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When it comes to wine tours in Melbourne, Yarra Valley is unavoidable. The valley offers not just wines, but excellent food tastings and spectacular cellar door hospitality experiences! But do you know how these Yarra Valley wineries emerged? Read on to unfold the history of the region!
The history of Victoria’s first wine growing region has a European legacy behind, like any other wine regions of Australia. Yarra Valley, the unbeatable wine tasting region in Melbourne and one of the world's leading cold-climate wine growing regions with internationally renowned wine labels such as Domaine Chandon, St Huberts, De Bortoli, Yering Station, Oakridge and Coldstream Hills has a history dating back to long 180 years. Explore this region on top Melbourne day tours that take you to all popular hotspots and learn more about its history.
Struggling for employment due to migration, economic conditions and the scourges of nature wrote great wines and vineyards in Australia and Yarra Valley was no different.
Ryrie Brothers became the pioneer of wines in this land in 1840. Later on, the valley blossomed with Swiss settlers who were well versed in winemaking and viticulture. The wife of the first Governor of Victoria, Charles La Trobe, Sophie who was very close with Hubert de Castella, informed him about the wine industry growing in Yarra. In 1854, Hubert began the famous St. Hubert’s winery and another of his countrymen, Baron de Pury, founded Yeringberg in 1862.
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In 1880, St. Hubert’s Winery won the German Emperor’s Grand Prize for the Best Australian Wine Exhibitor in the Great Melbourne Exhibition, for which the grand Exhibition Buildings in Melbourne were built. The prize, indeed had to be dedicated to the authentic Swiss winemaking styles and the fertility & weather conditions of this small town. With this win, vineyard areas in the Yarra Valley expanded rapidly and by the late 1860’s, they covered around 150 hectares.
Fashion of taste change was prevalent, especially for wines. Around 1890, fortified wines became the norm around the world and fine table wines from Yarra Valley started dying out in global market. Hence most wineries in the valley ceased operation by early 20th century, with the last vintage Yeringberg produced in 1921.
The re-birth of Yarra Valley wineries took more than 40 years when in 1968-69 St. Hubert’s, Fergussons and Yeringberg all got underway with planting. When most wineries in the country got affected by phylloxera, Yarra Valley was one of the few areas not attacked and decimated by this disease. Chateau Yaariyan (now de Bortoli) and Seville Estate took advantage of this situation by opening their wineries in 1971 and more lately by Yarra Burn and Warramate in 1976.
Many other ventures have been successfully launched since then. Domaine Chandon, the offshoot of the French Möet and Chandon Champagne company, started a wine tourism bonanza in the area by building restaurant and galleries.
Now, Yarra Valley is more of an experience than just wineries with many hospitality adjuncts to complement. The Fergussons became one of the forerunners on this move by combining their winery experiences with the spectacular Yering Station complex, the state of the art Eyton on Yarra and the restaurant at Lilydale Vineyards.
Home to over 40 wineries and more than 85 vineyards today, wine tourism has gripped in Yarra Valley. With festivals like the annual Grape Grazing in March, excellent restaurants and cellar door hospitality, this region attracts thousands of keen wine lovers and vintners from around the world every week! So have you made your wine tasting in Melbourne experience at Yarra Valley yet! If not book a Melbourne bus tour for a day and discover all the hidden secrets of the area!
