North East Victoria: Full of Surprises

BY ANGUS HUGHSON | FEBRUARY 6, 2025

There are many unspoken rules to the wine game that we learn over time. These rules help us to classify and make sense of the immensely complex natural world. Having started my career in the field of psychology and the study of behavior, I find wine and psychology closely linked. Both brain and terroir are black boxes, with thousands of variables potentially influencing final outcomes. A truly comprehensive understanding of what makes wine or behavior tick will forever remain elusive. That is part of the attraction. In many ways, the world of wine is still a mystery, and an all-encompassing knowledge would undoubtedly take some of the magic away.

One of these irrefutable rules we implicitly learn is the role of climate and its overarching and dominant influence on wine styles. It is nearly impossible to imagine that climate can vary dramatically and almost invert itself within a relatively small area, but that is exactly what can be found in North East Victoria, a region rich with world-class fortified wines, Italian interlopers, stunning Chardonnays and almost everything in between. Comprising a roughly square-shaped area with 100-mile (160 km) sides, North East Victoria is a bridge between Australia’s historic past and a dynamic future.

Dramatic Diversity

North East Victoria consists of four incredibly distinctive wine regions totaling 2,700 hectares under vine. Rutherglen, on the Murray River, is probably the best known, particularly for its remarkable and unique fortified wines. Over a century ago, Rutherglen was also a key engine room for the Australian red wine industry before South Australia began to assert itself. By the early 1900s, Rutherglen gave many European consumers their first taste of the New World, with generously fruited dry red wines made from Shiraz and Petit Sirah (known locally as Durif). Phylloxera then had a dramatic impact, which saw the region pivot to the production of long-aged fortified wines. These wines are well suited to the warm continental climate, with their success bolstered by a British market that had been seduced by their luscious sweetness.

To the south, the climate takes a dramatic turn as alpine influences begin to take hold across three regions clustered together: King Valley, Alpine Valleys and Beechworth.

The high-elevation King Valley vineyards of Whitlands.

King Valley, parts of which are only 30 miles (48 km) from the Victorian ski fields, has a long history of grape-growing thanks to the Italian immigrants who originally settled there. The wines of King Valley come as a surprise to the uninitiated, retaining a strong backbone of acidity due to the genuinely cool alpine climate and elevations up to nearly 3,000 feet (870 m).

While tobacco was the main King Valley crop in the early days of agriculture, some of the locals also grew their own small plots of grapevines, purely for personal use. Over time, the well-known Brown Brothers winery began purchasing some of the local fruit. This saw tobacco farmers swapping the hard graft and a less glamorous existence for the allure of the wine industry and grape-growing. Today, the only reminder of that past is the many tobacco-drying kilns still dotting the landscape.

Italian national heritage is reflected strongly in the mix of varieties and focus here. King Valley is no doubt the leader in Australian Prosecco, with a strong suit of Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio, Barbera and Nebbiolo. The Dal Zotto family were the first to appreciate the potential for Prosecco here, while the Pizzinis have long focused on crafting Nebbiolo and Sangiovese. Refinement in style has been a slow process, with a number of operations adopting all the classic Italian winemaking techniques—long maceration and old wood maturation—to coax varietal typicity from the resulting wines. The King Valley is now home to some of the country’s best examples of Italian varieties. These varieties do seem to be assisted by the red and grey loam soils of the King Valley that have good water-holding capacity, which helps retain typicity in dry seasons. But this can be a double-edged sword, as a key factor in quality grape production is the control of yields. While there are only a dozen or so wineries here, King Valley’s broader national impact has been felt far and wide as it has embraced Italian varieties.

There is a little point of contention that cannot be ignored. Prosecco (or Glera, as it is known in Italy) has been grown in Australia since the 1990s, with commercial production pioneered in the King Valley. By volume, Prosecco makes up only 1.2% of Australia’s total crush and is largely sold locally. With the change of variety name to Glera, the Prosecco DOC is now moving to ban international sales of Australian wines labeled as Prosecco. Potentially in the future, King Valley Prosecco may disappear from shelves and be replaced by wines labeled as Glera.

