Riverina

On the banks of the Murrumbidgee River in southern NSW lies the famed Riverina district, and at its centre is the town of Griffith, with its charming Italian-Australian flavour. This means good coffee, interesting cafés, and more recently the wonderful wines of the De Bortoli’s. In terms of grapes, the Riverina grows 55 percent of New South Wales’ crop and 15 percent of all grape production in Australia. Griffith itself is 570 km (or a 6.5 hour drive) west of Sydney.

The Wiradjuri people were the original inhabitants of much of south western New South Wales including much of the Riverina region along the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan rivers, though other groups undoubtedly ranged in various parts of this large district. The name Riverina is reputedly taken from the province of Entre Rios (meaning between two rivers) in South America, and was used as early as 1857. The area is rich pastoral country and in Australia that means squatters. The ‘independent’ nature of their occupation also means that it is unclear when land was taken over but by 1848 nearly all the land along the main rivers, the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Murray was occupied. The demand for meat created by the gold rushes in the 1860s saw an increase in land settlement and grazing, followed by an increase in sheep as wool prices rose in the 1870s. In the 1860s and 1870s, German settlers from the Barossa Valley also travelled up river to settle in the eastern Riverina.

Perhaps one of the most legendary episodes in the history of the Riverina was when Ned Kelly crossed over from Victoria to rob the bank at Jerilderie in 1879 and while there wrote his famous Jerilderie letter, a denunciation of the treatment the Irish received at the hands of the Victorian government.

It wasn’t until the early twentieth century with the development of the MIA that large scale settlement on land always considered barren took place. It was during this expansion that Italians first entered in large numbers, such that by 1954, half the farms around Griffith were owned by Italian born or the Italian descended. Griffith, founded only as a result of the MIA, going on to become the regions’ major center.

The Riverina’s wine history began with the arrival in 1912 of John McWilliam from the family’s winery in Junee. McWilliam planted his vines in Hanwood and some of these vines still bear fruit. McWilliam was followed by Penfolds and De Bortoli, and it was these and others who established the prosperous Riverina wine industry in the irrigated areas. The Riverina being such a hot and dry region, it can produce high crop yields, including grapes, thanks only to the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Scheme. Nevertheless, Charles Sturt winery at Wagga Wagga is located outside the MIA. Today there are some 13 major wineries in the region. 

The area has always been a favourite of European migrants, particularly Italians, and it is with their skills and knowledge that the Riverina wine industry has become what it is today. By the 1960’s the major varieties of grapes were Pedro, Semillon, Trebbiano, Doradillo, Grenache and Shiraz, all grown chiefly for fortified wines. Since that time the Riverina region has become one of the largest grape growing areas in Australia, and now specialises in the internationally renowned Botrytised Semillon.

In general the entire region is flat, though some major developments are occurring on the sloping rangelands. The Riverina is an alluvial plain formed by deposits carried down from the Great Dividing Range over the last several tens of thousands of years and most of the plain is less than 200 metres above sea level. To the west is largely featureless saltbush plain. Overall the climate is hot and dry, with its relatively low rainfall occurring mainly in the winter. Based on irrigation, grape growing is reliable, with moderate to high yields and few diseases. This means growers can use low impact management techniques that have produced consistently high quality wines. In addition, the limited summer rain is enough to supply the humidity needed to generate botrytis cinerea (the noble rot), which in turn creates the sweet wine know as the Botrytis Semillon.

The best wine varieties to come out of the region are Chardonnay, Shiraz, Semillon, Cabernet and Merlot. These come out of such major wineries as the Beelgara Estate, Charles Sturt University Winery, De Bortoli Wines, the Riverina Estate, and Wickham Hill. Clancys of Conargo, located between Conargo and Deniliquin, in the southern Riverina is one such. Picturesque views of the vineyard area are available from the cellar door and their large lawn area is a great location for a picnic. Also to be seen here is an antique bottle collection and a world-wide collection of number plates.

Food and wine events are La Festa, an international music, wine and food festival staged every Easter Saturday in the main street of Griffith, UnWINEd in the Riverina, in June and the Sweet Wine Challenge, in September. The agricultural region means foods such as fruit, cereals, nougat, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and capsicums, tapenades, rice and citrus are also available in abundance. Local attractions include the Italian Museum, the Catania Fruit Salad Farm Tour, Lake Wyangan, Coccoparra National Park and Wagga Wagga City Gallery (including the National Glass Collection).

The flat plains of the Riverina have in the past produced vast quantities of affordable wines. Nowadays, quality is emphasised over quantity and so there is more focus on lower crop levels and better techniques that have improved the white wines of the Riverina. More recently, the addition of new varieties of reds, such as Durif and Petit Verdot, is changing the face of traditional Riverina winemaking yet again.