View source for Tahbilk

{{Short description|Winery in Victoria, Australia}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox winery
| winery_name = Tahbilk Winery
| winery_logo = 
| location_place = [[Shire of Strathbogie]]
| location_state = [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]]
| location_country = Australia
| wine_region = [[Nagambie Lakes (wine)|Nagambie Lakes]], [[Goulburn Valley wine region|Goulburn Valley]]
| former_name = Chateau Tahbilk
| other_labels= Tahbilk, Dalfarras
| year_founded = 1860
| first_vines = 1860
| first_vintage = 
| key_people = Alister Purbrick
| parent_company = 
| cases_per_year = 
| signature_wine = Marsanne
| varietal1 = Marsanne
| varietal2 = Viognier
| varietal3 = Sauvignon blanc
| varietal4 = [[Syrah|Shiraz]]
| varietal5 = Cabernet Sauvignon
| varietal6 = Merlot
| varietal7 = Cabernet Franc
| varietal8 = Chardonnay
| varietal9 = Riesling
| varietal10 = Semillon
| varietal11 = Sauvignon blanc
| varietal12 = Verdelho
| varietal13 = Grenache
| varietal14 = Mourvedre
| varietal15 = Roussanne
| other_product1= <!--e.g. olive oil-->
| other_product2= 
| other_product3= 
| other_product4= 
| other_product5= 
| homepage={{URL|http://www.tahbilk.com.au/}}
| other_attractions = Wetlands Cafe, Wetlands & Wildlife Reserve, Dalfarras Wines
| distribution = 
| tasting= 
}}

'''Tahbilk Winery''' is a historic Australian winery with National Trust certification. It is located {{Convert|120|km|miles|abbr=on}} north of [[Melbourne]] between the townships of [[Seymour, Victoria|Seymour]] and [[Nagambie, Victoria|Nagambie]] in the [[Nagambie Lakes (wine)|Nagambie Lakes]] a sub region of [[Goulburn Valley wine region|Goulburn Valley Wine Region]]. It was established in 1860,<ref>[http://www.winetours.com.au/winery_tours.html Victoria Winery Tours]</ref> and is the oldest family-owned winery and vineyard in Victoria. In 2022 it was ranked the eighteenth largest Australian wine company by production,<ref>{{cite web|title=Australia’s largest wine companies by total wine production |url=https://winetitles.com.au/statistics-2/wine-companies/australias-largest-wine-companies-by-total-wine-production/|website=winetitles.com | publisher=winetitles media |date=2023 |access-date=22 June 2024}}</ref> and the tenth largest in terms of total revenue.<ref>{{cite web|title=Australia’s largest wine companies by total revenue |url=https://winetitles.com.au/statistics-2/wine-companies/australias-largest-wine-companies-by-total-revenue/|website=winetitles.com | publisher=winetitles media |date=2023 |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> The winery is part of [[Australia's First Families of Wine]], a prominent Australian wine alliance.<ref name="The Australian Financial Review">Simon Evans, The Australian Financial Review, Tuesday 18 August 2009, Page 61</ref><ref name="Chris Snow 2009">Chris Snow, Decanter Magazine, 17 August 2009, Top Australian wineries team up to push super-premium wines</ref>

== History ==
In 1856, [[Hugh Glass (pastoralist)|Hugh Glass]] became the owner of the [[Goulburn River]] property that included the future Tahbilk.<ref name="Adams2006">{{cite book|author=Tate Adams|title=The First Vines|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PRBgIyFyWekC&pg=PA58|year=2006|publisher=Macmillan Education AU|isbn=978-1-876832-29-2|page=58}}</ref> [[Rushworth, Victoria|Rushworth]] storekeeper Ludovic Marie convinced Glass the land was suitable for viticulture and took over {{Convert|258|acres|ha|abbr=on}} of the property for a proposed vineyard and winery.<ref name="Adams2006"/> Marie engaged his friend [[Richard Henry Horne]], who had invested in blocks of land at nearby [[Murchison, Victoria|Murchison]] on the Goulburn River.<ref name="blainey219">{{cite book | last1 = Blainey | first1 = Ann | title = The farthing poet : a biography of Richard Hengist Horne, 1802-84; a lesser literary lion. | publisher = Longmans | year = 1963 | location = London | pages = 219}}</ref> Horne was eager to "promote any venture which might bring prosperity to the district" and agreed to participate in the winery plan.<ref name="blainey219"/> The two set up a public company, the Goulburn Vineyard Proprietary, with Marie as manager and Horne as honorary secretary.<ref name="blainey219"/>