The nearby Alpine Valleys is one of Australia’s newest wine regions, proclaimed in 1999, although a small number of vineyards were present decades before. I visited in 2004 when there was not much to see, but since that time, the region has come forward in leaps and bounds. To some extent, Alpine Valleys is an extension of Beechworth, which it borders, but also a new frontier in Victoria’s high country. The driving force behind the development of Alpine Valleys has likely been both the success of Beechworth and the search for cooler sites with healthy levels of natural rainfall (preparing for climate change). The landscape here is often quite dramatic, with steep peaks and forested mountains dotted with tiny vineyards squeezed into advantageous sites.

The Alpine Valleys climate is sub-alpine. There is a strong volcanic influence to the soils, which washed down off the Australian Alps. The dominant undulating mountain ranges are highly complex, offering a wide range of potential aspects and conditions, with vineyards planted at up to 1,300 feet (400 m) in elevation, although warm sites will no doubt be key for leading wineries.

This is a region on the move, with over 30 grape varieties from every corner of the globe planted in generally small holdings. Experimentation is rife and freewheeling. Pecorino, Friulano, Albariño, Grüner Veltliner, Nebbiolo, Schioppettino, Saperavi and Tempranillo are all planted here, and that is just under the Billy Button label. So far, Chardonnay, Tempranillo and Nebbiolo from a few quality-focused winemakers shooting for the stars are the most exciting options, while others are casting their net wide to see what sticks. The Alpine Valleys will never be widely known without broad vineyard opportunities, but, considering its relative youth and the wines coming from producers such as Mayford and Pipan Steel, it will certainly remain an exciting region with wines worth tracking down.

Chris and Jen Pfeiffer are modern Rutherglen trailblazers.

History in the Glass

The warm Mediterranean climate of Rutherglen is almost diametrically opposed to the King Valley and Alpine Valleys, despite being separated by only 60 miles (96 km). Rutherglen sits to the north, on the edge of Australia’s warmer interior. Vineyards here are planted at lower elevations, and the Murray River provides some protection from the summer heat. Gone are the rolling green hills and vast tracts of natural bushland, to be replaced by gentle slopes among broad-scale agriculture. While warm-to-hot days dominate in summer, the Australian Alps still play their part, dramatically lowering nighttime temperatures.

While there is some innovation in Rutherglen, this is a wine town still very much bound to its history. And how can it not be, considering the vast volumes of aged, fortified stocks vital to retaining house styles defined decades ago, many of which have been in the same family for generations? Soleras holding millions of liters, with some stocks going back close to a century, offer a rare glimpse deep into Australian wine history. Chambers Wines, founded in 1858, is now run by sixth-generation winemaker Stephen Chambers. Some vines from the early 20th century are still in the ground. Additionally, the Campbells and Killeen families have been active in Rutherglen for 150 years. The costs of setting up a new fortified winery in Rutherglen would be astronomical, and there are only a small number of serious practitioners remaining that keep this small piece of history alive.

While fortified wines certainly lead the charge in terms of quality, table wines remain an important part of what Rutherglen has to offer. Shiraz and Durif were traditional stalwarts, but there are broader options today—a fruit-salad mix depending on each winemaker’s opinions on which varieties may work best in the region. These range from Grenache Blanc, Fiano and Alvarinho through to Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon, with dry reds made from the traditional Port varieties showing the greatest potential. Cooler recent vintages have also presented challenges for the local Shiraz and Durif, yielding wines that lack their characteristic density and richness of flavor.

The winemaking behind Rutherglen fortified wines is worth highlighting in some detail, as it is a thoroughly unique style that takes its lead from a number of international wine regions. The key varieties here are Muscat and Muscadelle, matured and bottled separately under various age designations. In some ways, there are similarities with Champagne in terms of the importance of various winemaking decisions, maturation and blending of numerous vintages into a non-vintage style.

