Country Style April 2021

This issue is dedicated to food and wine, something we all hold dear to our, well, stomachs! A special alchemy occurs when you enjoy a delicious meal and a glass or two of wine – stories are told, laughs are shared and memories are made. This happened for me most recently at The Royal in Muswellbrook, NSW, when I ordered the slow-cooked Pukara lamb shoulder and Two Rivers Reserve Shiraz. The next day we drove to Pukara Estate to sample the olive oils and saw the ewes and lambs grazing between the olive groves. We then had to check out Two Rivers, a beautiful vineyard serving one of the most generous tasting platters loaded with local cheese that I’ve come across at a cellar door. On page 92, you’ll find recipes for…

SABINE BANNARD Sabine captured her home of Tamborine Mountain for our My Town story on page 110, and loves both its rural calm and strong sense of community. Tamborine Mountain’s rich volcanic soils remind Sabine of holidays at her grandparents’ house in the German region of Eifel. “My grandfather was a forest ranger and they lived in the original forest ranger house from the 1930s,” says Sabine, 52. “It was full of antlers and taxidermy!” Once a DJ who also hosted and produced music television, she’s now a photographer living on nearly a hectare of lush green land with husband Martin, children William, 20, and Lulu, 18, plus miniature poodle Dexter, spoodle Chewie and three chickens. Of life “up the hill”, she says, “People look out for each other here.” PIP FARQUHARSON Our cover…

FARMING GOOD DEEDS Newlyn, Victoria: chocolate soil you could eat from a spoon. Almost. Potato country – acres upon acres growing according to the farming cycle. For several years, I travelled the Daylesford-Creswick route, never tiring of the views which changed from season to season. One afternoon, heading towards Newlyn from Springmount, the station wagon full with groceries from the pre-Easter shop – an unwelcome flat tyre. Disinclined to try putting on the spare and not having my phone with me, I decided walking was the best option. There were farmhouses ahead to phone from for help and, if that failed, the Newlyn Hotel was further along. I would get there before dark. Unsuccessfully rousing anyone except a barking dog at the first house, I resumed my walk along the highway. I hadn’t walked…

I’M WRITING this in the late burst of Indian summer heat that Tassie is famous for in early autumn. The heat is deceiving because autumn is most definitely here. From my desk I can hear the cranky fan (grey fantail). He’s telling the scarlet robin, who has returned from his summer sojourn in the highlands, just how things are going to be. But even though the nights are getting longer and the dew in the morning is heavier, there’s still heat in the day and the lawn is tired. Actually everything is tired, me included. The garden’s riot of spring and summer growth is woody. I need to deadhead roses, ruthlessly cut back the catmint, pick quinces, make green tomato chutney out of the tomatoes that won’t ripen before the…

BEEKEEPING IS IN ANDREW Wyszynski’s blood. He first learnt about bees – which today pollinate a third of our food – from his father, when he was growing up in the small Polish town of Okonek. “I was always fascinated with how bees worked together in light and darkness, how they communicate with each other and the orientation they had with one another,” Andrew says. “These little insects play such an enormous role in society and I wanted to find out more about them and help them do their job without interfering with what they do best.” By age seven, he knew he wanted to be a beekeeper just like his father, and grew up to study the subject at an agricultural university. “After graduating, I became a lecturer and specialised…

WINEMAKER ADAM LOUDER HAS COME full circle. Born and bred in the Grampians, 300kms west of Melbourne, Adam returned home permanently in 2014 after 11 years splitting his time between Australia, America and France making wine. Such is his dedication to his craft that he has managed to complete 35 vintages in his 40 years. His decision to settle back into the granite country of the Grampians coincided with him meeting his partner, Nancy Panter, in the Napa Valley, California. So just how does a boy from country Victoria cross paths with a girl from Queensland’s Gold Coast – and in America, no less? Until she met Adam, Nancy was a city-hopping corporate communications executive working for Visa on events including the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup and the NFL Super…