Gapsted and Milawa

Of course no visit to the region is complete without visiting wineries and the Milawa Cheese Factory! As we'd had a lazy morning and lunch in Beechworth, we didn't have all that much time for tastings before starting the 3 hour drive home. Armed with the regional map - very handy, get one from the vistor information centre - we selected a few places and headed off.

Gapsted Wines
Driving from Beechworth to Gapsted, we reached Gapsted Wines. Unfortunately we were full from lunch; Gapsted offered a very tempting package of platters matched to wines for tasting. We loved their tasting notes and food recommendations for each wine. Not "meat dishes" or "seafood" but "seared venison fillets with roasted capsicum, on grilled polenta with a spicy cherry relish" or "spring asparagus with shaved parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon". All the more reason we should have tried their platters?

The wines are excellent and as tempting as it was to stock up, we only walked away with a few bottles of their 2005 Tobacco Road Sauvignon Blanc Semillon. Very reasonably priced at under $15, the passionfruit aromas are wonderfully intense and we could imagine lazy summer evenings with a chilled glass or two of this very crisp white. One of the wine makers is Michael Cope-Williams and remembering the surname, a quick search indicates that he is connected to Cope-Willams in Romsey. Must bookmark for a visit when we're next heading torwards Mount Macedon.

Milawa Cheese Company
About 20 minutes' drive away is Milawa and the Milawa Cheese Company. Turn onto Snow Road and continue until you see the signs indicating Milawa Cheese and Brown Brothers. I love this story from their website:
"Both schoolteachers by trade, David and Anne Brown established Milawa Cheese Company with Richard Thomas in 1988. Richard sold his share of the company to them in 1990. The Milawa site was chosen because it had good water, was between Sydney and Melbourne and close to Brown Brothers Winery. David and Anne cemented their cheese and good food obsession whilst backpacking around Europe in the eighties. Known to give up a hotel room for "a good feed", David and Anne spent many a night in their tent pitched in a field or churchyard in France and England, warmed by the regional food and wine in their bellies."

With an "obsession" like that, the cheese has to be good... and it is! This wonderfully patient and smiling staff member was at the tasting counter serving crowd after crowd of visitors. (There is a tasting counter with a big sign saying "Tastings", don't be like the lady that shoved her way through the sales queue demanding to try from the wedges for sale only to be told that yes, she really had to line up at the other counter.)
We sat outside and had a little picnic with a selection including the Gold (stinky and makes your mouth quiver in such a good way), the Aged Blue (yes we like our cheese strong) and a 2 year old cheddar, and fresh apples without the wax you get on those supermarket apples. We also one of the goat's milk cheese range, I think it was the goat camembert that Niki bought. The only thing that I would have loved more was a table in the sun as it was a beautiful day, but in the afternoon the eating area is in full shade so there wasn't much we could do. Still, we weren't complaining!
We also took home some goat cheese curd and marinated goat's cheese. The former can be spread on anything and I even experimented and put some into some zucchini fritters I made, and the latter was delicious in a pasta with spinach, capsicum and peas. In Melbourne, Milawa Cheese has opened up their Australian Cheese Shop which is fantastic for avoiding the 2.5 hours to drive for this cheese!

Brown Brothers
Brown Brothers is not far and you'll be glad you came here. I'm always amazed at the huge range of wines they produce and there are plenty of cellar door only purchases to be made. I'll highlight the fruity and fizzy Moscato as there's always someone in the family who likes very sweet wines with meals, and the choice may be this lighter dessert wines. It's probably very wrong and I'm sure someone will turn their nose at the concept of having something so sweet with mains, but I joined in and it sure beats a soft drink at a barbecue! :-)

The Orange Muscat and Flora has to be tried. Smooth honey flavours, orange aromas... hmm, where's our bottle gone to? Damn, we polished it off quickly!

Safe Driving
The cellar doors at most wineries seem to close at 5pm which is a good time to start the journey back to Melbourne.I've singled out the white wines here but the reds are definitely just as drinkable. If we had more time, we would have gone further to Rutherglen (amazing Durifs and fortifieds!) where I spent a weekend about 4 years ago. If you plan to tour this region, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to cover everything, it's well worth it! I was fortunate that we had a designated driver but always remember to take it easy and drink sensibly.


Gapsted Wines
Great Alpine Road,
Gapsted,
Victoria

Milawa Cheese Company
Factory Road,
Milawa,
Victoria 3678

The Australian Cheese Shop
655 Nicholson St,
North Carlton

Brown Brothers
Bobinawarrah Road,
Milawa

Wangaratta and Beechworth

Wangaratta
By the time we arrived in Wangaratta, there wasn't much time to look around the town but I'd love to return when the Jazz Festival is on.

