Bendigo Wine Region History

The tradition of wine grape-growing in the Bendigo region is nearly as old as Bendigo itself, with the planting of vines being documented as far back as 1855 (Dunstan, 1994 and Halliday, 1985). Halliday cites Ebenezer Ward’s account of a visit to the Bendigo district in 1864 in which he saw vines at a vineyard on the Campaspe River "which cannot be less than fourteen or fifteen years old." Halliday notes that Ward, who had been hired by the Melbourne Age to write a survey of Victorian vineyards, found "more than 40 vineyards, most of which were still in their infancy, spreading from Bullock Creek in the west to the Campaspe River in the east."

In the 1850s Bendigo was not yet properly a winemaking area. In 1859 the total area under vine in the district was only thirty-nine-and-a-half acres, with little wine being made and most of the produce still being sold as fresh fruit. But as little as two years later, this had more than doubled to 120 acres of vines and Bendigo was the fourth largest vine-growing district in the colony. Winemaking in the district had began in earnest in 1862, according to Bleasdale, and by 1869 it could boast 489 acres under vine. Growth stabilised in the 1870s and by 1880 the area under vine comprised 534 acres....In his History of Bendigo George Mackay records a further increase to 972 acres...and a yearly production of 87,940 gallons of wine. For an area dominated by small holders, with few vineyard holdings exceeding thirty acres, this was an impressive advance.

The connection between the discovery of gold and the proliferation of vineyards in the middle of the last century is made in a number of ways. Benwell (1978) believes that when the "easy gold" ran out, viticulture was something which "the scattered labour force, uncommitted, used to hard work and still ready to gamble" could easily turn to. But the lasting legacy of grape growing and wine making in the Bendigo district is more to be found in those who benefited from the prosperity the gold rush produced while drawing upon skills and tastes acquired in their European homelands of Germany, Switzerland and France. Dunstan (1994) cites, for example:

• Carl Pohl who arrived in Australia in 1848 and "became a wholesale and retail butcher at White Hills, retaining an interest in mining companies as a shareholder and director....By 1880 he had six acres of vines, principally shiraz and riesling."
  
  
• George Bruhn, a native of Holstein who arrived in Bendigo in 1853 and, following poor returns from crops of grain, planted vines. "At the White Hills Exhibition of 1862 he obtained first prize for his red and white wines and in the following exceptionally good growing year made 4,000 gallons of wine from three acres of vines."
  
  

• The extraordinary Greiffenhagen winery circa 1875

  The Heine brothers and their partner and successor, Wilhelm Greiffenhagen, who "arrived from Germany in 1854...became miners at Epsom [and] by 1868...had twenty-five acres under vine, of which thirteen were bearing. These included hermitage (shiraz), burgundy, cabernet sauvignon, mataro, verdeilho, riesling and chasselas.
  
  
• Jean Theodore Deravin, of French descent, who emigrated to Victoria in 1852 and "took up six acres of land five miles from Bendigo on the Sheepwash Creek in the Parish of Mandurang." In 1866 he planted a quarter-acre vineyard which by 1893 he had expanded to seventeen acres. His vineyard, Chateau Dore, is still owned and operated by his descendants.
  
  
• Frederick Grosse who in 1864 "purchased a forty-acre farm on the Emu Creek near Bendigo. This he named the Tooronga Vineyard and planted cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, riesling and verdeilho with the object of producing table wines....With the purchase of the adjoining Emu Creek vineyard of Albert Bruhn, he became the largest grape grower in the Bendigo district with a total holding of sixty-eight acres under vine."

The wines of Bendigo gained international recognition at an early stage, showing quality and a style which would come to be associated with the region. Dunstan notes, "The strongest testimony we have for the quality of Bendigo district wines is not their success or failure in the limited colonial marketplace but the regular appearance of names like Bruhn, Fischer, Greiffenhagen, Grosse, Kahland and Pohl in national and international award lists, and notably at the 1880-81 and 1888-89 International Exhibitions held at Melbourne."

In Halliday’s view, it was the 1873 Vienna Exhibition which "brought fame - indeed, notoriety to the region." He relates the story recorded by Henry Vizetelly, a leading wine authority and author of the period, who was one of the judges at the Exhibition:

A jury, including a number of French experts, gave particular praise to several wines made from hermitage, but when it was discovered they were from Bendigo, the French jurors withdrew in protest, claiming that the wines must be French. Only after a substantial delay, and much reassurance, did they consent to resume judging.

Benwell (1978) adds to this story the postscript that Vizetelly, "who had witnessed not only the Bendigo Hermitage affair, but also the wide success of Victorian wine at the Exhibition, quite unsolicited...requested a Diploma of Honour for Victoria [and] this was ‘unhesitatingly complied with’." The hermitage (shiraz) of Carl Pohl of Strathfieldsaye was given a Medal of Merit.

The discovery of phylloxera on December 8th, 1893, at the Emu Creek vineyard of Frederick Grosse marked the beginning of the demise of the wine industry in the Bendigo district. According to Dunstan, "Within a few days of positive identification, early in 1894, vines were being destroyed.....in September 1896, the government agreed to uproot all vineyards within a radius of two miles of an infected vineyard. And so it was that the Geelong model of eradication with compensation was followed at Bendigo with the forcible destruction of vineyards, whether infected or not."

It is Dunstan’s belief that in the panic to save the larger and more prized vineyards of Rutherglen, Bendigo’s vineyards were sacrificed. Bendigo had vied with Rutherglen as a possible location for a Victorian School of Viticulture, but due to the phylloxera scourge eventually lost the honour to Rutherglen.

Although the Bendigo Vine Growers Association petitioned and were granted permission in 1901 to replant their vines, few growers took the opportunity to do so. Several big Bendigo growers (Grosse, Bruhn, Craike and Pohl) died within ten years of the appearance of phylloxera and their descendants and, as Dunstan notes, "Having seen their family vineyards forcibly uprooted, the sons and daughters of vignerons could hardly be expected to have the same enthusiasm for grapes and wine as their parents.....dairy cows [were] more profitable."

The resurgence of the wine industry in Bendigo is generally traced to the planting of the Balgownie vineyard in 1969 by Stuart Anderson. Water Wheel commenced replanting at Bridgewater on Loddon in 1972. Chateau Leamon was planted in 1973 and Passing Clouds at Kingower in 1974. Chateau Dore was replanted by Deravin’s great-grandson in 1975.

The wines and wineries of the Bendigo area are now once again achieving renown, many winning gold medals at wine shows both in Victoria and inter-state.

It appears that the prophecy which Dr. Bleasdale (cited in Dunstan) made in 1876 regarding the Bendigo district is being fulfilled:

Its vineyard capabilities give promise of enduring wealth when the last grain of gold shall have been extracted, and the miners and their fortunes become dry matter of history.