Passing Clouds set to celebrate half a century of winemaking

Very few wineries can boast of having switched regions - but Passing Clouds has been based in two different parts of Victoria during its 50-year history.

Passing Clouds co-founders Graeme Leith and Sue MacKinnon began by planting cabernet sauvignon and shiraz grapes at their original Bendigo vineyard in Kingower, but had the prescience to later past cool-climate varieties at Musk. 

For the past 15 years Passing Clouds has been a popular destination at Musk, just outside of Daylesford in the Macedon Ranges. 

The Leith family, still custodians of the brand, will celebrate 50 years of winemaking later at a special tasting on September 10 - a business "built on story-telling, celebrations, resilience and the wine in the bottle". 

Cameron Leith, who took over from his father in 2007 after a vintage in France, today juggles making the classic Passing Clouds Bendigo wines with the cool-climate varieties - pinot noir and chardonnay - grown at Musk. 

Since 2010, the Macedon Ranges has been become Passing Clouds’ new home, although the vineyards were long established, having planted by Graeme in 1998. 

Today Cameron and Marion Leith and their three children call Musk home and the property now boasts an excellent Dining Room offering lunch, its ow train platform, extensive gardens and an architecturally designed cellar door.

Passing Clouds is at 30 Roddas Lane, Musk, Victoria, and its cellar door is open seven days a week. 

Grazing plates are available on Thursday in the cellar door 11am-3pm while the Dining Room is open for lunch Friday-Monday from noon. 

Bookings are essential for dining. www.passingclouds.com.au/dining-room-bookings 

Say Cheese: Long Paddock Artisan Cheese in Castlemaine

Have you noticed the growing trend for boutique providores and artisans to move away from the big cities? 

Well, it’s a thing, and is no better exemplified than at The Mill in Victoria’s delightful rural hub of Castlemaine, a close but not insignificant neighbour of Bendigo, reports guest poster and GOTR regular Roderick Eime. 

Wine lovers will know of the small but bountiful Heathcote wine region, featured on GOTR previously, which rejoices in a lush and verdant landscape. 

Winemakers and distillers are joined by coffee roasters, brewers, speciality butchers, chocolatiers and other crafts folk enjoying a synergistic existence in this thriving former industrial complex, the brainchild of local entrepreneur Phil McConachy.

The Mill, and Castlemaine generally, have attracted an unusually diverse population of European specialty producers, creating a thriving and creative epicurean precinct 

The Long Paddock Team (supplied)

One producer previously overlooked by this writer is Long Paddock Cheese, a small-batch producer using certified organic dairy products sourced from local farms. 

You will recall the recent kerfuffle over naming of European cheeses, well, LPC have sidestepped this debate by giving their products wholly Australian names like Silver Wattle, Driftwood and Ironbark while retaining the traditional recipes, free from industrial-scale compromises.

Ivan Larcher inspects his creations (Rod Eime)

French cheese guru Ivan Larcher and wife Julie were recruited by Alison Lansley, MD of LPC and The Cheese School, which also operates from the same premises. 

“All our cheese is hand-made in our small-scale and purpose-built fromagerie in Castlemaine sourced from strictly local organic products,” Alison tells us.

Whether you’re enjoying wine from the Heathcote region or not, LPC’s superb artisan cheeses are a perfect pairing for almost any wine you can think of. 

For example, Ironbark is a 12-month aged cooked-curd Alpine-style semi-hard cheese that would pair superbly with any cellared shiraz or cabernet sauvignon. 

With revived rail services from Melbourne to Bendigo, Castlemaine is an easy day trip any time of the year and a great opportunity to explore this wondrous locale and the many foodie delights on offer.

Getting there: V/Line Bendigo

Stay: Northern Arts Hotel (easy walk from train station and The Mill)

Eat: Breakfast at Johnny Baker. Lunch at either Das Kaffeehaus (at The Mill) for hearty Austrian fare or Origini on Barker St for authentic northern Italian cuisine. Dinner at The Cumberland Hotel.

Drink: At either Love Shack or Shed Shaker breweries (the latter in The Mill). Cocktails at Aperitivo in The Theatre Royal (next door to Love Shack)

More: Official Visitor Website || A Touch of Europe in Central Victoria

Bendigo's Rockin' Rollin' Tram Ride for Elvis

Bendigo's historic trams get into the Graceland spirit

 “I said Shake Rattle ‘n Roll, I said Shake, Rattle ‘n Roll!” we bellow in clumsy unison, clutching - and spilling - our Blue Suede cocktails as the vintage tram does its own wobbly rendition along the main street of Bendigo.

We get to the end of the street and prepare to complete the return journey while the music never skips a beat. Our driver, Steve, makes the perilous change-of-ends and is co-opted into a few choruses of “Hound Dog” before he reaches the relative safety of the cab.

Bendigo’s beautifully ornate trams transported the gold-enriched city’s citizens from their introduction in 1890 until their controversial closure in 1972. Now a working and popular tourist attraction, Bendigo Tramways have 15 working trams among the collection of almost 50, operating along the preserved route through the city’s centre. 

They stop - usually - at six points between the Central Deborah Gold Mine and the Bendigo Joss House Temple, a distance of a little more than four kilometres, taking 45 leisurely minutes.

Tonight our carriage is festooned in bold Viva Bendigo livery and gaudy party lights to coincide with the ‘Elvis - Direct from Graceland’ exhibition currently being held at the Bendigo Art Gallery (BAG), founded in 1887 and one of Australia’s oldest and largest regional art galleries.

More:

• Eat: The Dispensary Bar & Diner - fun and filling food in a great atmosphere
• Stay: Bendigo Ernest Hotel - heritage boutique hotel

# Roderick Eime was a guest of Visit Bendigo www.bendigoregion.com.au/