NA ="Heathcote, Mia Mia, Tooborac, Redesdale,";
FE1[0]=" The Heathcote region, lying between the Goulburn Valley and Bendigo regions is famous as a premium shiraz producing area. The region is acknowledged as one of Australia's wine icons. Like many areas in central Victoria it was give";
FE2[0]="n over to sheep grazing in its earliest white history, followed by gold mining and then in the twentieth century wine production. The first vines appeared in the 1860s but the arrival of phylloxera in 1893 marked the end of the go";
FE3[0]="lden era, and it was not until 1969 that vines reappeared. Established in 1973, McIvor Creek Winery was the first winery to be licenced in the area after phylloxera destroyed the earlier vine plantings. This development continues ";
FE4[0]="to this day with large investments being committed to new vineyards and wineries. Heathcote has become recognised as a producer of extraordinary Shiraz wines. It is home to some flagship winemakers who have achieved international ";
FE5[0]="fame for their representations of Australian Shiraz. Notable wines of the Heathcote region recognised even by those unfamiliar with the area include, Wild Duck Creek Estate - home of the famed and expensive Duck Muck; Jasper Hill ";
FE6[0]="- an organic grower producing premium fruit for its highly sought after wines and Paul Osicka Wines - one of the longer established wine producers in the Heathcote wine region. Residing to the north of the Great Dividing Range the";
FE7[0]=" region is at elevations between 160m and 380m. For the most part, the soil under vine is Cambrian - red and deep with excellent water holding capacity. As a consequence some vignerons do not irrigate and aim for smaller fruit int";
FE8[0]="ensely rich in flavour. The region's rainfall is evenly distributed between the seasons and the temperature range is defined as temperate, with cooling winds emanating from the south. The local tourism industry caters well to the ";
FE9[0]="wine traveller with a range of accommodation and eateries in the town of Heathcote and surrounds. Cultural, recreational and eco-tourism activities now blend with farming and viticulture.";
LA1[0]=" The countryside is undulating, with small, generally dry, creek beds relatively common, but with little significant variation in altitude. Some care is needed in site selection to minimise the risk of spring frost, but the major l";
LA2[0]="imitation on viticulture is the absence of readily available water for irrigation.Overall, the soils are acidic and fairly low in nutrients, needing the application of both lime and gypsum and of supplementary water if reasonable ";
LA3[0]="yields are to be obtained. It is doubtless the tendency to low yields, which provide the red wines with such depth and strength. So the Heathcote area can be considered as two slabs of rolling, folded, eroded sedimentary rocks sep";
LA4[0]="arated by a strip of super complex minerals formed by volcanoes, igneous intrusion and metamorphosed sediments with all sorts of mineral lying around in the rubble. Over the past 30 odd years the viticulturalist pioneers of the He";
LA5[0]="athcote district have extolled the virtues of having their vineyards planted on Cambrian earth - the soils are the result of a very long weathering process, having been formed from Cambrian rocks which are over 500 million years o";
LA6[0]="ld. The Cambrian earth exists as two narrow bands that run parallel to the Mount William fault line. The Cambrian earth starts approx 5km south of the Heathcote township and extends north for approx 35km. The bands of earth are qu";
LA7[0]="ite narrow, no more than 2km across and are not continuous, although they extend to the northern end of the region. The Cambrian earth runs either side of the Mt Camel range, following the road from Heathcote to Colbinabbin.  Trav";
LA8[0]="elling north, it is the land on the left side of the road that is so highly sought after. The slopes are gently, well drained and generally above the frost line. The strip of Cambrian soils stretching from Tooborac to Corop is cle";
LA9[0]="arly the backbone of the proposed region.  The soils are very fertile, have great water retention properties and presently support the majority of the vineyards in the area.";
CL1[0]=" The Heathcote region has a Mediterranean climate with warm dry summers and, usually, mild, wet winters. The northern areas are minimally warmer and drier, as would be expected.  Temperatures in the Heathcote area are, on average, ";
CL2[0]="less than Bendigo and Goulburn Valley, and somewhat higher than the average temperatures of the Macedon Ranges.  One reason for the difference between the temperatures of Bendigo and the Goulburn Valley and the Heathcote area is a";
CL3[0]=" tempering of climatic conditions by the prevailing cool South to South East winds that sweep over the Tooborac hills stretching the whole length of the Mt Camel Range from South to North.  These mild winds occur over the growing ";
CL4[0]="period from October to March. Anecdotally, temperatures at Heathcote are usually 2 to 3 degrees centigrade less on the hottest January and February days than those in Bendigo.  The Heathcote region experiences, on average, rainfal";
CL5[0]="l that is similar to Bendigo, and the Goulburn Valley regions.  As in its neighboring areas, the southern areas of the Heathcote district have higher rainfall than the areas in the North. The mean number of frost-free days from Se";
CL6[0]="ptember to April is 232 days in the Heathcote region and frost days around the time of budburst are not much of a problem.  This could also be due to the fact that the majority of vineyards are on slopes rather than flats, The 232";
CL7[0]=" frost free days fall well within 180 frost free days that are the minimum for grape growing during the period from September to April. Frost-free days in the Goulburn Valley are 201. Sunshine hours in Heathcote 8.5 per day Oct to";
CL8[0]=" March; Macedon 8.0, Goulburn Valley 9.0. Heathcote and its neighbouring regions Bendigo and Goulburn Valley share much the same number of sunshine hours per day.  However, the Macedon Ranges experience slightly less.";
CL9[0]="";
HI1[0]=" The viticultural history of the Heathcote district dates back to the1860's and the pioneering efforts of German immigrant, Henning Rathjen, settled near the township of Colbinabbin, north of Heathcote. Henning planted Shiraz and M";
HI2[0]="arsanne vines in the 1860's. Phylloxera, an aphid-like insect that infests grapevines reducing their production and killing them, destroyed these original plantings. Established in 1973, McIvor Creek Winery was the first winery to";
HI3[0]=" be licenced in the area after phylloxera destroyed the earlier vine plantings. Two Italians, who have left an incredible legacy, demonstrating their wonderful sense of the future, drove the revival. Albino Zuber planted his vines";
HI4[0]=" on the site that has recently been acquired by Shadowfax Winery. Albino's block is on the highway on the left hand side as one leaves Heathcote. Always softly spoken, he made his own wine in the early years, often in a very tradi";
HI5[0]="tional peasant style, but later relied on the winemaking skills of John Ellis. The site, subject to frost, proved to be a difficult one, however Albino persevered naming his brand Zuber Estate. Bruno Pangrazio is the Italian inspi";
HI6[0]="ration behind Jasper Hill, and it was he who planted the vines on the property that Ron and Elva Laughton purchased in 1975. The first vintage that they produced under the distinctive Jasper Hill label was in 1982. Ron, a food sci";
HI7[0]="entist, and his wife Elva, a milliner, used their working talents to produce a superb 'lazy winemakers' wine, which was coupled with an extraordinary slick presentation. Elva stuck vintage ribbons around the necks of each bottle w";
HI8[0]="ith milliner's adhesive to create a unique style that projected their ambition to produce exceptional wine. Artist Len French, known internationally for his spectacular ceiling in the National Gallery of Victoria, became fascinate";
HI9[0]="d with Shiraz during a trip to France in the early 1970's. In 1975 together with a friend Dr James Munro, planted the Mount Ida vineyard (adjacent to Jasper Hill) which the locals called - French's Folly.";