Tahbilk Winery Saturday 12th September, 2009
|
John Rousseaux & Kate Stewart |
Honda CBR1000 |
Ray Weston |
KTM 990 |
|
Henry and Mai Wright (rear) |
Triumph 675 |
Cameron Stevens |
Yamaha FZ6 |
|
Dennis & Bianca Lindemann (leader) |
Honda CBR600 |
Ha Du |
Honda CBR600 |
|
Chris Pointon and Suzi Pollard |
Suzuki GSXR1000 |
Paul Southwell |
Honda CBR1000 |
|
|
Car |
Ben/ |
Honda CBR954 |
|
Dave Ward and Bronwyn manifold |
Car |
|
|
|
Ron and Julie Johnston |
Car |
20 people |
9 bikes, 3 cars |
I checked the weather reports, looked to the heavens, licked my finger and pointed to the sky. My belly agreed that today could be a nice day for a ride. Whittlesea found us lumbering into town to gather for the riding event for the day, “The Tahbilk Winery Ride for Pillions”. Our leader was Club Captain, Dennis with his lovely wife Bianca.
We filed out of the service station and headed off towards Kinglake West, cruising through the sweepers on a gentle Saturday morning ride, on our way to Flowerdale. The bike’s engine was simply purring with a sparing dose of fuel. Once again we were confronted with the burnt out countryside.
Left past Flowerdale saw us on our way to Broadford, one of my favourite stretches, and in went a little extra gas. Hold on Kate! We are going to blow out some cobwebs. The CBR1000RR-08 front wheel, with a pillion onboard, will head skyward with little more than half throttle. So, as usual on this bike, one must feed in the fuel sparingly until higher gear ratios are applied. This bike is a great piece of refined engineering.
Broadford, coffee and a meat pie plus a dash of inherent heartburn to follow. Beautiful! I know I’m alive and well.
Leaving Broadford, we enjoyed some pleasant
riding on our way to Glenaroua, then passing under the freeway on the outskirts
of
A long gravel driveway had us all meet in the public car park. The rest of our entourage had arrived by car.
Tahbilk History
The first
overland route from Melbourne (Port Phillip) to Sydney (Port
In
1860 (ironically the same year that Phylloxera was first observed in France)
Melbourne businessmen, including John Pinney Bear
(whose family later took control of the Estate), formed a company to create a
vineyard on the Goulburn River, with the grand aim of planting a million vines
(an achievement yet to be realised with some 360,000 vines currently planted!).
The site chosen was referred to by Aboriginals as "tabilk-tabilk"
meaning "place of many waterholes".
Construction
was commenced and completed on the original winery building and underground cellar
in 1860 by Ludovic Marie, the first of a series of
Swiss-French managers and winemakers at Tahbilk (the early European village
feel of Tahbilk can be put down to his influence).
The
winery and cellar walls were constructed of mud-stone and hand made bricks -
quarried from the riverbank and sun dried on the property, whilst the
supporting beams and pillars were cut from red gum and iron-bark - cut and
adzed by hand.
Marie
planted 25 hectares of vines in the same year, which grew within 12 months to
be 80 hectares with the first small vintage occurring in 1861.
The
next major development came in 1875 with the construction of the "New
Cellar", running at right angles to the 1860 cellar. Excavated in just 12
weeks by James Purbrick (a third cousin to Reginald
who was to purchase Tahbilk some 50 years later), 20,000 cubic yards of soil
was removed by horse drawn carts (one of which is on display in the original
cart-sheds opposite the Cellar Door). The walls and arch of the New Cellar are
three feet thick with the arch being self-supporting (using no keystone) and
then covered with earth. The bricks are interlocked as only sand and lime were
used to join them together with the whole cellar completed in time for the 1876
vintage. (website History)
The wine was complex, the buildings were old, yet the river flowed past timelessly.
Lunchtime! Twenty of us piled around two long tables, after ordering from the counter, and awaited our meals. There was plenty of time for us to chat, then there was plenty more time for us to chat. Some may have had their patience tested, but in the end all was good. The food was quite nice and complimentary coffees were provided as compensation for the long wait - which we waited for!
A group photograph was taken in the carpark with the river set behind us and the restaurant to our right.
Next a quick little run into Seymour, Ben and Julie via Nagambie for fuel. With full tanks and back together again, our destination was now home.
Ivan on the KTM990 headed south-westward
while we headed back towards Kinglake West along a classic set of roads
including the
Thankyou for leading Dennis, and Henry for rear riding.
Kate and I felt the Cabernet Sauvignon was quite good.
John Rousseaux