After we left Best's it was a quick drive back down the highway to Seppelt Winery where we were booked in for a tour of the Underground Drives. The Drives were hand dug by Henry Irvine and his miner mates who had lost their jobs after the mining business dried up in the area. The Drives run over 3km and still cellar most of Seppelt's sparkling to this day.
The Drives were excavated during the 1800's from de-composed granite, making the climate for sparkling almost perfect. It was during the end of the 1800's that Sparkling Red was invented here at Seppelt.
Although Seppelt has now been taken over by the Fosters Group and become somewhat commercialised, Seppelt's history made for an interesting and enjoyable visit.
We tasted most wines available and our tour guide was knowledgeable and able to tell us which other wineries were worth visiting in the region. I would recommend a trip to Seppelt to anyone who has an interest in Victoria's wine history, or anyone who is interested in ghosts and spirits! It is said that the Drives are occupied by several spirits and that spiritual orbs can be seen in some photos taken down there. Upon inspection of my own photos later that day, I found a few photos with 'orbs' in them. However I'm still somewhat skeptical. You can see some of the orbs in the photo above and the one below.
Something I learnt...Some of the bottles you see in the picture seem to be covered in a thick grey dust. In fact these bottles have only been in the cellar for a few months. The bottles are in fact covered in a black mould that grows from the de-composed granite. The winemakers used to spend lots of time removing it from the Drives, but after they conducted some tests they established that it does no harm to the wine or the people working there so it is now left there and makes for quite an eerie scene. It felt like extremely soft cotton wool.
SEPPELT WINES
Great Western, Moyston Road, Great Western VIC 3377.
CELLAR DOOR TIMINGS
Monday to Sunday, including public holidays: 10:00am – 5.00pm.Closed Christmas Day only.
CONTACT
Phone: 03 5361 2239
Fax: 03 5361 2328
Email: GreatWestern.CellarDoor@Seppelt.com.au
It looks so moody and atmospheric in there! And interesting about the dust, one would think that it wouldn't be good to breathe it all in.
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