Grampians and Pyrenees Wine Regions

The Grampians and Pyrenees regions produce some of the best wines in Australia. Fifteen minutes from the Magdala is the wine village of Great Western. Who hasn’t celebrated a special occasion without a bottle of Seppelt sparkling wine? Seppelt host tours of their underground cellars or ‘drives’, dug by the gold miners last century, finishing in the Shaft House which is also host to exhibitions of art and unusual crafts. Best’s Wines also dates back to the last century and is operated by the fourth and fifth generation of the Thomson family. Some of the original vines planted by Henry Best in 1866 still survive, though the names of some varieties have long been forgotten.

There are a number of other excellent wineries around Great Western, Ararat and Halls Gap. Anyone visiting the Grampians in early May should not miss Grampians Grape Escape – the wine and food festival in Halls Gap. The Pyrenees wineries are about forty-five minutes from the Magdala in the Avoca/St Arnaud region, and include about ten wineries with a quiet diverse range of wines