Range Rover Club - Victoria

TRIP POSTPONED - to be rescheduled in spring.

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A winery and 4WD weekend... visiting wineries in the Glenrowan region on the Saturday, with the option of dinner at one of the premier north-eastern restaurants on Saturday night.  A day 4wd trip on the sunday to round out the weekend.  Read on for the details...

The Region
Mention Glenrowan, and immediately Ned Kelly comes to mind. But the locality has another claim to fame: it has been producing quality wines for well over a century.

While only recently receiving recognition as an official wine region under the International Geographical Indicators, its history is well-established. Over 250 hectares are currently planted to a range of premium grape styles, and recent benchmarking tests ranked Glenrowan Shiraz among the best in North East Victoria (and that makes them pretty darned good!).

Our trip will be visiting all six wineries in the Region; these range in size from very small to the large well-known Baileys of Taminick, but they all share a passion for quality and variety. We will then round out our taste experiences for those who wish to on Saturday night at Raffety’s Restaurant in Benalla, which for a somewhat biased local ranks with the best of the north-east if not beyond.

Trip Standard: 2WD on Saturday; for those who wish to see some of our backyard on Sunday, Easy to Medium subject to weather and the route selected.

Meeting Place: The Benalla Rose Gardens at 9.30 on Saturday morning (a pleasant two and a quarter hours from Melbourne CBD via the Hume Freeway).

Accommodation: Benalla has a number of quality motels, one caravan park and for those prepared to rough it, camping in our back paddock!

Trip Route: We will be first visiting the Goorambath Winery, where you will be able to obtain a coffee fix from the vigneron who also doubles as the barista (for those who can’t do without it we also now have a Maccas in town!).

We will then visit the other wineries, concentrating on the smaller ones first as many will know Baileys and possibly Booths as well. Lunch will be available at Granite Range (subject to advance notice of likely numbers).

Several options are available for Sunday’s 4wd trip depending on whether people need to get back to Melbourne at a reasonable hour. Final details will be available on the weekend. An alternative option for those who want to complete the weekend indulgence (and not get the car dirty) is to follow the Glenrowan tourist trail on Sunday.

Equipment etc: Camping gear (if choosing to camp), taste buds ready and the usual basic equipment for a short off-road trip.

Fuel:  is available in Benalla.

Navigation, radio:  straightforward, no maps required. Radio UHF Channel 15.

Organizers:  David & Kay Blore, Geoff Bath of Goorambath Winery.

We will need to know approx numbers for the winery lunch on Saturday and the restaurant on Saturday night, (and also if I need to mow the paddock), so please indicate when booking in the Trip Book or website, or by direct contact to me.

Signup:  For members, please log in and use the link below.  Or, in the Trip Book, by email to Trip Coordinator.