Victoria’s best kept secret: Henty wine region

This is the first in an occasional series about the wine regions of the Western District. In this instalment I look at the wines and winemakers of the Henty region, in and around Hamilton.

Why is it that the area in which grapes were first planted in Victoria is the least known wine region in the state?

Over the past months I’ve been on a mission: to drink only local Western District wines. It has been fun and I have made some delicious discoveries. In fact, there is perfect vinous harmony to be had right here on our doorstep.  Even better, these are not vineyards seeking to provide a pleasant backdrop for a function centre specialising in weddings.  The wines are front and centre and, where there is a cellar door or even a restaurant, they are the backup and showcase for the wine and not the other way around.          

We have wineries across the Western District, stretching east to west from Geelong to beyond Hamilton, and north to south from Harrow and Chetwynd in the north to Cape Bridgewater and Portland and along the coast and hinterland back to Geelong. The key areas for wine production in the Western District are: the Moorabool Valley region in the east (see my earlier article Lethbridge Wines); Beaufort/Grampians foothills in the north west; and Henty region in the south west and the Great Ocean Road hinterland/ Otways though the area is fast sharing equal footing with distilleries and brewers. It’s the Henty region where this occasional series begins.

To begin at the beginning is to start in the Henty Wine region because it was the Henty brothers who planted the first vines in Victoria, near Portland.  These vines were purely for domestic use. The first commercial vines were planted in the Yarra Valley but not long after, in the 1850s, vines were planted near Geelong as well. The Henty wine region, however, was farming and agricultural land until the 1960s when Karl Seppelt purchased land at Drumborg, south west of Hamilton, and planted 100 hectares of vines. Seppelt had spent some time abroad and anticipated a trend away from the then popular fortified wines towards table wines; he also had a keen interest in cool climate viticulture.

The first grapes that Seppelt planted were riesling, on land known today as Block 12. Just over a decade later (1975), John and Catherine Thomson planted vines at Condah on the family farm, and established Crawford River Wines, today renowned for their riesling.  Almost a decade later (1983), Barrett Wines was established and seven years on in 1990 at Tarrington, the Nagorcka family planted vines on their family farm. The village of Tarrington was formerly known as Hochkirch, underlining its German heritage, but in 1918, with World War 1 not yet over, the name was changed to Tarrington, referencing Tarring, in Sussex, the English village from where the Hentys came. In 1991, just north and off the Henty Highway, Peter Dixon, a retired geomorphologist knew that soil from the old volcanoes in the Western District were great for grape growing and with wife Glenys they established Henty Estate in 1991.  Around 2000 several more vineyards were established and today the region has over a dozen vineyards.  

Tarrington Vineyards 

While farming and agriculture provide an excellent background for hard work and the vicissitudes of climate, many of those producing wines in the Henty region admit that initially viticulture provided them with a steep learning curve.  Dianne Nagorcka, who tends the vines on the Tarrington Vineyards part of the Hochkirch – Tarrington duo, says that she and her brother John, the winemaker, grew up on the farm, established by their great grandfather, and which remains a mixed farm with 25 acres of vines. The first plantings of pinot noir in 1990 on a few acres were a work in progress.  She worked as a nurse for a number of years and returned weekends to do farm work and eventually returned to live in Tarrington where there is now a most beautiful garden at her door and her vineyards beyond. John went to Wagga Wagga to do a wine course but it was really the success, failures, research and willingness to make changes, that over three decades has shaped the business today.  

“You live and you learn,” Dianne tells me.  “The initial plantings of pinot noir were, we realised, planted too widely and the winds that come through here can be ruthless.  When we spent time in Burgundy we realised that some of their practices were well suited to our situation here.  So now we have closer plantings and lower plantings.  The picking is harder but the vines are more protected.” 

