Although we'd already been to the Granite Belt, the South Burnett and the Hunter Valley, our trip to Victoria over the Boxing Day-New Year period in 2006-7 was where we really started getting serious about the wine club side of things.
I'd been to Victoria before, and had managed a lap around Rutherglen when I was there, so once we'd had a couple of days in the Yarra Valley in the lead-up to New Year and made our way from there to Beechworth we'd have a chance to take a look through the King Valley and around Milawa with a two night stop in Rutherglen along the way.
I've no qualms about being disappointed with what we found in the Yarra Valley, though visiting Coldstream Hills was a highlight. We weren't careful enough with the pre-trip planning, it was peak holiday season, places tended to be crowded, boutique wineries tend to be expensive and I wasn't ready for the Pinot Noir, so I was bound to be disappointed, wasn't I?
Stopping in at Tahbilk en route to Glenrowan and Rutherglen was, on the other hand, a sheer delight. The place was crowded, as you'd expect, but the wines were impressive right across the range, and I signed up for the Wine Club as soon as the topic was raised. No joining fee, no obligation to buy, free freight to North Queensland, why wouldn't you?
The next stop at Baileys of Glenrowan was largely meant to introduce Madam to the Muscat (I'd been there before) though the reds were equally impressive, so it was another mailing list job, and a Saturday on the Muscat Trail around Rutherglen revealed further delights.
Some, such as Campbells, and Stanton & Killeen were semi-familiar territory but considerably changed from twenty-something years before while Pfeiffers was a welcome discovery and the visit to Chambers saw Hughesy exchanging words with one of the true legends of Australian wine.
From Beechworth we took a trip along the Great Alpine Road up to Bright, stopping at Gapsted Wines along the way, and diverting across to Milawa and Brown Brothers on the way home.
That was New Years Eve 2006, and New Year's Day 2007 saw us following semi-familiar territory as far as Milawa then heading through Oxley up the King Valley as far as Cheshunt, calling in at Sam Miranda and Dal Zotto along the way.
If there are a number of names mentioned above that haven't found their way into the navigation bar on the left, all I can do is utter the predictable excuses…
But I'll be back for another look. Definitely.