GUIDEBOOK TO THE WINE REGIONS OF AUSTRALIA
Featured Regions
Mornington
Peninsula
YARRA
VALLEY
GEELONG
HENTY
The Rest of the Guidebook
Macedon
Just under an hour's drive north west of Melbourne is one of the best kept secrets of Victorian wine: the Macedon Ranges. The region sits just to the south of Heathcote, and north of Sunbury, and encompasses Mount Macedon, part of the Great Dividing Range.
Rutherglen
Directly north of Beechworth and touching the border of New South Wales, sits Rutherglen. Famed for its fortified wines, Rutherglen was another gold rush era success story, until the dreaded phylloxera swept through the state.
Alpine Valleys
Alongside Beechworth and the King Valley, the third region that makes up the triumverate of sites in Victoria's northeast High Country, is the Alpine Valleys region.
Beechworth
Beechworth is one of the smallest wine regions in Victoria, but also one of the most important. Nestled between the Alpine Valleys to the south and Rutherglen to the north, the Beechworth wine region is located in the cooler northeast of Victoria, about 3 hours drive from Melbourne, and just 30 minutes from the New South Wales border town of Albury-Wodonga.
King Valley
Situated in Victoria's High Country, the King Valley brings a little slice of Italy to the northeast of the state. The region was originally settled during the gold rush era, with many migrant families establishing farms and vineyards throughout the valley. But the King Valley essentially took off as a premium wine-producing region in the 1940s and 1950s, following a large influx of Italian families who settled in the area. They saw the enormous potential for growing many of their favoured European varieties - varieties that are still grown there to this day.
Grampians
The spectacular and striking Grampians wine region lies some three hours west of Melbourne, bordered by the Grampians Mountains National Park to the south-west, and the Victorian Pyrenees Mountain Range to the north-east. It abuts the Henty region along its south western edge, and is one of the most westerly regions in Victoria.