In 1859, the company advertised for capital of £30,000 in £5 shares. Its provisional committee comprised Horne, J.G. Dougharty of Melbourne and N.R.D. Bond and A. Sinclair of Murchison.<ref name="1859ad"/> The advertisement said:
<blockquote>
The position of the land, the quality of the soil, the proximity of the water, make the property the most desirable spot which could be selected for vine growing. The quantity of grapes produced by the few stocks of vine in the garden and at the house, is an indubitable proof of the capabilities of the ground.<ref name="1859ad">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5694631 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=31 December 1859 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Tahbilk Tower.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|Tahbilk Tower]]
In August 1860, the company was called Tahbilk Vineyard Proprietary, with Ludovic Marie as Principal Vigneron and [[Charles Ebden]] and James Blackwood as [[trustee]]s.<ref name="argusaug60">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5688471 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=23 August 1860 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The provisional directory, in addition to Horne and Bond, comprised Richard Eades, John Pinney Bear,<ref>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Brownfoot |first= Janice N. |year= 1979 |volume= 4 |id2=bear-crawford-annette-ellen-5168 |title= Bear-Crawford, Annette Ellen (1853–1899) |accessdate= 27 November 2014 }}</ref> David Wilkie, George Holmes, Hugh Glass, Samuel Rentsch, G.S. Evans, J.W. Mackenna, J.H. Brooke and Donald Kennedy. They included three Members of the [[Legislative Assembly of Victoria|Legislative Assembly]], two Members of the [[Legislative Council of Victoria|Legislative Council]], two [[Justice of the Peace|Justices of the Peace]], the Swiss Consul, the Argentinian Consul-General and the [[List of mayors and lord mayors of Melbourne|Mayor of Melbourne]].<ref name="argusaug60"/>
[[File:Vineyard at Tahbilk.jpg|thumb|Grape vines in the vineyard at Tabilk]]

Marie addressed a dinner of vineyard workers in 1861; he said, "the money for all these extensive operations which were being carried on was found almost solely by three gentlemen... Messrs. Bear, Glass and Holmes".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5702642 |title=TABILK VINEYARD PROPRIETARY. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=2 August 1861 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In May 1860, one the company's founders, Sinclair, was found dead in [[Brighton, Victoria|Brighton]] from an overdose of morphine administered by persons unknown, with "a list of shareholders in the Goulburn Vineyard Company&nbsp;...&nbsp;found sewn up in the pocket" of his coat.<ref name="blainey219"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5683458 |title=ADJOURNED INQUEST ON THE BODY OF MR. A. SINCLAIR AT BRIGHTON. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=31 May 1860 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> One of the last men to see Sinclair alive was Ludovic Marie, who was declared insolvent in August 1861.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5703521 |title=LAW REPORT. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=28 August 1861 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The venture did not compensate Horne for the money he had lost in the early public float, and he returned to England but later said he was "the father of the Australian wine industry".<ref name="blainey219"/>

When Marie left the company, John Pinney Bear assumed control and progressively bought out the other shareholders; by 1876 he was sole owner.<ref name="Adams2006"/> By that year, Tahblik's annual vintage output was around {{Convert|31500|litres|impgal}} and was winning national and international awards.<ref name="Adams2006"/> Bear employed François De Coueslant as manager in 1877, who is credited with planting the estates' mulberry trees and building the winery tower. A year later ''[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]]'' reported that Tahbilk had received a wine order from [[Queen Victoria]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article6901438 |title=ORDERS FOR VICTORIAN WINE FROM THE QUEEN. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=13 September 1888 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In 1889 Bear, a former Member of the [[Victorian Legislative Council]], died at Tahbilk.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13747172 |title=DEATH OF MR. J. P. BEAR. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=28 October 1889 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8565156 |title=DEATH OF MR. J. P. BEAR, EX M.L.C. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=28 October 1889 |accessdate=4 September 2013 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> De Coueslant had left in 1886, and Chateau Tahbilk as it was known went into decline, with the vineyard shrinking to {{Convert|46|ha|acres|abbr=on}} by 1925.<ref name="Adams2006"/> It was purchased by the Purbrick family in 1931 and remains in their ownership.<ref name="Adams2006"/>

Until 2000, the winery was known as Chateau Tahbilk. The original cellars built in the 1860s and 1870s are still in use. These and the vineyard's buildings are classified by the [[National Trust of Australia]].<ref>[http://www.nationaltrust.org.au/ National Trust of Australia]</ref>
[[File:Wine cellar at Tahbilk.jpg|thumb|The underground wine cellar and wooden wine barrels at the Tahbilk Winery, Victoria, Australia.]]

