UNIQUE PLACE
AS MICHAEL DHILLON wandered through the staggering vineyards of Bindi, crisp autumn leaves crunched beneath his boots and large quartz rocks tumbled along at the slight tip of his steel-toed, Blundstones. On this blue-skied, autumn day, Michael said: ‘This place is like no other’. It’s easy to understand how, the hills roll with vibrant colours of burnt orange and golfers green with speckles of shimmering white from the quartz and granite. The air is still as you breathe in its freshness and purity whilst you watch kangaroos bounce along the hillside. Whilst standing there, it is easy to forget that the hustle and bustle of Melbourne’s city is less than an hour drive away.
UNIQUE PLACE
AS MICHAEL DHILLON wandered through the staggering vineyards of Bindi, crisp autumn leaves crunched beneath his boots and large quartz rocks tumbled along at the slight tip of his steel-toed, Blundstones. On this blue-skied, autumn day, Michael said: ‘This place is like no other’. It’s easy to understand how, the hills roll with vibrant colours of burnt orange and golfers green with speckles of shimmering white from the quartz and granite. The air is still as you breathe in its freshness and purity whilst you watch kangaroos bounce along the hillside. Whilst standing there, it is easy to forget that the hustle and bustle of Melbourne’s city is less than an hour drive away.
With such mesmerising beauty it is hard to understand why this place is so undervalued and underestimated. They are the forgotten vineyards of Victoria, certainly dwarfed by thriving wine-producing regions such as the Yarra Valley. After speaking to some winemakers in the area, it has become clear that there are many factors that contribute to this. For Alan Cooper of Cobaw Ridge it comes down to one thing: the vineyards.
Due to its high altitudes and windswept facades, Macedon Ranges is the coolest wine region in mainland Australia. To put it into perspective, it’s annual mean January temperature is at least one to four degrees colder than that of any other region in Victoria. These low temperatures are further aided by some of the highest altitudes of planted vines in Victoria, reaching as high as 700m. In comparison, Yarra Valley sits on average between 46-88m high. To add height to these adversities Macedon Ranges also sees considerably more rain each year, 100-200mm per year more than the Yarra Valley respectively. And lastly of course, Macedon also bears increasingly chilly winds that sweep across the hillsides and up through the vines. Winds of this nature will further cool the grapes and vines, creating difficulties come flowering and budbreak, which is one of the most crucial times for the grape growing season. Consequently, extra resources and vigorous vineyard management are necessary to maintain an annual crop. Lower trained vines and Lyre trellising systems are forged to protect the grapes and roots against wind damage.
Nevertheless, in the wine world, it is the combination of these elements that constitute the meaning of terroir. Terrior refers to a single place that embodies the entire growing condition of a grape, from the soil, to the topography, to the climate, to the trees, to its proximity to water or to its planting system. It is the combination of these aspects that will make each wine inherently different and unique. And for those like Michael Dhillon and Alan Cooper are what makes Macedon truly special, despite its difficulties, as Michael Dhillon puts, “makes it like no other ” .
TENACITY
Still though, you can understand, growing grapes in the Macedon Ranges does not come easy and requires labourious hours of work and persistence. But for Cooper, for his vines, and for Macedon, he says: “we are just on the right side of marginality”. However, this is not the case for all, the commitment required to continue to produce wine from Macedon year after year is demanding and risky, yet rewarding if successful. Perhaps, it is a lack of commitment at a broader level that has been hindering the regions growth. Alan Cooper said, “we need winemakers who are dedicated and tenacious, there have been many good winemakers pass through the region, but only a handful have stayed for the long haul”.
Cooper began his term in Macedon in 1981, certainly granting him passage into this handful of dedicated winemakers. In company with Cobaw Ridge are a small number of wineries: Granite Hills Winery (1971), Passing Clouds (1973), Cope-Williams Winery (1977), Hanging Rock Winery (1983), Gisborne Peak Winery (1986) and Bindi (1988). These several wineries are of the few that have been in operation for 30-40 years, quite a small number respectively.If comparing these numbers to historical-star wine region, the Yarra Valley, these numbers are miniscule and decades behind. By 1990, around 40 wineries were well established in the area, some of which by this time had spent at least 20-40 years in operation. Today the Yarra Valley boasts 120 wineries, whilst Macedon has about 49 producers in operation.
For Cooper, this degree of separation comes down to the marginality of the area, and the difficulty to harvest a modest crop each year. An example for Cooper, was in 2011 when they suffered from too much mildew, and being 100% certified organic and biodynamic certainly didn’t help (in saying that, chemically farmed vines didn’t do much better), therefore they did not pick any grapes at all that year. Even for the 2012 vintage, the result reflected the still wet and moist grounds from 2011. This marginality brings about a vast fluctuation from vintage to vintage, which perhaps for the Australian public, who are still in international perspectives so new to wine, see these fluctuations as unreliable. Take Champagne for example, who of a similar climate to that of the Macedon Ranges, developed the concept of non-vintage champagne in order to account for the tough vintages and to provide consumers with a consistent product year in year out. However, for me, this strong vintage variation is the essence of what wine is all about and epitomises the concept of terroir. It is said that terroir contributes to the uniqueness in each wine, in fact, the very concept of terroir is what brought about the need for classifications in the beginning. In essence, why else would we say that this wine is from the Yarra Valley and this wine is from Macedon if we did not believe that would taste inherently different, and thus need to be easily distinguishable for the consumer.
