Grampians Estate tempts visitors with local lamb and shiraz

The Guthries’ new cellar-door cafe at Great Western offers Victorians a great reason to visit the Grampians this summer. Find out how to sample the region’s wines before making the trip.

Sarah and Tom Guthrie on Grampians Estate at Great Western, where they have added a beautiful cafe to their already successful cellar door. Picture: Nicole Cleary

HAILED by chefs as the perfect gastronomic pair, shiraz and lamb both thrive on the loamy soils of the glorious Grampians.

Sheep farmers and Grampians Estate owners Tom and Sarah Guthrie didn’t realise how well the peppery winegrape variety would complement their sweet lamb when they planted their first shiraz vines back in 1989.

The pair quickly cottoned on, and today the combo is part of a new pie headlining the menu at Grampians Estate’s new cellar-door cafe, which celebrated its grand opening last week.

“The building was all ready to go at Easter and of course COVID meant that we had this wonderful dining room, kitchen and deck all ready … and we were closed,” Tom says.

Before COVID, the Guthries’ cellar door was always buzzing with visitors, who provided the majority of sales for the boutique winery.

Similar to most wineries in the shiraz region, Grampians Estate has taken a major hit due to travel restrictions, but Tom hopes the newly opened dining room will be an incentive for tourists to return this summer.

Tom Guthrie in the Grampians Estate cellar door at Great Western, where he and his wife, Sarah, have added a commercial kitchen, dining room and deck to their already successful venue. Picture: Nicole Cleary

“Way back in 1989, I thought there was more to life than chasing sheep,” says Tom, who initially planted vines at Mafeking, then bought an established vineyard at Great Western with 100-year-old riesling and 148-year-old shiraz vines.

“My passion is the wine now,” he confirms.

Tom says the lockdown provided him with “plenty of thinking time” to finetune his new menu, study wine science remotely through Charles Sturt University at Wagga Wagga and improve the estate’s online sales offering, with help from his daughter, uni student Pollyanna.

“Our business is now so much more about regional fare than perhaps I envisioned,” says Tom, explaining that he and Sarah thought using local ingredients “might be a bit hard”, but Pollyanna spearheaded the plan to make the family’s lamb a star of their menu.

“We are so glad she pushed it and pursued it,” Tom says. “The pie is made from our farm-grown lamb … made by the Great Western Granary, which is 1km down the road.”

Grampians Estate shiraz ice cream, made by Timboon Fine Ice Cream, is also on the menu. For those who want to sample Tom and Sarah’s wines before making a trip to the vineyard, some of their bestsellers are available through a new Made the Grampians Way website, which is an initiative funded by the Victorian government and supported by tourism agencies. The website sells bundles of the region’s best sparkling wines and signature shiraz, pinot noir, cabernet and riesling vintages from boutique vineyards as well as the region’s best and most established wineries.

To find out more or buy wines from the Grampians, visit madethegrampiansway. com.au

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