Can you help a Canadian with some Victorian wineries?

[Anne, Vancouver, Canada]

Hello:

I've got an opportunity to attend a tasting with the principals of the wineries listed, below. All are from Victoria, I believe. I've not tasted wines from any of them, and not seen wine locally from most - so they are an unknown quantity. Do you have any comments to offer about the producers and their wines? Thanks.

Austin”s Barrabool Wines (Sutherland Creek)

Narkoojee Vineyard (Gippsland)

Caledonia Australia (Gippsland)

Olsen Wines (Murray Darling)

Chrismont (King Valley)

Pettavel (Geelong)

Dal Zotto Estate (King Valley)

SallyÂ’s Paddock (Pyrenees)

David Traeger Wines (Goulburn Valley)

Sandhurst Ridge (Bendigo)

The Hanging Rock Winery (Macedon Hills)

Warrenmang Vineyard (Pyrenees)

[Red Bigot]

Hi Anne,

An interesting selection of very small to small wineries, those whose (mostly red) wines are in my cellar are:
Sally?s Paddock (Pyrenees) - this one is/was known as Redbank winery here, their famous red blend is called Sallys Paddock, it's the only wine of theirs I buy.
David Traeger Wines (Goulburn Valley) - makes some very good cabernet and shiraz.
The Hanging Rock Winery (Macedon Hills) - heathcote Shiraz and Macedon Cuvee sparkling white.
Warrenmang Vineyard (Pyrenees) - some of the estate reds are very good, but over-priced in our market.

All of the above have a fairly extensive range of wines for smallish producers, covering price ranges from about $A15 to $A50+, so value also depends on which wines they are offering and at what prices.

[Murray]

Hi Anne,

The Austins and Pettavel are from Geelong which is a cool climate region south west of Melbourne. Both Austins and Pettavel's vineyards are at Sutherland's Creek and produce attractive cool climate wines.

I did a profile on Pettavel when visited last year which is at this link. The Emigre is a particularly nice wine, and I liked the new Cab Merlot that was released a couple of weeks ago.

I haven't tried the current Austin's wines.

David Traeger make a Verdelho which is interesting to try, and can be very high quality. The Shiraz is also good.

IMO Hanging Rock make a good range of wines, with the Macedon bubbly and Heathcote Shiraz showing true class.

[Juan]

Caledonia make a wonderful reserve Pinot, and possibly a even better reserve Chardonnay. Both are well worth a shot, even their cheaper pinots and chards are nice.

Olsen's make some intresting sub $15 reds and whites from the murray darling, but some are very big.

Dal Zotto's wines are good, but are far from my favorite King Valley wines.

[Anne, Vancouver]

I'm getting to try only one wine from each winery, so it will be an interesting opportunity to try some wines we don't usually see here. I'll report back.

Thanks for your help.

Anne

[Kieran]

Narkojee Chardonnay and Dal Zotto Riesling have been getting some good press.

Kieran