Terroir is surprisingly important for such a luscious wine style, particularly the role of two distinct soil types. Sites closer to the Murray River with alluvial soils topped by river silt (used by wineries such as Pfeiffer) yield finer and prettier floral expressions. Alternatively, the higher grounds, with deeper red alluvial soils, give rise to the classic, more unctuous wines, although quality can be exceptional from both. Generous but not baking-hot seasons are ideal, with the lack of disease pressure allowing for long hangtime and raisining without the wines losing their freshness—a key characteristic of the finest examples. Fruit is often picked in a number of passes, with some earlier-harvested fruit lending freshness to the later-picked, raisined berries. Ferments are optional, with some fruit simply left to macerate in its own juice on the skins to extract flavor before pressing and fortification. Others undergo a short ferment before fortification.

But it is the spirit maturation and old-wood aging that define the greatest wines. The odd winery employs a Solera system similar to Jerez, a fractional blending system where older stocks are regularly topped up with young wines. However, most use a modified solera system, particularly for Grand and Rare releases, where a large number of reserve wine parcels are blended to a house style.

An assortment of Rutherglen's finest fortified wines.

The speed with which fortified wines are pulled through the solera (and in turn, the average age of wines at bottling), combined with upkeep quality and cellar conditions, determine the final outcome. Long aging in warm conditions adds savory appeal to these wines. Final blending choices are particularly important, with the addition of small selections of very old reserve stocks in sometimes minute proportions often the secret ingredient of the finest wines. For example, Morris Wines has over 1,500 different parcels in old wood, ranging in size from 50 to 600 liters, with some dating back almost one hundred years. The angel’s share is 3% per year, which makes these old wines incredibly concentrated and almost molasses-like. They are so potent that only small amounts are required to impart significant character.

Producers bottle these wines under various age classifications. Those simply labeled as Rutherglen have an average age of three to five years. Rare Rutherglen wines have an average age of at least twenty years, although many are significantly higher, with parcels going back 50 years or more. The art of blending is very much alive and well in Rutherglen, maintaining the tradition of these stunning, unique and artisanal wines of a bygone era.

One of the great conundrums for Rutherglen aficionados is the relative merits of Muscat and Muscadelle for fortified wines. Muscat is by far the most common. Here, it is the noble Muscat à Petits Grains Rouge, which yields hedonistic, unctuous wines with incredible power and seductive floral and grapey aromas that build into richer, sweeter tones with age. Fortified Muscadelle, in the wines labeled as Topaque, is a local curiosity, with fewer than 15 producers and less than 100 hectares planted. More susceptible to disease, Muscadelle thrives in hot years, but it is less reliable in terms of reaching the highest level of sweetness for top-class fortified. The variety accumulates sugars at a much slower rate, so harvest can occur a month later than Muscat. Generally, the Muscadelle-based wines are a little drier. They often start shy but morph into wines of sophistication, fine delicacy and notable detail. The greatest Topaques rest comfortably at the top of the Rutherglen pyramid.

Editor’s Note: These unique fortified wines are bottled in small batches every year. Unfortunately, bottles do not include a lot number, bottling date or other information that distinguishes one year’s releases relative to those of prior years. This approach, traditional for the category, may have worked well in the past, but it is out of touch in today’s world. It would be great to see a little more information for the consumer, especially given the prices for the best wines made in this style.

Chris Catlow and Adrian Rodda are rising stars of the Beechworth scene.

Beechworth: The Jewel in the Crown

The greatest terroirs of the world come down to happenstance, an almost miraculous synergy of numerous unrelated factors that elevate a region into the vinous stratosphere. All the variables of climate combine with advantageous soils and aspect to provide a canvas for grape-growers and winemakers to practice their craft. The small enclave of Beechworth represents one of Australia’s leading terroirs and arguably one of the world’s best. A particularly remarkable aspect of Beechworth has been its meteoric rise since the 1990s. The story of Beechworth is only just beginning. There is an exciting future ahead, as there are currently only 130 hectares under vine—less than the Grand Crus of Corton in Burgundy. While new plantings will come online in the approaching years, particularly in cooler areas to the east of the town, Beechworth will never be much more than a small outpost focused on ultra-fine wine.