Pizza and Pasta
We had dinner here, nice touch with the stamp they put on the paper "table cloths". I had a delicious trout fettucine and there were also wood-fired pizzas on offer. Although it looked like they literally slapped on the topping as a slab. (I think it was just the way it came out after baking!)

The service was great, no orders were mixed up or lost for our big group. I'd go again!Café Martini
Bull’s Head Hotel,
87 Murphy St,
Wangaratta


Beechworth
Is about 30 minutes' drive East of Wangaratta. In the main street are shops full of pretty homeware and we even found an African shop with sculptures and jewellery.There's plenty of Ned Kelly history around and explains the souvenirs you'll see!

Budget Accommodation
The Old Priory is set up for school camps so most rooms had bunk beds. Even if you had a double bed, there was a bunk bed in the corner! It's very basic accommodation and it was a bit eery walking down long corridors, discovering a sudden cluster of rooms tucked away behind a door or finding a massive room with 20 bunk beds however there was a lovely sitting room with a fireplace and the interior consists of warm, wooden panels and expansive ceilings.

You get a simple breakfast of cereal, juice and toast. Good value when a double only cost $80!
Beechworth Bakery
Or you can have your breakfast here! The infamous Beechworth Bakery that has spawned sister bakeries in other country towns and brought the owner Tom O'Toole fame as an author and motivational speaker. I actually went to a lunch that Tom spoke at and that man has energy; he also has a real understanding of customer satisfaction and just works on good old common sense. As he said, baking isn't anything new it's how you serve your customers that makes the difference.

Having said that, a controversial topic is how Beechworth Bakery doesn't have a numbering system for their queue so when the shop is packed - as it apparently often is - you hope the counter staff remember who got there first! (There's even a framed explanation of why they don't have a numbering system due to the number of complaints/requests!)

As we had to do tastings for you we had lunch and dessert! I had a pie - as one should in a country bakery - and Niki didn't chastise me for having tomato sauce! :-) The pastry was lovely and flaky, the filling tasted like real meat... no complaints.

The desserts in the photo (from the left): a bee sting, a Bundy ball and a blueberry snickerdoodle. (I think it was a snickerdoodle... but isn't that a "cookie". A funny name anyway!). The bee sting custard was cold so that'd been in the fridge; I'm not a fan of custard cream, strange but I'd rather have had a bowl of runny Bird's custard! Still the pastry was OK. The Bundy ball had actual rum in it, the first time I could see why it's a "rum ball"! (Reminded me of a friend at uni who only drank Bundy and coke.) And finally, the snickerdoodle was a nice way to polish off the meal. There was a layer of sweeter custard underneath the glazed berries and the pastry was a good solid shell that didn't crumble under one bite.
This isn't meant badly but Beechworth Bakery isn't producing specialty products to tempt and stand out. If you want good, standard products this is a place to go.

The Beechworth Bakery
27 Camp Street
Beechworth
Victoria 3747

High Country

We recently sang in Wangaratta which is just under 3 hours' drive from Melbourne so we made a weekend of it. Driving up the Hume Highway is straight forward but a boring trip, especially for the driver - fortunately I wasn't driving!

On the way, we decided to just pick a town for lunch and settled on Seymour because it's relatively big... there must be a lot of choice! We didn't even make it to the town as we spotted this vineyard just off the highway.

Yes, we all did wonder if Seymour is famous for its wines but this is the start of the winery trail to Goulburn Valley! The above picture is of the Somerset Crossing Vineyard.

I don't know why but the crisp country air makes me want to eat bread and steak... so it was their "steak stack" for lunch. This was accompanied by a glass of rosé (I've previously posted my thoughts on rosé) that I selected only because of the name, "Lacrime rosé". Perhaps a play on lacrimosa but does that mean too much of it will make you cry?

To be honest the wine was a little too much like Ribena, but the steak stack was perfect. The steak is sliced in half so that you don't end up chewing chunks of meat and the bread (very generous as you can see) was buttery with garlic and herb. Served with good bacon and caramelised onion, you're set for the rest of the journey!

T had a steak with nice thick chips and I know Niki had something a bit healthier that the waitress did have to confirm twice. (Niki, was it a filo pastry with chicken and cheese?)

We didn't have time for wine tasting but all in all, a nice surprise off the Hume highway and a good stop for a meal in a lovely setting.

Somerset Crossing Place
1 Emily Street,
Seymour,
VIC 3660