Beechworth Outing – Henry Drury
Like Noel and his non-disclosure of age, back in the 60’s, Jane and I would do what became a pilgrimage and drive the Hume to northern Victoria to buy cheap wine at the various vineyard cellar doors. In those days, the cellars were usually not much more than a shed in the paddock and the door prices were genuinely cheap.
Not anymore. The cellars, especially those such as Brown Bros, have become prominent tourist destinations and now feature prices that reflect their popularity.
But as Noel mentions, the drive up from Melbourne certainly had its challenges. The Pretty Sally climb with our reliable but underpowered Hillman Minx (remember them) was a lengthy drive particularly when stuck behind an also much underpowered fully loaded semi-trailer grinding its way up the hill.
Compare today. On the now Hume freeway those B-Doubles have such enormous engine power they can scarily surge past you like are standing still!
But it was all worth it. Big reds and fortifieds at amazingly cheap prices.
One particular favourite was Baileys at Glenrowan.. Baileys vineyard operated out of a wood and galvanised iron siding shed and their specialty was a heroic luscious red to kill for – marketed with a distinctive red and black label. A clear but not always heeded instruction to us at purchase from old Alan Bailey himself – “do not drink for 5 years”.
Over time we bought several boxes of this vintage some bottles from which survived for nearly ten years giving them time to throw a good 1cm of dense black lees but after careful decanting, was delicious.
That red is still available, now marketed as “robust” but with a more sophisticated black and red label.
Sadly and largely due to the .05 menace it has been many years since we vineyard hopped but maybe, just maybe this excursion to Beechworth will have its side hustle to relive memorable old times.