Clive Hartley
Macedon Ranges Budburst festival is running over this weekend (15/16th November) and wineries will be opening their doors from 10am to 5pm each day, with tastings, curated food menus, and the chance to chat directly with the winemakers at every stop.
Most, if not all, of the major wineries are represented, so that equates to 20 wineries across 14 venues. My pick would be Granite Hills, Lyons Will Estate, Attwoods (hosted at Mount Monument), Hanging Rock, Passing Clouds (hosted at Paramoor) Mount Towrong, Kyneton Ridge and Hunter Gatherer.
But there is so much to explore. Hesket Estate (856 Romsey Road) have been participating in the Budburst festival for the past 12 years. At 660m the vineyard offers cool climate pinot noir and chardonnay. During the festival they will be serving oysters, wood fired lamb baguettes and pork koftas at cellar door. Music will be provided by Laurie and the Roving Band on Saturday and ‘Newry’ are performing on Sunday. On the wine front they will be offering a gewurztraminer, a rose and their newly release chardonnay and pinot noir.
Wilimee vineyard (72 Powells Track, Via Mount William Rd, Lancefield) is owned by vigneron Ben Ranken and interior architect Sally Richardson. They bought the pinot noir and chardonnay vineyard around 12 years ago, but it was originally planted in 1982 making it one of the oldest in the region. “We don’t normally have a cellar door, so this is the only weekend we are open to the public” comments Ben. So, it is a good opportunity to look around the vineyard and ask Ben about his pet project of maturing wine underwater.
It all harks back to shipwrecks and his interest in the story of a Swedish schooner which was sunk by a German submarine in 1916. The ship contained 100 bottles of Heidsieck Champagne which was discovered in 1998. This is a unique way of maturing wine at a constant temperature and pressure. Ben has been doing his own experiment “We’ve been submersing 20% of our pinot noir for at least 5 years before release, to compare it with our normally matured wines.” Unfortunately, the current release is practically sold out so that will not be open for tasting, but Ben has a number of other wines including their pinot noir, fiano, chardonnay, pinot noir and a syrah blend. You can also taste wines from neighbouring Lane’s End Vineyard.
Tickets for the Festival cost $39 for one day or $52 for both days are available in advance from the festival’s website budburst.com or you can purchase them on the day from participating wineries.
Clive Hartley is an award-winning wine writer, educator and consultant. Check out his fortnightly radio show on Hepburn Community Radio website called “put a cork in it”. Want to learn more about wine? Try his book the Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) – available for purchase from Paradise Books in Daylesford, Stoneman’s BookRoom in Castlemaine or from his website – www.australianwineguide.com.au