===Claims===
Tahbilk, founded in 1860, claims to be the oldest family-owned winery in Victoria. Other wineries predate Tahbilk's origins, for example [[Chambers Rosewood Winery]] and [[Gehrig Estate Wines]] in [[Rutherglen wine region|Rutherglen]] founded in 1858, and [[Morris Wines]], also in Rutherglen, was founded in 1859.<ref>[http://www.winebiz.com.au/statistics/wineries_oldest.asp News & Information for the Australian Wine Industry]</ref> However, none of these wineries have had the continuous family ownership of Tahbilk.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} Tahbilk claims to have the largest single holding of [[Marsanne]] grapevines in the world.<ref>[http://www.tahbilk.com.au/about/flagship/ Marsanne at Tahbilk]</ref> The first vines were cuttings made in the 1860s from the [[St Huberts Winery]] in the [[Yarra Valley]]. Tahbilk's current plantings of Marsanne date from 1927.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

==Etymology==
The name Tahbilk originates from the winery's location, which the local aboriginal people first referred to as "tabilk-tabilk", meaning "place of many waterholes".<ref name="History of Tahbilk">[http://www.tahbilk.com.au/about/history/ History of Tahbilk]</ref> Originally spelled Tabilk, the 'h' was added later by the winery in hopes of improving business in Europe.<ref name="History of Tahbilk"/>

==Winery==
The winery specialises in the [[Rhone]] grape varietals of [[Marsanne]], [[Viognier]] and [[Roussanne]], and also produces [[Shiraz (grape)|Shiraz]], [[Cabernet Sauvignon]], [[Merlot]], [[Cabernet Franc]], [[Chardonnay]], [[Riesling]], [[Semillon]], [[Sauvignon blanc]], [[Verdelho]], [[Grenache]] and [[Mourvedre]] grapes. Some original pre-[[phylloxera]] Shiraz vines survive from 1860.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} Tahbilk is part of the Australian wine alliance [[Australia's First Families of Wine]].<ref name="The Australian Financial Review"/><ref name="Chris Snow 2009"/> First Families' chairman is the Tahbilk chief executive [[Alister Purbrick]].<ref name="The Australian Financial Review"/><ref name="Winetitles">{{cite web|url=http://www.winebiz.com.au/dwn/details.asp?ID=2691|work=Winetitles, Australia's wine industry portal|title=The Heart & Soul of Australian wine to launch in Sydney on Monday 31 August|accessdate=2009-08-18}}</ref> The company also owns [[Dalfarras Wines]], [[Tahbilk Wetlands Cafe]], and [[Tahbilk Wetlands and Wild Life Reserve]].{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

==Awards==
Tahbilk wines have won awards including the Diploma of Honour, the highest award obtainable at the Greater London Exhibition of 1899.<ref>[http://www.tahbilk.com.au/about/awards/ Tahbilk awards]</ref> Tahbilk was the National Winner in the Parks, Gardens and the Environment Category of the Best of Wine Tourism Awards 2007.<ref>[http://www.greatwinecapitals.com/bestof/details.php?ID=305 Best of Wine Tourism]</ref>

== Wetlands and wildlife reserve ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2014}}
[[File:Billabong at Tahbilk.jpg|thumb|The billabong at Tahbilk wetlands]]
With the construction of the Goulburn Weir in 1889, the various stages of [[Sugar Loaf Dam]] in 1915, and [[Lake Eildon]], completed in 1956, the historical flow regime of the Goulburn river was changed from one of high flows in winter to one of a permanently flowing summer irrigation stream. Previously the river and its associated billabongs had periodically dried back into a series of water holes. The local indigenous people named this area ''tabilk tabilk'', or the place of many water holes, thus giving the property its name. The present Tahbilk wetlands area was created by the raising of the water level at the time that the Goulburn Weir was built.<ref>2011, 'Winery benefits from wetland', Victorian Landcare & Catchment Management, Autumn 2011, Issue 51, pg.14, https://www.landcarevic.org.au/assets/Uploads/VLCM51-lo-res.pdf</ref>

The Tahbilk wetlands are an open ended, self flushing wetlands joined to the Goulburn. Their warm, slow moving, water has become a safe haven for indigenous flora and fauna, including at least two threatened or endangered species. The native catfish ''[[Tandanus tandanus]]'', which is declining throughout the [[Murray Darling Basin]], is now breeding in the wetlands, and the Water Shield Lily ''[[Brasenia|Brasenia schreberi]]'' is also thriving there.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

==See also==
* [[Australian wine]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last1=Woodhouse|first1=Fay|title=Vintage Stories: A 150 Year History of Tahbilk|date=2010|publisher=Tahbilk Proprietary Ltd.|location=Tabilk, Vic.|isbn=9780980748802}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tahbilk.com.au/ Tahbilk official site]
* [http://www.australiasfirstfamiliesofwine.com.au/ Australia's first families of Wine]

{{coord|36|49|35|S|145|5|10|E|region:AU-VIC_type:landmark|display=title}}

{{wines}}
{{Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI - Producers}}

[[Category:1860 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:Wineries in Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Family-owned companies of Australia]]
[[Category:Victorian Heritage Register]]
[[Category:Victorian Heritage Register Hume (region)]]
[[Category:Shire of Strathbogie]]