Waratah Hills Vineyard - Gippsland’s slice of Burgundy

Waratah Hills Vineyard

GIPPSLAND’S SLICE OF BURGUNDY

WORDS BY ANITA BUTTERWORTH PHOTOS BY DOUG PELL

Sitting snuggly along the route to Wilsons Promontory is Gippsland’s own slice of east-central France. The southernmost cellar door on the Australian mainland, Waratah Hills boasts enviable views, and even more sought-after local drops.

Exposed to one of the coolest possible climates for a vineyard, Waratah Hills is the poster child for high risk, high reward in this marginal region.

The Fish Creek vineyard officially changed hands in August 2020, when a group of friends, partners and siblings mixed business with pleasure and took over the established business.

And despite more than two years of hospitality pain due to lockdowns, they’ve built a thriving business that draws on local expertise and produce to deliver an experience, and wines, as unique as the location.

Ben Smith lives on site and manages the day-to-day operations at the vineyard, which includes 1.2ha of chardonnay and 2.8ha of pinot noir, a cellar door and a restaurant. “It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster over the past couple of years due to the circumstances but working with my brother and our close team has had its rewards, it’s been good,” Ben explained.

The time has been well-spent, investing back into the cellar door and the vineyard to continue bringing new offerings to a growing number of visitors. The cellar door and restaurant ooze charm, located in a former tractor shed.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve invested into our hospitality offering by expanding our kitchen, paving a big courtyard for outdoor dining, new amenities and freshening up our dining spaces.”

“And this year we’ve just completed the re-trellising of two of our three blocks. We’ve heavily invested into both sides of the business. Even though it’s been a bit of a down time for hospitality. At the moment we’re full steam ahead with what we’re doing out here. We’re hoping we can continue to sustain our busy little business out here.”

Waratah Hills’ vines were planted in the mid-nineties, and their tightly-planted, low trellising style is just one of the nods to Burgundy. Another is the vineyard’s Blanc de Noir.

“We are producing a sparkling wine which is called Blanc de Noir, which is essentially a version of French Champagne or a Burgundian Sparkling. It is crisp, elegant and a must for celebrations. It is made with our pinot noir grapes. You don’t see too many of them around. It’s a really fine, high-quality sparkling wine.”

When it comes to the all-important vines, they’re left in the hands of a highly-skilled local.

“Our viticulturalist Georgia Roberts, who lives in Sandy Point, 15 minutes away from our vineyard. She’s lived in the area for six years but has been coming to the area all her life. She is also a wine maker who has worked in the industry for a long time, more recently getting into viticulture, the growing and farming of the grapes. She is employed fulltime, the vineyard is her baby.”

Supporting local is a cornerstone for Waratah Hills, which sources produce for its seasonal menu from a nearby grocer as well as growing as much on site as possible.

“We have a kitchen garden down near our cellar door. And then up the top where the house is we have three bigger beds where we are growing garlic, cauliflower, broccoli and beetroot at the moment.”

“What we grow appears in the dishes we prepare in our restaurant. We also have a young green thumb Jimmy who does labour work for us and grows lots of produce for us and other local businesses in Fish Creek, so percentage wise a good chunk of the produce either comes from our property or comes from five minutes down the road. We also use iconic local grocer Aherns as a supplier. We use Berry’s Creek Cheese which is seven minutes away, an award-winning cheese maker that produces lovely cheeses, all different styles, my favourite being the Tarwin blue.”

The two seasons that the group has owned Waratah Hills have both provided challenges, and a glimpse into the fickle nature of South Gippsland weather.

“What we’ve noticed is that the two seasons we’ve been here have been quite different. We had quite a wet 2020-2021 season. Which produced a higher yielding crop. We went in not having a lot of information on previous vintages, but what we were told was the volume was higher than more recent seasons. Whereas 2022, the most current season which was picked in early April this year was a lower yielding crop. It was a dryer, more humid season. Across the board in Victoria, most producers were slightly down on volume to the previous year.

“At the moment the vineyard is dormant (sleeping). We are 95% through pruning. The Chardonnay block, which is up the top of our site, a northfacing block, you can already see the furry buds starting to push through, so we’re getting prepared now for an early bud-burst. Which means there’s a little bit more heat in the ground at this time of the year pushing those buds through.”

As this jewel of South Gippsland enters another growing season, there’s little doubt that the scales are balancing in the favour of high rewards, in exchange for the high risks of winter.

And for anyone who visits Waratah Hills Vineyard, the only risk is never wanting to leave.