unique, even by world standards, and when the welcome sign greets motorists with the message that “Sydney might have a great harbour but Rutherglen has a great port” it is by no means an understatement.

While muscat and tokay have put the region on the map, local winemakers produce a range of table wines, shiraz undoubtedly the most successful. They are also forging a reputation for durif, a fairly obscure French variety which is not easy to grow. The Rutherglen folk are doing a great job with it, producing wines with big, earthy flavours. Ten producers have got together to form Durif of Rutherglen, a group similar to the Muscat of Rutherglen group which has established a classification system and encourages visitors to take a self-guided tour of the wineries.

To follow the Muscat trail, visitors can pick up a brochure from the Rutherglen Wine Experience, conveniently located in the main street. Set up by the Winemakers of Rutherglen, it’s a great starting point with its fascinating displays telling the stories behind the wines. Visitors can pick up information on accommodation and attractions, buy locally produced food and wine, and dine in the cafe, open from 7am to 5pm daily for snacks, meals and tasting platters. Many of the region’s restaurants and cafes proudly show off the local produce.

At Tuileries Restaurant, in the heart of Rutherglen, chef Leanne Oberin presents seasonal modern Australian dishes in elegant surroundings. Try her locally inspired dessert of vanilla icecream, Muscat-infused fruits and almond biscotti, served with a glass of Bullers Muscat. The restaurant has come up with a great concept of a wine “buffet”, where diners can choose from a table of 10 local wines for $6 a glass or $17.50 for as much as they like.

Pickled Sisters Café chef Ali McKillop grew up in the region but worked around Australia and overseas before deciding the best food and wine was in her own backyard. She opened her cafe at Cofield Wines five years ago. A champion of local produce, she adores smoked trout from the nearby Hume Weir, Rutherglen lamb and free-range Milawa chicken. Her mother makes all the jams, chutneys and other preserves. The café is open from 10am to 4pm daily except Tuesday, and for dinner on Friday and Saturday during daylight saving. A visit to the Pickled Sisters provides an opportunity to try some of the Cofield wines, including a fruity Chenin Blanc, an easy-drinking Sangiovese and a sensational Sparkling Shiraz, which has a little port added to it, giving it an interesting character.

Before he established his own winery, Max Cofield spent many years at All Saints Estate, which has a very impressive restaurant, The Terrace. The restaurant and cellar door are housed in an imposing castle built in 1878. Surrounded by gardens in which roses and 100-year-old elm trees flourish, it has some of Australia’s oldest and rarest base stocks of fortified wines. Its mailing list is one of Australia’s biggest, with nearly 10,000 members, and there is a separate tasting room for them when they visit.

Campbells Wines, which has a similarly long winemaking history, sells tasting platters of regional produce to accompany its wines, which include some fabulous Muscats. Its Merchant Prince Muscat is classified as Rare, the pinnacle of the Muscat classification system. The tasting platter costs $10 and the food is chosen to match a featured wine. There is also a dessert platter for $8 which pairs beautifully with the Muscats. Campbells’ flagship wine is its Bobbie Burns Shiraz, which it has been making since 1970. With minimum oak maturation, it has generous ripe fruit flavours and soft tannins, a style which has certainly stood the test of time.

For stylishly comfortable accommodation, The Vineyards at Tuileries is an ideal base in the heart of Rutherglen. The units have the privacy of motel rooms but the facilities of a luxury guesthouse, with marble spa baths, heated swimming pool and a tennis court overlooking the vines.

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Some wineries to watch:

Jones Winery and Vineyard
(Jones Road, Rutherglen (02) 6032 8496): Rutherglen’s quaintest cellar door is Jones Winery, housed in an 1860s barn that used to double as a winery even then. The bricks were handmade on the property and the bark ceiling remains, although it now has a roof over the top. Winemaker Mandy Jones ferments the hand-picked grapes in open wooden vats and makes the wine using a small basket press, their flagship being the L J Shiraz made from 100-year-old vines.

Stanton & Killeen Wines
(Jacks Road, Rutherglen (02) 6032 9457): Sixth generation winemaker Chris Killeen is fanatical about Vintage Port but also makes a strong line-up of reds, dessert wines, Chardonnay and Auslese Tokay. Some of the original vineyards planted by Jack Stanton in 1921 are still in production, including some old Shiraz which goes into the popular Jack’s Block Shiraz.

drinkmoor wines
(All Saints Road, Wahgunyah (02) 6033 5544): Owners Max and Karen Cofield describe drinkmoor as offering “flavour, style, value”. There are no vintages on the labels, fruit is sourced from various Victorian vineyards and the cellar door is located in a house, all with the intention of keeping overhead costs low. All the whites are $11.80; reds and fortifieds are $13.80. “We are making the wines for people to enjoy now,” says winemaker Damien Cofield. “The majority of winemakers these days do not have a cellar; they want to buy wine and enjoy it straight away.”

Morris Wines
(Mia Mia Vineyard, Rutherglen (02) 6026 7303): Morris has built a reputation as one of the better quality wines sold in casks, and it set a trend when it became one of the first producers to put single varietal wines in cask. In 2000 it launched 10-litre packs aimed at casual dining, hotels and the catering trade. The range includes a Merlot, Chardonnay and Morris Pressings.

Pfeiffer Wines
(Distillery Road, Wahgunyah (02) 6033 2805): Chris Pfeiffer began his winemaking career with Lindemans but has been his own master since 1984, producing wines under the Pfeiffer and Carlyle brands. He makes a few wines that are a little different from the norm, including Marsanne, a fresh white wine that develops complex, toasty characters with ageing, and Gamay, a grape originally from Beaujolais.

© Christine Salins

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