Alpine Valleys, Victoria

Alpine Valleys’ wineries produce diverse, cool-climate wine styles, and the scenery in this region of Victoria is as exciting as the varieties that can fill your glass.

Home not only to several highly prized cellar doors, but also to tempting restaurants and artisan delights. Its five mountain valleys cradle some incredible vines, with a mixture of traditional (e.g. chardonnay, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon) and lesser-known (e.g. fiano, tempranillo and saperavi) varieties.

This beautiful corner of Victoria is a popular winter destination thanks to its proximity to the ski resorts at Mt Hotham, Mt Buffalo and Falls Creek, but there are year-round activities that attract visitors in every season.

James Halliday on the Alpine Valleys

Nestled in the northern foothills of the Victorian Alps, if the name of this sub-region is not sufficiently evocative, then Mount Beauty (snow-clad in winter) and Bright should allude to how spectacular its areas are.

It consists of five basins created by the Ovens, Buffalo, Buckland and Kiewa rivers, which may see the creation of sub-regions in due course, but it is the altitude which is the prime influence in shaping climate. Thus any sub-region would not necessarily represent the boundaries of a single valley.

As with the King Valley, much of the grape production by individual growers/vignerons is sold to larger companies outside the region. In this context, the Victorian Alps Wine Company, whose own brand is Gapsted, plays a crucial role.

The whole of north-east Victoria is a declared phylloxera area, and in the last years of the 20th century much more stringent controls were placed on the movement of grapes out of these areas. The upshot was that only wine – neither grapes nor fermenting must – can be transported from the region, creating much demand for the services of the Victorian Alps Wine Company and of Michelini Wines.