Regional Focus - Grampians

The Grampians are situated in Western Victoria, about two hours' drive west of Melbourne, and are the home to the Seppelt Great Western Vineyard and Winery. The stunning scenery and outstanding cool climate wines make this a delightful region to visit.

The Grampians is a region built by the Victorian Gold Rush in the 1800s with the local towns of Ballarat, Beechworth and Bendigo still showing evidence of this today. The Grampians mountain range provides a stunning backdrop for the vineyards and the altitude results in lower than average temperatures than that of the Central Victorian wine regions to the east.

Winters are cold and the summers cool and dry, resulting in a low annual rainfall. Clay soils restrict water transport and the fruit is concentrated with an earthy complexity. Winemakers tend to use French oak to complement these flavours, producing wines of great texture with a distinctive regional style.

Historically, Great Western is Australia's first region for sparkling wine. Joseph Best, a successful butcher in the Gold Rush towns, invested his money in the vineyard and winery at Great Western, producing his first vintage in 1868. When the gold ran out, he employed the out of work miners to tunnel out the seams of decomposed granite under the winery to create the vast underground cellars called 'The Drives'. In 1887 Hans Irvine took over the winery and hired renowned Reims based Champagne maker Charles Pierlot to make sparkling wine. He further extended 'The Drives' to 1.6km of tunnels by 1907 and used the cool, stable atmosphere to gently mature his sparkling wines.

Benno Seppelt bought Great Western in 1918 and the vineyard expansion continued. A young winemaker called Colin Preece started work there in 1923 and was to establish himself as one of Australia's greatest winemakers, making acclaimed sparkling red and white wines, red and white table wines, and dessert wines until his retirement in 1963. The 1960s and 1970s saw further large scale planting, with the vineyards rapidly coming of age. While the region is known for sparkling wine production much of the fruit comes from elsewhere, and it is the local cool climate red and white wines that are emerging as the stars.

Today the Seppelt Great Western cellar door is nestled within the historic winery, set against a stunning backdrop of vineyards, offering guided tours of 'The Drives' and the chance to taste the full range of Seppelt's award winning wines.

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