Hochkirch Wines

The most significant change, however, were the control systems in the vineyard that have gradually evolved through research and changes driven by John Nagorcka.  Today, both Hochkirch and Tarrington vineyards operate on bio-dynamic principles.  Many farms are now looking at both pesticide and herbicide reduction but John Nagorcka, who produces wine under the Hochkirch label, was well ahead of that curve.  As his sister, Dianne, says:  “We look for growling grass frogs and worms: they are good signs of environmental health. We’ve done many things to improve the environmental health of the farm.  We have planted lots of trees, taken cypresses out.  I regret that we planted leylandii. But again, you live and you learn”.  Although the two vineyards are part of the original farm both are run as separate businesses. Dianne Nagorcka remains at Tarrington Vineyards, and is responsible for the vines and John, Jennifer and their son Christian Nagorcka at Hochkirch, run a mixed farm which includes their vineyards and John is winemaker and has responsibility for the marketing of the wines.  

A learning curve from mixed farming to viticulture is one thing but what about mixed farming, viticulture to moving all farm management completely to a bio-dynamic basis?  I have great admiration for those who can make such a change for not only does it require a long attention span, it also requires sustained motivation and belief and dedication to the end goal.  John Nagorcka began his vineyard with traditional farming methods but twenty years ago he sort to adopt bio-dynamic methods.  He persevered and now don’t be surprised to see sheep grazing in the vineyards during Autumn and Winter as natural and simultaneous weeders and fertilisers.

It is my understanding that, more than other methods, the bio-dynamic method of farming, successfully applied as in the case of the Nagorcka vineyards, provides one of the best platforms to present the character and quality of the produce with their environmental influences: it’s a terroir catwalk.  I still laugh – right though it is – when I think of  the description of the wine making process on the Hochkirch website:  

“The process of wine production occurs naturally, in the absence of human input any time a collection of fruit is left in a suitable environment .  The natural outcome of this process is the conversion of the wine to vinegar, so clearly human intervention is required to avoid this final step and preserve the wine for the enjoyment of the drinker.”   This description is used to decry the ‘lionisation’ of “the role and position of the winemaker, as if their mastery of the art is what creates great, exclusive and expensive wines”. No, it is argued, “The success of this natural process….depends entirely on starting with outstanding quality fruit…”  

This being so, a taste of an Hochkirch pinot noir will tell the drinker that given the fruit and balance of the wine, there is no fool winemaker behind this drop.  The “human intervention” is a skilled and experienced one in Hochkirch Wines. 

By the way, for anyone interested in learning about bio-dynamic farming, there is an excellent (succinct and clear) description of bio-dynamic methods on the Hochkirch Wines website.  Just click on BD Ag in the top menu.  It is well worth a read.  

Pierrepoint Wines

On my first visit to the Henty region specifically to look at the vineyards I stayed in a delightful B&B at Pierrepoint Wines run by Jennifer and Andrew Lacey.  Their vineyard is situated  at the foot of Mt. Pierrepoint, yet another old, worn and weathered volcano, and here, in 1998, they planted their first vines.  Like other growers in the area, the Laceys had a steep learning curve.  

“Originally, Seppelt were going to buy our grapes and then, Seppelt had a complete change in strategy and suddenly we needed to revise our plans,” says Jennifer.

The ‘live and learn’ phrase comes to mind and as with the Nagorckas, the Laceys, with young children in tow also embarked on a steep learning curve.  However, their picturesque homestead, the two B&B cottages, the gardens, vineyards,  complete with a gaggle of geese and ducks and chickens on pest control duty and cellar door selling chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot gris are a credit to their hard work and willingness to learn and adapt. 

Jennifer is a great advocate for her local area, is a wealth of information on the area and gave many suggestions as to where to eat, places to visit and indeed, it was on her recommendation that I visited Cafe Catalpa, which serves food and importantly, sells and serves most of the local wines.   Every wine region needs a Cafe Catalpa!  Stepped back from the Hamilton Highway in Tarrington it is unassuming but inside it is much more spacious than its shopfront suggests and dining in the leafy courtyard would be a delight (it was too cold to eat out when I visited). Never mind, the food — eaten inside — was a surprise and absolutely delicious.  How is it that in a little village the size of Tarrington there is food like this and a menu like this?  And here’s the story.