INVESTMENT
Producing quality wine out of Macedon requires vigourous site selection, careful matching of site and grape variety, razor-sharp canopy management, and relatively low yields. Such difficulties do not invite large-scale wine production. Yarra Valley was once likewise made up of small wineries generating small-production, premium wines. In 1987, the first large, commercial company to invest, De Bortoli, acquired property in the Yarra Valley. Then in the 1990s, unquestionably the most aggressive and profit-driven Australian wine company of any significance, Mildara Blass acquired its first property in the Yarra Valley. Mildara Blass' annual sales of 5 million cases are worth A$562.7 million. Nearly half are exported to key overseas markets such as the USA, UK and other European countries.
INVESTMENT
Producing quality wine out of Macedon requires vigourous site selection, careful matching of site and grape variety, razor-sharp canopy management, and relatively low yields. Such difficulties do not invite large-scale wine production. Yarra Valley was once likewise made up of small wineries generating small-production, premium wines. In 1987, the first large, commercial company to invest, De Bortoli, acquired property in the Yarra Valley. Then in the 1990s, unquestionably the most aggressive and profit-driven Australian wine company of any significance, Mildara Blass acquired its first property in the Yarra Valley. Mildara Blass' annual sales of 5 million cases are worth A$562.7 million. Nearly half are exported to key overseas markets such as the USA, UK and other European countries.
Additionally, there was also an influx of large-scale investment into new wineries, the largest initiated by Moët et Chandon with Domaine Chandon in the late 1980s. Such investments made it apparent that they were not interested in low yields, or razor-sharp canopy management, in truth, maximum production levels were the main focus. In fact, Dr Tony Jordan of Domaine Chandon wrote in the late 1980s that by 2010 the Yarra Valley could have 5000 hectares of vineyards and 100 wineries producing 3 million cases of wine a year. All the while it seemed a distant dream, however due to national and international acceptance this dream became more than a reality. By 2005, the number of wineries exceeded 100 and the grape harvest was sufficient enough to produce 4 million cases. In
contrast, Macedon Ranges’ largest wine producer, Hanging Rock produce approximately 40,000 cases, where at least half of this production is actually coming out of neighbouring regions Heathcote and Bendigo.
TOURISM
The sizeable exports achieved by large-scale, Yarra Valley wine producers, invites an international market to the area subsequently boosting local tourism. As The Macedon Ranges Shire Council (MRSC) states, “with the exception of Hanging Rock, the region lacks significant tourism drawcards to match the big ticket attractions in other tourism regions”. The Victorian Wine Industry Association found that the Macedon Ranges GI comprises 7% of Victoria’s total wineries, they grow about 2% (347 hectares) of Victoria's grapes and produces only 1% (1.2million litres) of Victoria’s wine annually. Moreover, Macedon Ranges is actually declining, between 2003/04 harvest to 2007/08 the grapes harvested by hectare decreased by 10%. These figures truly epitomises the drastic scarcity of the region. If anything though it should also incite the rarity of these wines, and how special they genuinely are.
UNITY
Due to this rarity many local wineries need to seek other means to set themselves apart from other Victorian, and Australian wine producers. Cooper focuses on his niche in being certified organic and biodynamic, which at current is a strong trend for consumers. Josette Dunn for the Australian Food News dubs the biodynamic and organic wine trend as one of the fastest growing in Australia, which is only continuing to increase despite facing one of the largest surpluses for the wine industry in history. However, for Jenny and Phillip Of Curly Flat their marketability has been helped by the strong words from predominant wine writers such as Jancis Robinson and James Halliday praising their wines. Such feedback from leading figures in the wine industry gives Curly Flat an overwhelming advantage in the market place as it provides a sense of reassurance and trust in the product for the many Australians who look to Halliday and Robinson for guidance in their wine selections. Moreover, such feedback also benefits the region as a whole. Alternatively, for Dhillon, he chooses not to even put the Macedon Ranges GI on his wine labels, and seeks his wines gratifications through self-promotion. Dhillons strong sales background and experience in international markets provides him an advantage in this arena. A method which thus far has been working quite well for him. He has achieved many listings on some of the top restaurants wine lists in Melbourne, whilst also acquiring space in the international market.
Nonetheless, despite each wineries motivations or justifications, the results resonate with MRSCs quote that, many local wineries are not enthusiastic about coordinating marketing and promotion opportunities on a regional scale. Cooper says he’d like nothing more than to see some unity for the region, which is part of the reason why he joined the Macedon Ranges Vigneron Association (MRVA) in the first place. The MRVA are a progressive step towards achieving a united goal for the region. However, Dhillon said that joining the association was not a smart business decision for him, which is why he is no longer part of the Association. Whilst he fully supports the MRVA and its goals and would like nothing more than to see the region flourish, from a business perspective, membership with the association did not work out.
Unfortunately, this is the reality for the region, they need unity in order to grow, however, such a unity can prove to be detrimental to the individual business. Thus, more investment into the area from government bodies needs to take place before having beneficial properties for the individual business. The MRSC are the leading body in this case and have been researching into ideas to help promote the area and bring more tourism and interest to Macedon. They suggest that there is an opportunity to undertake research into the dominant or historically significant Macedon ranges wine varieties and develop a wine tour and associated infrastructure. An example could be the Prosecco Road Wine Tour in King Valley. This would also assist in creating awareness of Macedon ranges wineries and expand tourist opportunities in the area. Additionally, there has also been significant effort given to increasing the regions growth in local events. Such events invite consumers to the area so that they can see for themselves the rarity and beauty of the region. At the end of the day it all comes down to the wine and people being exposed to and understanding this diverse region. As James Halliday says, as you rise and fall, twist and turn, there is always something new and unexpected. The regions vast diversity, rarity, complexity and beauty are what epitomise the Macedon Ranges. As Cooper put it ever so simply, it's all about real wine.
-Rochelle Godwin