A DAY OF WINE AND CHEESE - MILAWA AND THE KING VALLEY (1 APRIL 2016)

The bounty of the Milawa region and the King Valley had been recommended to us by a number of our friends who have visited these areas, not to mention the tourist brochures. Like most of these regions one can spend days and days visiting all the various wineries and food outlets. A  spot of selected targeting was required.

Apart from anything else, the Gracebrook winery in the valley and that doyen of the region, Brown Brothers, were on our agenda. The Milawa cheese factory was also firmly fixed in our sights.

From our base in Myrtleford they were a very convenient half day trip away and we set out on what was, in Myrtleford, a clear and sunny morning.

That was about to change. By the time we had reached and driven through Milawa

and Oxley before turning on to the King Valley Road,

we had begun to notice a distinct change in the atmosphere, and believe me it was not for the better. The Gracebrook winery is about 25 kms south of Oxley and by the time we had driven up the entrance driveway past the rows of vines, 

this is the view which greeted us as we looked out over the vineyards to the hills of the opposite side of the valley. Smoke, smoke an more smoke. This was but a harbinger of what was to become the bane of our lives (well, mine in particular) for the next few weeks. I'll have much more to say about this later when we return to Myrtleford for the second time. This was but our first taste of what was to come.

Needless to say the good folk of the Gracebrook winery cellar door we less than impressed. This is not good for business. Apparently today was far better than it had been for the past few, so goodness only knows what that must have been like.

What a shame, because this is a lovely spot. The cellar door is housed in this very old tin roofed building, the exterior of which very much belies what is to be found indoors.

But before we went on to sample the wares of Gracebrook, we had to wander past the pig pen, where this large brown porker was snoozing in the sun in blissful ignorance of its eventual fate (they do a lot of pork meals here!).

We also had to stop to admire the size of the root stump of this huge river red gum which has been left here for a reason (that's probably a statement of the obvious!) We were to later discover that all the timber from which the bars and other interior fittings of the cellar door are made came from this one tree.

And it is indeed a very good interior....rustic to the boot straps. In addition to the service provided in the tasting area,

meals are served in the indoor dining room

or, for those who wish a more rural outlook, out here on the front deck

or beyond under the shade of the trees in the winery gardens.

And this is why the staff were not happy. Who would want to commune with nature over a tasty meal and a few glasses of fine wine with all this smoke about?

Fortunately for us, we were here purely to taste the fruit of the grape. Mind you, once I had read the menu for the day (it changes on a daily basis), which featured quail, duck, and wild rabbit amongst many other dishes, I thought for a moment they must have know we were coming.....I was sorely tempted, but resisted valiantly. It was still early in the day and we had much to do (and of course, this decision had nothing to do with the fact that Liz could not be less enthused by this range of culinary delights!)

So out came the wine lists and the tasting glasses and a half an hour of supreme sacrifice by your scribe. It was my turn to drive...my previous promise in this regard was not for breaking!  The spittoon became my friend....and of course, herself had to make sure that this rare moment was recorded for posterity!

Of course I'm having a good time.......chatting to the admirable and highly knowledgeable front-of-house staff member, admiring all the marvellous timber work and feeling very smug about the fact that I'll not have an afternoon headache!  Yeah, right...I don't care what anyone says, spitting is not the same as swallowing and wine is made to be drunk, but a promise is a promise.

Liz went for it with unbridled gusto. I now suspect that there are some advantages to this system....it's amazing how the purse strings open under the influence of a few good sips of bubbles, rose and sav blanc. 

We really did enjoy our time here, and just before we leave Gracebrook, moderately laden with a bottle or two (of what is very acceptable wine), I must draw your attention to this wine rack. What an ingenious bit of woodworking this is and how well it fits with its surrounds here.  Ah, the things one finds when we have no house in which to put them!

We both agreed that a return to Gracebrook would be definitely on our agenda for any future visit to this area, but not during the burn-off season, and having first rung to enquire as to the menu of the day.  

But for now it was back north along the King Valley road through the increasing smoke haze, and a small detour on our trip back to Milawa.

