Winery Design There are two vineyards which are visited which is the Murchison vineyard and the

Tahbilk vineyard. Both vineyards were situated along the river bank of Goulburn River. However, compared to the Murchison winery, Tahbilk is more commercialised. This can be seen as the machinery for Tahbilk is much more advance and larger. Besides that, Tahbilk has a spacious cellar to ferment, age and store wines. At the first stop, which is the Murchison wine, Longleat vineyard. Longleat vineyard is planted on the west bank of the Goulburn River and it is 2 kilometres far from Murchison. This vineyard grows Shiraz and Carbenet Sauvignon grapes for quality red wines and Semillon and Riesling grapes for tantalizing white wines on the forty acre land. Besides that, there are twenty two acres of land are currently vine with room to extend plantings to around thirty one acres. It also grows other varietal of grapes which includesPetit Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Their oldest vines are Shiraz, which are twenty seven year old and the Carbenet Sauvignon, Semillon and Riesling vines are from the early 80s. All the grapes were handpicked to assure high quality. Furthermore, the root structure of the vines can be protected by handpicking. There is a small warehouse store which is where the wines were stored. Besides that, wines are fermented and matured in the small warehouse store too. This can be seen as there are stainless steel tanks for fermenting wines and wines were placed in oak barrels for maturation. Compared to the Tahbilk winery, the Tahbilk cellar is larger. The place where Murchison store its wine is more towards a small warehouse store which are insulated. The cellar door for Murchison is situated among the vines. It provides a peaceful and relaxing place for wine and cheese tasting under the vine covered pergola. The cellar door also has a casual caf which specialised in cheese platters too. Visitors can alsotaste their cheese and wine for free at the pergola.

The second and last stop is the Tahbilk winery which is also situated along the river bank of Goulburn River. The vineyard planted a varietal of grapes which includes the rare Rhone Valley whites of Marsanne, Viognier and Roussanne and Rhone Reds which includes Shiraz Grenache and Mourvedre. There are also many other traditional varietals found in the vineyard which includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Verdelho, Tempranillo and Savagnin. The estate is located at the region of Nagambie Lakes. Nagambie Lakes was formally recognised as a unique sub-region within central Victorias Goulburn Valley. There were two main factors for the Nagambie Lakes to be recognised as a unique sub-region. One of the factor is the region of the Nagambie Lakes is the only Australian wine region where the meso-climate is dramatically influenced by inland water mass. Only one of six worldwide has that type of climate. The climate at the Goulburn River has a cooler and more moderate temperature than expected as there were many lakes and lagoons linked. The other factor is the unique soil type. The soil type contains high content of ferric-oxide which puts a positive effect on the grape quality and provides a certain regional character for the wine. Firstly, the cellar door is the place where visitors had their wine tasting and purchase wines. The walls of the cellar door were built using hand-made bricks and mud-stone. The supporting beams and pillars were cut from red-gum and iron-bark growing on the property. The original wooden shingles still can be seen. At the southern end, to the left, is the red fermenting cellar which houses two historic grape presses, along with Polish oak fermenting vats which were first used in year of 1862. After entering the cellar door from the main door, on the left hand side, some aspects of Tahbilks history and various Show Awards won by Tahbilk over the years can be seen. On the right hand side upon entering from the main entrance is where visitors or customer have their wine tasting and purchasing wine at the counter. Upon entering the entrance, there is a stairs at the middle of the cellar door which allows workers and visitors to access to the cellar.

The cellar below the stairs is the original 1862 Old Cellar was constructed by bricks burnt on the property and the arched roof of the cellar was laid without a keystone and covered with earth and a layer of asphalt. Besides that, there is a New Cellar at the right angles. Both cellars have storage for some 365,000 litres of wine in French and Polish oak barrels. Most of these casks are well over 100 years old and vary in capacity from over 1,000 to more than 6,000 litres. There are many oak barrels seen while visiting the Tahbilk cellar. There is also a Tahbilk cafe situated in the old Pepper Paddock too. Visitors adore listen to the birds as they enjoy Tahbilk or Dalfarras vino while sitting outside on the sweeping deck. The ironbark, stone and corrugated iron structure blends perfectly into its natural bush surrounds. Besides that, the tranquil location and tasty foods which only used locally sourced product attracted quite an amount of customers too. In conclusion, both vineyards are worth to be visited for the tranquil environment and tasty wines. The historical cellar doors and cellar are also valuable to be visited and lastly, the wines produced in both Murchison and Tahbilk winery are also worth it to be purchased after customers are satisfied with the taste of wine during the free wine tasting session.

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List of References Make it a day in Murchison 2008, viewed 21 July 2012, <http://www.murchisonvictoria.com.au/murchison-wines-and-vazzoler-cheese-atlongleat.htm> Murchison Wines n.d., viewed 21 July 2012, <http://www.murchisonwines.com.au/> Tahbilk n.d., viewed 21 July 2012, < http://www.tahbilk.com.au/>