After leaving Brisbane and the Gold Coast I flew back to Melbourne and was there for Easter weekend. Unexpectedly the Easter Bunny paid a visit to me there and for the next week I was enjoying some very delicious chocolate-mint treats!
Then last Tuesday I came back to Albury/Wodonga. It's school holidays here right now and since my friends don't have to go to work right now it's been great to spend this time with them.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it when I was first here in Albury/Wodonga, but there is a wine region very nearby here called Rutherglen - and Rutherglen is where I found myself today (along with a couple great friends!).
Rutherglen is located west of Wodonga - about a half hour drive away. The area around Rutherglen was originally settled in 1836 by a number of squatters, and then within weeks of the initial gold strike in 1860 thousands moved to the settlement. Although it was gold which drove the initial thrust of immigration, it is wine which has made Rutherglen famous today. The first planting of grapes for wine in the district was undertaken by John Lindsay Brown in the 1850s and more vineyards followed. By 1890 Rutherglen was producing a quarter of Australia's wine.
Today Rutherglen is one of Australia's oldest wine regions with families that founded Rutherglen still making wine in the region today.
The wineries in Rutherglen are particularly noted for their full-bodied reds (in particular their shirazes and durifs) as well as their sweet fortified wines (muscats and tokays).
From my very first visit to Rutherglen (over 17 years ago now) I knew I would love this wine region. After all, when the town's "emblem" is a giant wine bottle you have to know you're in a pretty good place.
So I spent today visiting some of the wineries here and puttering around the town of Rutherglen a little bit ... in other words having a really great time.
My first stop today, Campbell's Wines, is one of the oldest wineries in the Rutherglen region. It was established in 1870 and today brothers Malcolm and Colin are the fourth generation to carry on the Campbell tradition.
Another stop today, Scion Vineyard and Winery, is one of Rutherglen's newest wineries, establishing itself on an old vineyard site which produced award winning wines a century ago. And a decade after their first vine plantings Scion is winning its own awards.
Our last stop for the day was at one of my most favourite wineries - Morris Wines. Morris Wines was established in 1859 and the family pioneered the growing of durif in the region. They have a long tradition of producing full-bodied red wines with long cellaring potential and magnificent fortified wines.
One has to admit that driving around Rutherglen and in and out of the wineries wasn't a hard way to spend the day at all!!
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