Murrumbateman

A Village Full of Vineyards

Phorum Dalal finds herself in Murrumbateman, New South Wales' best kept secret cellar, and lets the cellar doors give her a delicate and crisp taste of cool-climate wines

Murrumbateman; probably it's an aboriginal name, I think to myself, as our car enters the village in New South Wales, an hour's drive from Canberra airport. The drive has involved a hot chocolate stop and an on-loop sighting of jumpy wild kangaroos amid dry hay fields interspersed with lush green rolling hills kissing a crisp blue sky. "You know you are in a wine region when the vast expanse of vineyards, in their various phases of grape growing, stretch into the horizon," Elouise Calabria, our sprightly vine and wine guide, tells us.

Before we delve into tannins and body types, a look at Murrumbateman. It has but one pub, Murrumbateman Country Inn, and we vouch for the Chicken Parmigiana - a sole meadery, and vineyards scattered on both side of the Barton Highway that cuts through it. "Let me tell you how this region got its name," Calabria says, dousing our curiosity. One day, a village drunkard walked into a bar and had more than many drinks. The drunkard, in a slurry lisp, shouted, "More Rum Mr Bateman, More Rum Mr Bateman!" That's how the name stuck. While there's no actual proof to this story, it's a good one.

Wool to wine region
Murrumbateman, though part of New South Wales, associates itself with the Canberra District wine region where the average day-time temperature during the summer is 25-35u00ba. "We're not as big as Barosa or Hunter Valley, but you'll find, that is the beauty. The cool evenings here are the most important and they are what give us our cool climate status. Overnight temperature drops to 12-15u00ba on an average. The cooler nights give us a longer growing season and harvest is usually mid- March to mid-April as opposed to warmer climates where they can harvest anytime from late January," says Calabria.
The story of the vineyards begins at Clonakilla vineyard in the late 60s, when Dr John Kirk, a Welsh biochemistry scientist was headhunted by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) to plant an industry in Canberra. His son Tim recalls, "I was nine years old when we came here by sea in 1968."

When John came to Canberra, he looked at the climate and wondered why there was no wine industry here. While Australian wine had always been a warm climate phenomenon, Murrumbateman replicates a European cool climate. Ignoring the naysayers, he bought the 44-acre farm, originally a wool farm, in 1971. Turns out, the condition for wool is similar to good quality medium-bodied, fine wine. "These vineyards were my playground. The first year I was here, first vintage was 1997, we sold 592 boxes, now 18-20 thousand boxes; the figure is 30 folds," says Tim, who exports all over the world to China, Taiwan, US, Singapore and few Scandinavian countries. Here, we get a taste of their famous Shiraz Viognier, aromatic, with the spicy character of red berries, medium bodied and silky which thrives in the cool climate.

Early vintners
During the same time, in 1974, Edgar Reik, another scientist, opened Lake George Winery on Federal Highway. John and Edgar didn't know each other, but soon a small group of dedicated individuals were exploring the idea of wine. "It was a brave thing to do," says Tim, adding that the region has 150 wines from 35 wineries. "In national context, we are small, but we create wines that have a desirable cool-climate dimension, which has a lot of potential for growth," he explains.

Reislings
In 1973, Ken Helm, a CSIRO scientist, also purchased land in the region to plant vines with his wife Judith. The Valley is a small secluded area, 6 km east of Murrumbateman, dominated by Mt Ramsay of 730 metres. Helm wines are produced from the Valley grapes, so as to express the unique characteristics of the soils, climate, aspects, and viticulture." says Ken. At his winery, Helm Rieslings and Cabernets are favourably reviewed by major wine writers u00f1 one noted that the Helm Classic Dry Riesling 2005 was a near perfect wine and all their Rieslings are regularly rated at 94-97 points. "Our vineyard makes great Rieslings and my job is to take the grapes through to wine without losing the unique flavours, balance and delicacy which has been produced in the vineyard," he says.
For this, we stop at Four Winds. Each growing area in the region is unique, depending on soil and climate, the terroir.  The gentleman manning the wine cellar tells us, "Reislings do well in cool climate. Riesling grapes are citrus, with flavours of lemon and lime, and the cool climate allows it to maintain a low pH, thus it is able to acquire a crisp acidic tone. Here, the days are hot and nights are cold, which offers diurnal change that allows the grapes to have a rest through the night time period, that is a nice factor. Their field has a bedrock of granite and clay.

Orange wine
At Wily Trout Winery, we get a taste of orange wine, a cloudy white bubbly, by using extended skin contact to their white wines. Wine making is a calling, and many of the wine makers chanced upon the region and wine making. Take for instance Fiona Wholohan, who came to study in Canberra but ended up buying a 15-acre land for a vineyard called Yarrh Valley, which has a magnificent view of the Yas River Valley, in 1997. She offers us a Sauvignon Blanc, that falls in the category of orange wine. "Is it safe to drink?" one of us asks, and she laughs, taking a whiff. "The colour is due to extended skin contact. It smells great. It is a result of wild ferment, we call it Mr Natural Sauvignon Blanc."

Honey Wine
For all the wineries dotting Murrumbateman, there is only one meadery, Wins Creek Meadery. It is run by Maryanne and Michael Devey, in an 1879 building, which was originally an inn. "We moved to this countryside 18 years ago from Canberra and began keeping bees in 2000 as a hobby," says a chirpy Maryanne, who also makes and sells ceramics and beeswax candles. We look inside a wooden beehive with glass windows on each side, buzzing with bees (pun-intended). Each year, the meadery produces only a few thousand litres of mead, which is honey wine, a very small amount compared to other wineries in the region. How do you make honey beer? We ask Michael, who raises an eyebrow and quickly explains, "It is more honey wine than beer. Mead is the most ancient alcoholic beverage which ferments naturally with its own yeast," he says. The process to make mead is similar to wine, where you crush the grapes and start a fermentation which turns sugar into alcohol. "The process takes six months to a year, and the resulting product can be sweet or dry," says Michael giving us a taste of mead. "Sweet mead doesn't take as long to mature, and dryer meads are matured for a longer period. Just like wine, they get better with age," Michael smiles.
We pique Michael's interest when we ask about the bees. "Well, if you took a survey, one out of three people in Australia would say they are allergic to bees. That cannot be true, it's just a misperception. Very few people actually die from bee stings. "Bees are not aggressive, they're really very gentle creatures. They will die if they sting you, so it is always their last resort," smiles Michael, who says he often looks after his bees without any protective gear. "If I smoke them, and don't do anything to alarm them, I can take the hive apart and get on with my work just fine. I know my bees, just the way they know me," he signs off. Today, every vineyard in the region attracts visitors- Lerida Estate for its Ros&eacute, Wily Trout for its smokehouse pantry and orange wines, and The Vintner's Daughter for its Reisling.
While every vineyard tells the story of the founders through its grapes and wines, Murrumbateman terroir with its bedrock of granite and clay spells warmth of days, chills of the night and a lullaby of autumnal dormancy that springs into green leaves with the kiss of changing seasons.

STAY
Abode Murrumbateman
AT: 57 Rose St, Murrumbateman NSW 2582, Australia

HOW TO GET THERE
Singapore Airlines flies from Mumbai and Delhi to Canberra via Singapore.
Three hours road drive from Sydney or fly to Canberra Airport and one-hour drive to Murrumbateman.

MUST VISIT
Make time for a breakfast or all-day meal at Daughters of Hall, a general store converted into a caf&eacute. Nestled in the heritage village of Hall, it serves decadent Lamingtons, and excellent pies.
AT: 5 Victoria St, Hall ACT 2618, Australia