The historic town of Beechworth is located on an elevated plateau on the extreme edge of the Great Dividing Range, with lower-lying land to the north, west and south. It enjoys a temperate climate and the most continental conditions of any fine wine region in Australia, which is, without a doubt, a significant contributor to the quality of the wines. While the Alpine Valleys and King Valley have a strong alpine influence, here, that is kept in check by Beechworth’s greater exposure to climatic conditions generated in warmer areas, which are then drawn in from the north and west. Beechworth enjoys a reasonable average of 16 inches (400 mm )of growing season rainfall, while free-draining soils help to control yields. Elevations gently rise from 985 feet (300 m) in the west to 2,400 feet (740 m) in the east. A number of valleys provide plentiful sites for viticulture.

There are three major soil types in Beechworth. Igneous granite-based soils are relatively common. There are also some marine elements to the geology from over 400 million years ago when Beechworth was underwater, with Ordovician greywacke, sandstone, mudstone and shales to the south and the west. In more established parts of Beechworth, these marine soils are generally responsible for denser, more tannic wines, and it will be interesting to see how they express themselves as vineyards develop in cooler districts. Scattered sandy, silty clays and gravels also host a tiny proportion of vineyard plantings.

To the west of the town of Beechworth, a number of ridges run in a roughly east-west orientation, providing a range of north- and south-facing aspects. This is Beechworth heartland, where many established, historically significant vineyards are turning out world-class wines, particularly Chardonnay and Shiraz. Giaconda, the Warner and Smith vineyards, Savaterre and Castagna have helped to make this viticultural real estate some of the most coveted in Australia. To the north and east of town, there are a handful of lower-lying plantings in development. This part of Beechworth has long played second fiddle, but the tide is turning, with the historic Sorrenberg now joined by Traviarti and Giaconda’s Nebbiolo vineyard. The difference between the resulting wines from these vineyards and those further to the west is quite remarkable, with the higher elevations and greater protection from warmer temperatures and winds adding a little finesse to the overall package.

Chris Catlow from Sentiõ Wines is also developing a superb site near the apex of a local high point, offering a range of advantageous exposures at 2,300 feet (700 meters). Grenache will be planted on west-facing slopes, with Sangiovese to the north and Chardonnay to the south. This is a perfect illustration of the current mindset in Beechworth: a growing confidence in the land and the opportunities it provides, and an eye on both the classics and new horizons. While some regions rest on their laurels, Beechworth is pushing forward at a cracking pace in a quest to take full advantage of what nature has provided. Beechworth was seen by many as a marginal climate when its vineyards were first planted. Most vignerons were cautious and purposefully chose warmer, more obviously advantageous sites. Today, with the region’s credentials clear for all to see, new players have a better understanding of growing conditions and are more willing to plant on more marginal sites. This continues to push the boundaries of what the region is capable of.

Further to the east of Beechworth lies the small town of Stanley, situated on the region’s western edge in a narrow north-south valley surrounded by higher peaks—an area that would have once been planted only by the most brave or foolhardy souls. In recent years, however, Stanley has garnered new attention from both new and experienced players, though site selection here is no doubt much more important than in other parts of the region. Jeremy Schmölzer and Tessa Brown from Vignerons Schmölzer and Brown have led the charge, planting and managing vineyards above 2,300 feet (700 m). They planted their own vineyards in 2014 and 2015. The resulting wines are impressive despite the relatively youthful vine age, suggesting this new side to Beechworth will continue to impress. Local vigneron and widely respected viticultural consultant Mark Walpole has also put his hat in the ring, planting Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Petit Arvine at 2,400 feet (740 m). Walpole has a history of pushing boundaries, having initially established the Fighting Gully Road vineyard in an area of Beechworth that had not previously been widely planted. In just 20 years, that spot has become prime local terroir; it is likely that Walpole’s new venture will achieve similar results. However, the climate on this side of town is very different—cooler and wetter, making it better suited to a different set of varieties. Pinot Noir has a checkered history in Beechworth but may find a happy home here, while Chardonnay and aromatic whites such as Riesling should prosper.

