Beechworth

The Beechworth region, located in north western Victoria, is in the foothills of the Victorian Alps, and is one of a series of wine regions known as the alpine valleys. The others being Glenrowan, King Valley, Rutherglen, and Alpine Valleys. Beechworth town itself is 265 kms or a three hour drive from Melbourne.

Originally the land of the Duduroa people, the Beechworth area was settled by Europeans after 1839 as a grazing district. With the discovery of gold in 1852, thousands of miners moved onto the local goldfields, transforming the region forever. Its main centre, Beechworth, however, is most well known for its links with Ned Kelly. It was at Beechworth that the local court and gaol was to be found and where Ned Kelly, when only 16 years old, first appeared in Beechworth court and served six months in Beechworth Gaol in 1870. It was also at Beechworth that Ned Kelly’s mother was sentenced to three years’ hard labour in 1878. It was this harsh treatment that helped spark off Ned Kelly’s activities in a career that has established his fame ever since.

In an attempt to bring Kelly to bay, the police arrested many locals as friends of the Kelly gang and held them in Beechworth Gaol. Fear of the understandably high local feelings about this caused the old wooden gates to be replaced by iron ones that can still be seen today. After Kelly’s final capture he was first put on trial at Beechworth before his transfer to the Melbourne courts for his final trial, and of course hanging.

The main Sydney to Melbourne road also ran through the Beechworth area, including both Wangaratta and Beechworth towns. However, in 1873, the railway was put through to Wangaratta, and Beechworth fell into a relative decline. After this the establishment of such institutions as a benevolent asylum, general hospital, lunatic asylum and of course the gaol, helped maintain Beechworth’s viability.

Vineyards were established early in the Beechworth region, presumably to supply the local gold diggers, but as elsewhere this production had declined by the end of the nineteenth century. The modern re-establishment of a wine industry began earlier in the Beechworth region than elsewhere, and by the 1950s the Brown Brothers had developed the Everton Hills vineyard. In the 1990s, wine production took off again, during which time Russell Bourne established Battely Wines where the Everton Hills vineyard had been and many more wineries followed this example.

Beechworth town is over 500m above the Ovens Valley. The variation between the valley floor and the surrounding hills in both terms of elevation and soils makes for much diversity of growing conditions. The climate of the Beechworth region in general is that of a cool, sub-alpine district with frosts common.

Beechworth region produces a range of grape varieties with Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chardonnay liking the cool climate best. Two of the Beechworth regions wineries are the Pennyweight winery, established in the 1980s by Stephen and Elizabeth Morris along purely organic lines. And the Castagna, run on biodynamic principles, for which it has received many accolades.

Stephen Morris is the winemaker at the family owned Pennyweight Winery, and claims his skills from his great-grandfather, George Francis Morris, who established the Morris winery at Rutherglen in 1860. Machine harvesting is not allowed on the Pennyweight estate, which of course means every grape is hand-picked. In the same vein the wines are aged only in oak barrels rather than modern steel ones. Some of the oak casks used were first brought to Australia in the 1930s from Spain.

The Castagna Vineyard is less than six kilometres outside Beechworth, and in the foothills of the Australian Alps is at an elevation of 500m. The hot days and cool nights of the growing season gives this vineyard a Mediterranean feel. Like the Pennyweight the process at Castagna is one of hand-pruning and hand-picking, with quantity given over in favour of quality.

Apart from visiting these fascinating vineyards, the town of Beechworth is well worth a look. The history of Beechworth has been well preserved and can be enjoyed in its many restored colonial buildings. Beechworth Bakery is well-known and there are many fine restaurants and cafes. The Beechworth Wine Centre and Antiques is a place where both wine and items of the past can be enjoyed. Other attractions include Beechworth Gorge, Woolshed Falls, a number of nearby national parks, the historic Rail Trail (a sealed section of the old railway suitable for bicycles that runs from Bright to Wangaratta), and the gold diggings. Also, not to be missed is the local museum, which is also a memorial to the famous explorer, Robert O'Hara Burke, who was a local police superintendent at Beechworth for a time.

Local events at Beechworth are the Beechworth Harvest Festival in May and an exciting farmers market, and the Golden Horseshoes Festival celebrated at Easter every year. This last festival is supposedly based on the celebrations that followed the election in 1855 of a Daniel Cameron, who is said to have ridden a horse with golden horseshoes through the main streets of Beechworth.

While small, the Beechworth region has created many wines of fine quality, its Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling being its most outstanding creations. Those vines at the higher elevations of the Beechworth region naturally produce grapes best for sparkling wines, with the richer table wines from lower down the slopes.