A historic Beechworth vineyard lost in the downturn of the Gold Rush is being restored, right down to the hardwood posts that were originally used.
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The property on Granjoise Lane belonged to Ambrose Granjoux 150 years ago, and the Frenchman ran a successful vineyard until the 1900s.
The land was purchased in recent years by Peter Bartholomew, who is behind acclaimed Melbourne restaurants such as MoVida, and his partner Donna Pelka.
Under the guidance of vigneron and Fighting Gully Road founder Mark Walpole, shiraz and chardonnay grapes have been planted.
“We’re actually recreating what was here originally, but also what is still used at the moment – if you go to northern France, this is the typical form of viticulture,” Mr Walpole said.
“Each vine has its own post and the shoots are trained up physically and tied up by hand.
“The rows were exactly the same width as we’ve set it up, 1.5 metres apart, and when we were digging holes to put the vines in we found pieces of the original posts, which was pretty remarkable.
“There’s nothing like this in Australia; it’s quite unique.”
Mr Walpole said “top-shelf wine” would be made from the grapes in the Fighting Gully winery, which has operated at Mayday Hills for the past three years.
“We planted last October, so the vines have been in the ground close to 12 months, and we’re going into the first season really,” he said.
“We’ll get some grapes for harvesting this coming vintage, which will probably be February or March next year.
“The newspaper articles from the time talk about the quality of the wines that came out of the area – we’re optimistic we’ll have something special.”
The vineyard, which overlooks the Gorge, is bordered by the original stone wall and that structure, along with ruins of an old cellar and 150-year-old trees, have survived numerous owners.
Mr Walpole has been passionate about seeing the vineyard reinstated since conducting a geographical indication for the Beechworth Vigneron group more than 10 years ago.
“I started looking into the history of where all the vineyards in the area were in the area,” he said.
“When the Gold Rush finished, this vineyard petered out, like the whole wine industry at the time.
“Beechworth really does have a fantastic history.”