While the ideal varieties for vineyards around Stanley still remain very much a work in progress, the potential in more established areas is clear. Chardonnay is the undisputed star in Beechworth, with the greatest wines showing generosity, impressive depth of fruit and staying power in a full-flavored style backed by firm acidity. The interplay between raw power and energetic vibrancy gives Beechworth Chardonnay a natural edge, but Chardonnay is not alone. The harmony of Shiraz and volcanic soils also comes to bear in Beechworth, yielding a savory, spicy style that is broadly successful across the region.

The unique climate and terroir of Beechworth, with its rocky soils and temperate continental climate that feels distinctly Mediterranean, has inspired new visions for the region’s future, in part led by Julian Castagna and Mark Walpole. Walpole had a chance meeting with Alberto Antonini over 25 years ago, spurring a movement into various alternative grape varieties, particularly Sangiovese and Tempranillo, which Walpole planted in Beechworth. For his own Fighting Gully Road vineyard, he also planted Verdicchio, Grenache and Aglianico, while other wineries have pursued Roussanne, Gamay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Though it represents only a small part of the regional plantings, Nebbiolo is certainly quite promising, with significant effort being put into taming this most challenging of grapes. In the unique and sometimes challenging Beechworth environment, the success of these alternate varieties is more variable and highly dependent on site selection. While some may be less dependable, there are enough high points to suggest that a few will become regional icons.

The state of varietal flux is also matched by a slow changing of the guard. Beechworth was built by strong and dedicated personalities who have persevered in what is often a challenging environment, thanks to occasional bushfires and its modest size. Rick Kinzbrunner (Giaconda), Julian Castagna (Castagna), Barry and Jan Morey (Sorrenberg Vineyard) as well as Elizabeth and Stephen Morris (Pennweight) and others have helped to provide extraordinary foundations. Now, new generations are beginning to build on that base. The success of Beechworth’s greatest wines has also acted as a siren call, bringing in talented winemakers who have made an immense impact in a relatively short period of time, such as Adrian Rodda, Chris Catlow and Peter Graham. Whether it is terroir, winemaking talent or sheer determination, Beechworth has an embarrassment of riches that will serve it very well for the coming decades. It is one of Australia’s most exciting regions today and probably for years to come.

The vineyards of Mayford Wines in the shadow of Mount Buffalo.

Recent Vintages

The last four years have been marked by unusual vintages for North East Victoria. Two thousand twenty was an inauspicious start. A number of warm, dry months and hot summer weather led to widespread bushfires across the southeast of Australia over a three-month period. While the fire didn’t hit any vineyards, long-term exposure to smoke haze saw no wines made in Alpine Valleys or Beechworth. King Valley somehow remained unscathed, but the hot and dry conditions made 2020 most certainly a vintage to enjoy young.

The 2021, 2022 and 2023 vintages were cooler than average, thanks to the effects of La Niña. For Rutherglen fortified, 2022 and 2023 were challenging, so very few stocks will be suitable for Grand or Rare bottlings in the future. The 2021 vintage started well, with much-needed winter rains helping to revive groundwater stocks and priming the vines for a good season. Some cooler weather at flowering led to reduced yields, which helped fruit reach adequate ripeness in the cooler vintage.

Two thousand twenty-two proved to be a more challenging year, marked by regular early-season rainfall and cool ripening conditions across north-eastern Victoria. Luckily, the weather remained settled toward the end of the growing season, allowing a long, slow ripening before a very late harvest. That said, the wines retain significant acidity. White wines are more reliable than reds in 2022.

The 2023 vintage was even more extreme, due to very cool temperatures and high rainfall. King Valley saw growing season precipitation over 60% above average, also observed across southeastern Australia. This favored low-yielding sites, with white wines again ahead of the reds, although this is generally an earlier-drinking year with wines marked by understated flavor profiles.

I tasted most of the wines in Northern Victoria in October 2024, with follow-up tastings in Sydney.

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