Apples, pears, grapes, corn, nuts, cattle, alpacas, and truffles.....the Manjimp district is indeed a cornucopia of primary produce. And, of course, timber.
Before we left to return to Albany, I took a short jaunt along Seven Day Road (the road on which Fonty's Pool is located), camera in hand to see just what I could find. This country thoroughfare presents the lot.
Let's begin with the apples. This is but one of the many orchards to be found along Seven Day Road, and indeed along most roads of this part of the world. The majority are what I would call 'standard' plantings,
whilst, on some properties, the trees are grown on these odd looking trellises.
In this particular orchard, the trees looked more like overgrown vines that apples,
but irrespective of the growing method, from what I saw, all trees were laden with fruit, and, as I have mentioned previously, picking was in full swing.
The harvest period is obviously well known amongst folk from overseas. I was told that many who were camped at Fonty's Pool had been here last year doing the same thing and had made arrangements for work before coming back to WA. This was a smart move..... many properties in the area had signs at the front gate advising that there was no work on offer. Door knocking for jobs is common during the harvest.
The local packing sheds were hives of activity as was Seven Day Road itself as trucks took the produce away to the various markets.
Closer to Manjimup, hay had been cut and baled in these large rolls
Grape production is clearly viewed as having a bright future in this area.
This photo captures only about half of the hectares of newly planted vines on this slope. This is to be a vineyard of massive proportions. And, as can be seen, water is not a problem in this area. Dams, large and small abound, all full at the end of what has been a very dry summer.
Apart from presenting a quick snapshot of the agricultural activities of this area, my real mission for the day was to learn about the 'black gold' to be found on Seven Day Road, the truffle. The Manjimup district is famous for the production of this extraordinarily expensive fungus. During the harvesting season between June and August, visitors to the area are invited rug up, don their wellies, and join the dogs and handlers in 'truffle hunts' through the orchards of oak and hazel nut trees where these delicacies are dug from the ground around their roots.
The biggest truffle producer by far in the Manjimup area is the somewhat blandly named 'Wine and Truffle Company' (which, true to title, does also produce wine). We had driven past the entrance to this property each time we sortied out from the Fonty's Pool park. Today I went in, along the driveway,
What a treat....sipping on splashes of some quite acceptable local wines whilst learning all about truffles. I did have a good morning.
So what is all the fuss about, and more to the point, why are truffles so darned expensive? Let me begin at the beginning with the acknowledgement that much of what is to follow is taken from the well presented fact sheet I was given.
Truffles, of which there are over 70 species, are an edible fungus usually classed with the mushroom family. Their pungently scented aroma has been described as "the ancient flavours of the forest, musty, garlicky, nutty flavours that can overwhelm the senses". The most flavoursome of all the varieties is the French black truffle and it is this which is most commonly cultivated in a truffle orchard or 'truffiere'.
Here at the Wine and Truffle Company, 21 hectares of the property has been planted out with 1,000 oak trees and 12,000 hazel nut trees, the roots of which have been inoculated with French black truffle spores sourced from Europe. Because the truffle cannot make its own food it forms a symbiotic relationship with the host tree. The threadlike, non-fruiting parts of the truffle coat the roots and help the tree absorb minerals from the soil. In return, the host tree provides the truffle with carbohydrates and other nutrients as it grows between 5 to 30 centimetres below the ground, usually within a metre of the tree's base.
Each year, between late May and early September, the truffle hunt takes place. To date, no method has been discovered to take the place of the time honoured way of finding this black gold....the sensitive noses of specially trained dogs (or in some parts of France...pigs).
I was stunned to learn of the scale of this activity at the Wine and Truffle Co property. Here, throughout the season, eight dogs and their handlers will cover the 42 kilometres along the 70 truffle tree rows at least every 7 days. This is labour intensive work, often performed in miserable weather, with each find having to be carefully dug out of the cold, muddy earth on hands and knees.
The successful production of truffles requires a great deal of scientific knowledge, skill and capital investment. And, as you have read, the harvest costs are unavoidably high.
But it is definitely worth the effort. The tally of product for last season was 4 tonnes of French black truffles which retailed for between $2,500 and $3,000 per kilo, depending on quality. I would invite you to do the sums...we are talking mega millions!
And this is what the fuss is all about.
A French black truffle in all its glory....about $500 worth! And why so dear? Apart from the high capital costs of establishing a truffiere, where a return on the investment may take years to come to fruition whilst the truffles become established, and the high production costs, demand is currently outstripping supply. The production of truffles in France and Italy, where the fungus occurs naturally, has dramatically declined in recent years due to urbanisation, climate change and pollution. Truffle production in both Australia and New Zealand is helping the bridge the gap, but the market is not yet sated.
The Wine and Truffle Company, which currently produces 80% of the French black truffles grown in the southern hemisphere, was established in 1997 by a group of 25 investors with a vision to create the largest mainland truffiere in Australia. I think they have succeeded!
And after all this, did I buy any wine?..yep, a cracker of a sparkling pinot which, at $30 a pop (there's a pun there somewhere!) has been squirrelled away by the treasurer for a special occasion! And the other question....did I try any truffle? At the prices charged for this gourmet delicacy, the answer to that is a definite no. I had previously tasted some truffle cheese, courtesy of our good friends the Vogts, and to be frank, I suspect devotion to this fungus is something of an acquired taste amongst those with plenty of disposable income.
I left the Wine and Truffle Company and returned to Fonty's Pool a much wiser man. This was to be our last day at this charming spot, where by now, apart from the fruit pickers, we had the place almost to ourselves. Most sites had been vacated after the hubbub of the weekend,
and the row of cabins was empty.
it was getting cold! This was the first time for almost six months Liz had donned anything other than shorts and a T shirt.
The more temperate climes of the coast beckoned. We were off back to Albany for 10 days or so with the Cooks, something we had been looking forward to ever since the arrangements were made. We were not to be disappointed!
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