Bendigo

Bendigo wine region is in central Victoria and Bendigo city itself is one of Victoria’s major inland cities. At 150 kms north-west of Melbourne, Bendigo is less than a 2 hour drive from the state’s capital.

Bendigo is second only to Ballarat as a Victorian gold-rush town and its discovery there is generally credited to two women, Mrs Kennedy and Mrs Farrell, who in 1851, found gold in the Bendigo creek. Bendigo, like Ballarat used its gold money to build itself up and so secured a number of fine buildings that would sustain its tourist industry in the future.

Originally named Sandhurst, the town was not officially named Bendigo until 1891. The rather twisted story of the Bendigo name begins with the biblical name Abednego (one of the companions of Daniel in the fire). The named was used by a well-known bare knuckled boxer, William "Abednego" Thompson of England and applied to a local who also used his fists, presumably with success. Sandhurst was never a popular name with the miners and when the town sought to attract overseas investment it was realised that ‘Bendigo’ was more associated with gold and wealth than ‘Sandhurst’.

The Australian goldfields, unlike the anarchic diggings of the United States, were heavily policed and this included the much resented Gold License or Miners Tax. This resentment turned to violence at the famous Eureka stockade at nearby Ballarat. But before that, the miners of Bendigo began a more peaceful method of protest – the wearing of a red ribbon. This included a march in 1853, when ten thousand diggers offered ten shillings instead of the required thirty to the gold commissioners.

Wine quickly developed in the Bendigo region to supply the local miners and later became an export industry. Bendigo even achieved some fame at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. This was when French judges awarded a number of Bendigo wines several prizes, only to attempt to withdraw them when they discovered the wines were not in fact French. However, this wine industry did not survive the phylloxera outbreak of the 1890s and it was only in the 1960s that vines were again planted in what has now once again become a major industry for the district.

Located in central Victoria, the Bendigo area has a number of significant rivers, such as the Loddon, Avoca and Campaspe rivers (this last a mistress of Alexander the Great!). The Bendigo region also claims a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters.

In the vineyards of the Bendigo region, red grapes predominate over white, and the predominant red variety is Shiraz, while in the whites it is Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc that make up the main grape crop. Within the Bendigo region these wines are produced mainly by boutique wineries due to water restrictions that limit irrigation and therefore the size of individual vineyards. Other varieties grown include Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Semillon, and Traminer.

History it seems can repeat itself and this is the case with the Chateau Dore vineyard. Chateau Dore is nowadays owned by Ivan and Jan Grose. Ivan, however, is in fact a descendant of Jean Theodore Deravin, who established and produced wine from his Chateau Dore vineyard of Bendgio throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. Jean Theodore Deravin was eventually forced to abandon his wine business thanks to various government induced, or at least prolonged, disasters. Now the Chateau Dore name is back in business with a fine winery and the original storeroom of Jean Theodore Deravin a reception room catering for weddings, anniversaries, and other special occasions.

Another winery of interest in the Bendigo region is Nuggetty Vineyard. The estate has six hectares planted with Shiraz, Cabernet and Semillon and can be found about four kilometres north-west of the old gold-mining town of Maldon, at the base of the Nuggetty Ranges. Greg and Jackie Dedman first began growing vines in 1994, both having studied their wine-making at Charles Sturt University.

Connor Park Winery is also a Bendigo vineyard with a story to tell. On the banks of Bullock Creek, this winery is about 25 minutes from Bendigo. Originally planted in Shiraz by Tom Connor, who invented the pick up baler and post hole digger, Tom died in 1982 before he could turn his inventive genius fully to his vines, which were subsequently allowed to run wild. The Connor Park Winery is now run by a nephew of Tom’s who originally knew little about wine production. Nevertheless, by 1992 the vineyard had been new planted with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and wines produced with an emphasis on minimal chemical intrusion.

Two great events that will help you taste some of the Bendigo region’s wines are the Bendigo Winemaker's Festival at Easter, and Bendigo Heritage Uncorked in October. At the same time the many historic sites of Bendigo can be enjoyed, and nowadays this includes recognition of its Chinese heritage. Gold in the mid-nineteenth century meant many miners from China, and at one point some 20% of the population of the Bendigo region was Chinese. This Chinese history is now strongly emphasised with the Joss house restored, a Chinese Historical Museum and the proud display of a Chinese Dragon at the Bendigo Easter Festival each year. 

The wines of the Bendigo region are strongly flavoured, created by its excellent climate and suitable local conditions. With vigorous, rich reds and stylish whites, the wines of Bendigo already have a solid reputation that can only improve, like its wines, with time.