Travel east or west out of Geelong and in the first twenty minutes you are likely to come across one of many signs for a vineyard. They are now a prominent feature of the Geelong regional landscape, but the vines that produced some 45,000 gallons of wine by 1867 were all uprooted around 1880 when phylloxera struck and it was only some hundred years later that replanting began. In September 2012 the Geelong area was officially declared phylloxera free and included in the Phylloxera Exclusion Zone.
The story of Geelong’s vineyards began in the 1840s when Swiss vigneron families, mainly from the Canton of Neuchâtel, emigrated to Victoria. Fleeing the upheaval of wars in Europe the Swiss chose Victoria as a descendant of one of their own, Charles Joseph LaTrobe was, at that time, superintendent of the Port Phillip District. Some of the Swiss settled in the Yarra Valley and pioneered the wine industry there and others settled around Geelong in the Moorabool Valley and around Germantown (now Grovedale).
Today, the Bellarine Peninsula, to the east of Geelong is a favourite haunt of many where vineyards are matched with finery such as restaurants and reception centres. However, travel west from Geelong and there are vines replanted in the soil of Geelong’s first vineyards and their character and variety is likely to satisfy and impress the curiosity of any wine roving palate.
Not far along the Midland Highway there is a sign to Lethbridge Wines. Originally established by the Perdrisat family who arrived in 1853 aboard the Earl of Charlemont, wrecked off Barwon Heads but luckily all crew and passengers made it to shore. They hailed from Onnans in Neuchâtel.
Along the gravel road, turning right at the Lethbridge Wines sign one is greeted by a loyal security dog, in knitted black and white vest, all 30 cms in height. Lethbridge Wines in its present incarnation began in 1996 when it was purchased by Ray Nadeson, Maree Collis and Adrian Thomas. Like many winemakers in Australia today they all have scientific backgrounds: Ray in neuroscience, Maree a chemist, and Adrian an epidemiologist. As it is Ray and Maree who live at Lethbridge with their children, they are constantly involved with the day to day viticulture and winemaking operations.
When I visited Lethbridge Wines, I was told that the key to their viticultural philosophy is terroir, the term French vignerons use to describe the interaction of the grapes with the soil and other environmental elements. This, along with their solid scientific research backgrounds, possibly explains why Lethbridge Wines are quite fearless in their experimentation with different grape varieties. Along with the traditional varieties that were originally planted — chardonnay, pinot noir and shiraz — are the Italian varieties of nebbiolo, sagrantino, aglianico, greco, negroamaro and nero d’avola, that form the basis of their il Modo collection. It is surely no coincidence that these varieties grow in Italy wine making regions with many similarities to the south eastern Australian terroir.
Ray and Maree have named their top range of Lethbridge Wines after their four children — Indra shiraz, Allegra chardonnay, Mietta pinot noir and Hugo George sangiovese merlot. Also more traditional is the La Gauche, a Bordeaux like blend of cabernets (sauvignon and franc) and merlot. The cooperative wine effort between David Fesq of Sydney wine distributors, Fesq & Co and Ray Nadeson, is the interestingly named ‘Between Five Bells’ range. I don’t know what I was expecting when I asked Ray the significance of the Between Five Bells name: perhaps I thought it was a line-up of church steeples, but I was surprised when he said that it was after the Kenneth Slessor poem, Five Bells.
“There are books written about that poem,” he told me. “You can make the meaning as complicated as you like or you can take it at face value – simply. It’s a bit like wine: analyse it or just simply enjoy it. That’s why it’s ‘Between Five Bells’.”
And he’s right. The Between Five Bells wines, with their very distinctive label, are more straightforward and are easy drinking. Simple, the enjoyment of the wine, and clean and simple the straw-bale construction of the Lethbridge winery but the only aspects left to simplicity and chance at Lethbridge Wines are the grapes and the weather. The rest of the winemaking process here is well researched and well judged, which is why it is such a delight to taste, compare and contrast the wines of each vintage: the fun and delight in wine tasting.
Lethbridge Winery is off the Midland Highway (A300) at 74 Burrows Road, in Lethbridge, 3332. Website: lethbridgewines.com