Catalpa Cafe

Catalpa Cafe is yet another family business in the Henty region.  The chef here is Michael Hilsdon, ably assisted by Mum and Dad, Heather and Colin.  In explaining how they came to be in Tarrington, Heather tells me that Michael trained in the UK under the Roux brothers at one of my favourite restaurants – ever – The Waterside Inn at Bray-on-Thames.  One of his cheffing friends came to Australia and suggested that Michael might like to come here too.  Michael liked Australia, then his brother decided to come here and later, Heather and Colin, farmers in the UK, where, at a time when UK farmers were battling against European farming subsidies, decided to sell their farm and come to Australia too.  As well as farming, Heather had another string to her bow – her catering business and, while I am unsure who cooked my delicious salmon and spinach frittata, or my partner’s fish and “Oh my god, these are brilliant,” chips, the old fashioned mini sponge was a Heather specialty and was fantastic.  It would even give my Grandmothers sponges a run for their money and they were without peer until now. 

Henty Estate

Catalpa Cafe is a cafe serving great food but it is also a great flag waver for local Henty wines.   So the racked wall to the right of the entrance displaying the wine from local vineyards held great interest for me.  It was Jennifer Lacey who had told me that Michael and his wife, Matilda, had recently taken over the Henty Estate vineyards, so it was interesting to see the Henty Estate wines along with many others.  He hadn’t been tempted to sell only Henty Estate wines?  “No, quite a few people have asked me that but it’s about showing local wines of our region.  It’s a community thing,” he tells me.  

“How did the purchase of Henty Estate come about?,” I asked him, “after all, he is a fine chef, why wine?”  “Yes, I’m a chef, but I’ve always been interested in wine.  The Dixons (Peter and Glenys) had no one within their family who was interested in taking over and we were able to buy it.  It’s great because I am able to learn from Peter who is teaching me and passing on his knowledge to me and it’s good for them too I think because they come and go from the Estate as they please and can wander around the vineyards, checking things…It’s great. We’re lucky.”  And so are we.  The UK’s loss is our gain!  

The Henty Estate was established in 1991 when Peter Dixon, a retired geomorphologist believed that the old, well drained, volcanic soils were well suited to wine growing and planted small amounts of shiraz, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and riesling vines.  When the vineyard was well established just over a decade later, the Dixons built their winery. Today, the Dixons are passing the baton of traditional wine making methods from non-irrigated vineyards on to Michael and Matilda and family.  Given the care and the quality of food that Michael produces at his Catalpa Cafe, I think the Dixons have backed a winner when it comes to building on their legacy at Henty Estate. 

Herrmann Wines

There is very little encouragement I need to head out across to the Henty region and when I tasted some Herrmann wine bought from Catalpa Cafe, and the partner thought that it was yet another Henty discovery, it was a good enough reason to drive out again. Some time ago on a trip to Hamilton, when Hamilton Hamper was still Darriwell Farm,  I bought there some bottles of wine for their grape type but, I will confess, that with Enigma Variations, I bought it mainly for the name.  I remember that wine because it was unusual for an Australian wine, although admittedly my experience of tasting Henty region wines at that time was very limited.  It was not a ‘hit you over the head’ full bodied wine but neither was it a medium wine.  It had a quirky balance and was almost velvety smooth and full of fruit.  It was a memorable wine and there are not too many of those. 

The Herrmann vineyards are in Tarrington but their cellar door is a little further north just out of Dunkeld along the Glenelg Highway.  I met Dot Herrmann there and the winemaker, Tamara Irish, who, I was surprised and delighted to learn was none other than the winemaker of Enigma Variations.  “That was some time ago”, she says.  “The Enigma Variations label is no more and I would be surprised if there are any bottles around.”  Maybe I have the last bottles standing- or laid down!