En route down to Gracebrook the otherwise flat road along the valley floor traverses a short cutting through a ridge, the Edi cutting.

Our Camps book, which sits firmly on Liz's knee during most of our travels, listed this area as one where a free camp can be found. We snuck in off the road and on down what we through to be the entrance track to find that our book was right. There were caravans and campers galore nestled amongst the trees 

which line the banks of the nearby and extremely pretty watercourse of the King River. This was school holiday time in Victoria, which did account for the crowds, but even so we found that there was still more than adequate room had we been dragging the van in here for a few days. 

As is often the case with these areas, one road in was very much better than the other...we are now well informed and very keen to give this spot a try in the future....it really ticks all the boxes.







With the knowledge of this gem under our belts and notes in our Camps book, we pushed on.....Brown Brothers was next on the agenda. From the very moment we pulled into the large car park (with many others) is was clear that this really is the largest and probably the most prestigious of all the wineries in this area. I mean to say, who hasn't heard of Brown Brothers?




Our good friend Neil Jericho cut his wine making teeth here many years ago and had given us the name of a cellar door staff member who still worked here. We made our way on through the extensive gardens









which grace the approaches to the cellar door















and the attached restaurant and cafe areas











where, like most of these establishments, a good meal can be had as well as the wine.










The gardens here at Brown Brothers are extensive, picture perfect neat and, on the day of our visit, very well occupied by visitors lounging about on the odd shaped recliner chairs dotted about the lawns.











But there was to be no lounging about for the Mobile Marshies. For us it was straight into the huge tasting room











with its unique (in our experience) and very practical wave shaped bar, which enables limited numbers of staff to keep a good eye on crowds of eager tipplers.

The walls are dotted with explanatory boards

which give visitors a good insight into the development philosophy of Browns













and also provide details of the involvement of the various members of the Brown clan in what remains very much a family owned and managed business..

Interestingly, we found that in another of the winery car parks, a section has been put aside for parking a limited number of caravans overnight. It is excellent...a bitumen roadway which runs along a long strip of well kept lawn over which the awning can be extended (I can't for the life of me remember why I did not take a photo). We were told that John Brown wanders out most afternoons to chat to those who take advantage of this boon. Good marketing, I thought...wrong....he is a mad keen caravanner himself and apparently just loves chewing the fat with those of a similar ilk.  Again, for us, this is firmly on our 'to do' list. The thought of being able to moor, toddle across the road to the cellar door and later sit in the gloaming sipping on a Brown's fortified or two, chatting about all things caravan with the patriarch of the clan, has immense appeal.

But did we find Ernie?...Indeed we did, and he could not have been more obliging, informative and helpful.  His product knowledge was extensive and he guided the lovely Liz through all her preferred products with aplomb.





We left far more laden than we had been at Gracebrook, from an establishment which is now a far cry from its very modest beginnings! Brown Brothers is a winery success story in every way.






One last stop, the renowned Milawa Cheese Factory, a mere couple of kilometres from Browns. As we had been told, and confirmed for ourselves, this is a very slick operation. A cheese tasting area, indoor and outdoor cafes and restaurants, and a huge range of local products other than cheese on sale. We nibbled our way through most of the range and again our tucker bags opened to take many of them with us.


Apart from a number of their excellent cheeses, a local smoked rainbow trout found its way into the goodies package (we were preparing some surprises for the up-coming 'happy hours' with the Gangemis in Yarrawonga) and what an excellent selection this later proved to be.

That little extravagance put paid to the Treasurer's largesse.  The influence of our visits to Gracebrook and Browns had finally subsided. There would be no lunching at the Cheese Factory for us.  A ham salad sandwich and a cup of soup in our van represented a  return to reality and a balanced budget!

As the subsequent days unfolded, and we made inroads into our store of the Milawa region goodies, we could not but agree that this area's reputation is well deserved and that another visit is highly likely.

I'm hatching a plan.....it's time to have a good chat to several of our good travelling companions.....Liz is nervous (probably with some cause)!