Herrmann Wines was established by John and Dot Herrmann in 2005 when they closely planted and wind protected a few thousand pinot noir vines on their mixed farm in Tarrington.  “Some people don leathers and buy a motor cycle for their midlife crisis,” says Dot, “but John planted a vineyard”.   Sadly, John died a few years ago but says Dot, “He was able to see several vintages though, so he was able to enjoy some of the wine and something of his work.”  With their son, Brent, engaged in full time broad acre farming, he could hardly devote his energies to the vineyards and winery too, so Dot approached Tamara Irish, who had known the Herrmanns and the Herrmann vineyard from day one, to take on the role of winemaker at Herrmanns.  

Tamara had just bought some land just east of Dunkeld and had planted shiraz vines there, so Dot and Tamara came to an agreement that the land that Tamara had planted, now the Herrmann Wines cellar door, would become part of Herrmann Wines and Tamara would be the winemaker.  Cellar door or the Dunkeld face of Herrmann Wines, Tamara Irish has the best backyard of anyone I’ve met, (see photo above for evidence), with the Grampians looming on the widest of green horizons.

Like the Nagorskas, Tamara Irish is well familiar with Burgundy, the cool climate region par excellence.  While pinot noir may be the holy grail in winemaking, given the wonderful chardonnays produced around Puligny-Montrachet and Chablis why was chardonnay not favoured more in the Henty region?  “ABC”, answered Tamara.  “After the 80s and all the over oaking that went on no one wanted ‘another bloody chardonnay’.  The ‘ABC’ is not the only aspect born in the 1980s rejected by the Henty regions family run wineries.  Len Evans, one of the grandfathers of Australian wine, dreamed of expanding the Australian wine industry, with new marketing to raise its profile and by making more accessible wines. His goal was realised.  Australia now is renowned for its ability to manufacture wines of a sound and consistent quality.  As a consequence, today there are more grapes being grown, bought, and transported all around the country, which sometimes involves considerable distance. There are now wines even being made in city warehouses.  Terroir? Unlikely. This is not the niche for Henty winemakers, like Tamara Irish.  You have heard of the slow food movement?  You could describe Tamara Irish as belonging to the slow wine movement.  

She is quite happy to pick early, when the grape sugars register around 11 degrees baumé (as a comparison, the sugar syrup for sorbets or ice creams is around 28 degrees baumé) which gives a lower alcohol level.  The grapes are brought straight back to the winery where they are crushed and de-stemmed. Nothing is added to the wine and she is particular about not adding any commercial yeast.  Like a sourdough starter, the fermentation is wholly reliant on the naturally occurring yeasts in the air, which is why this is slow wine making.  The wines are left to mature in either oak barrels or stainless steel tanks and when the journey to bottle is almost over, the filtration that many wines pass through is not applied. The wine is left in its concentrated form complete with particles and as such, in nose, palate and length gives a full picture of its terroir.  

The wines of the Henty region are not nearly as well known as other regions but, to my palate, they stand taller than most when it comes to wearing the terroir on their cool climate sleeves. They are elegant, beautifully structured and if not immediately, will eventually, fully reveal the constituents of their environment.  The Henty region is a ‘slow wine’ region and though not in vogue now, I am still cellaring some of these wines because while there are some for drinking now, there are those that while drinking well now, will reward patience.  There are wines from Henty that deserve to be tasted as they evolve and there’s the fun in wine!

Wines of the Henty Region 

These are only a few of the Henty region vineyards but there are quite a few more. The details of those above are as follows and for a full list and details visit www.hentywineregion.org.au. Most wines can be ordered from the vineyard but visit websites, email or call for more purchasing and distribution information.

If you have a story to tell about Western District produce or have a query please drop me a line at :- westerndistrictproducevictoria@gmail.com