NA ="Werribee, Werribee Park, Wynham Vale, Hoppers Crossing,";
FE1[0]=" Geelong is a bayside suburb and is Victoria's second largest city. It has a strong maritime and farming heritage. The first settlers came to the region in the 1800s and it was mainly used for sheep farming until 1851 when gold was";
FE2[0]=" discovered. The Geelong region stretches from the coast to 400mtrs above sea level at Ankie. Its wine history began over 150 years ago and thrived until the 1870s-80s when various economic factors wiped out the vineyards. Now the";
FE3[0]="re is a diverse range of subtle and elegant wine from wineries in the area. All the Geelong wineries are family owned and operated. The owner is usually the winemaker. In the 1860s, Geelong was the most important winemaking area i";
FE4[0]="n Victoria, surpassing the plantings of the Yarra Valley. Now, 140 years later, it is regaining its place amongst the State's most popular wine destinations. Plantings are increasing both inland from Geelong and on the Bellarine P";
FE5[0]="eninsula, where the magnificently restored Spray Farm and vineyard with its parterre garden and original stables, hosts a summer music festival in its own amphitheatre. Sweeping views of the bay and the ocean add an extra dimensio";
FE6[0]="n to peninsula vineyards. There is a new and enthusiastic awareness of the food and wine of the region, culminating in events such as the annual Seafood Fair at the restored Steampacket Place in the city centre and food, wine and ";
FE7[0]="music weekends hosted by the ultra-modern Shadowfax winery with its elegant neighbour, The Mansion at Werribee Park. The wineries of the area produce a diverse range of subtle and elegant wines, from gewürztraminer and pinot gris,";
FE8[0]=" to stylish and often highly sought-after shiraz. An hour south-west from Melbourne, the Geelong Wine Region makes an ideal day trip or base from which to explore the Great Ocean Road.";
FE9[0]="";
LA1[0]=" While there is no significant mountain range, the topography is varied and important, particularly given the incidence of spring frosts. Vineyards have variously been established on river flats, river terraces, and on more pronoun";
LA2[0]="ced hillsides, particularly on the slopes of Mount Anakie. Site selection is crucial for frost protection and ripening. The principal soil type is that very commonly encountered red-brown clay loam over a hard clay base; the subso";
LA3[0]="il varies, in part being strongly alkaline owing to the presence of limestone, elsewhere being more acidic. A second soil type is also found: a dark, black cracking clay, which forms fine pebbles on the surface. Geelong is one of ";
LA4[0]="Australia's most southerly wine producing regions with spring frosts, scant summer rainfall, cold winds and poor clay soils. This makes it a difficult place to grow grapes, and requires irrigation and various other cool-climate vi";
LA5[0]="ticultural techniques to protect slow-ripening fruit. The soils vary from sandy loam, basalt plains and river loam to rich volcanic soils, which means a wide range of grape varieties can be ripened here. This provides a wide range";
LA6[0]=" of wine styles which can be produced in the Geelong region. Location: 38°07'S, 144°22'E. Predictably, with its strongly maritime influenced cool climate, the most successful and internationally renowned grapes are pinot noir and ";
LA7[0]="chardonnay. Most of the wineries also produce striking and intense shiraz grapes and the area is also capable of growing powerful and long-lived cabernet sauvignons.";
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LA9[0]="";
CL1[0]=" Situated 70 kilometres south-west of Melbourne on Corio Bay, Geelong has a cool, maritime climate.   The growing season for fruit extends from September to May and grapes achieve great depth and complexity of flavours. Areas withi";
CL2[0]="n the region have varying microclimates influencing the flavours of the wines. The Bellarine Peninsula has a maritime climate with bay breezes and fantastic views, whilst the hills and valleys of the Anakie and Moorabool Valley ar";
CL3[0]="eas have a beautiful warm, continental style climate. This open, and strongly maritime-influenced region, has a climate roughly halfway between that of Bordeaux and Burgundy in terms of ripening temperatures and sunshine hours. Th";
CL4[0]="e long, cool and usually dry Autumn means that Chardonnay and Pinot Noir achieve optimum ripeness almost every year, with both temperatures and sunshine hours greater than those of Burgundy, but the later ripening Cabernet Sauvign";
CL5[0]="on and Shiraz can struggle in cooler, wetter vintages. Yields are low to moderate, with both wind and lack of rainfall inhibiting vigour, particularly on the more exposed slopes and hardened soils. The maritime influence on the Be";
CL6[0]="llarine Peninsula Subregion is even more pronounced, leading to a strong bias in favour of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.";
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HI1[0]=" Developed by Swiss immigrants with vine cuttings from Tasmania, Switzerland and France, during the1850's to 1870's Geelong was the largest and most significant wine region in Victoria. More than 130 years ago Geelong was the most ";
HI2[0]="important winemaking district in Victoria, if not Australia. In 1861 there were 225 hectares under vine, and by the end of the decade 400 hectares. It also shares with the Yarra Valley the unusual distinction of being primarily es";
HI3[0]="tablished by Swiss vignerons, drawn to Australia by the Swiss-born wife of the first governor of Victoria. By 1875 the vineyards extended along each side of the valleys formed by the Moorabool, Leigh and Barwon rivers; on the slop";
HI4[0]="es and plains around Ceres and Waurn Ponds, and on to German Town (or Marshall, as it is called today). Geelong has the dubious distinction of being the first area in Australia to be affected by phylloxera, discovered in 1875. At ";
HI5[0]="the time, Victoria was the pre-eminent wine producing state, and Geelong one of its most important regions. Enforced removal of all vineyards in a vain attempt to halt the spread of phylloxera across Victoria meant an eighty year ";
HI6[0]="hiatus in commercial wine production, which recommenced in the early 1970's (replanting began in 1966). Vines were replanted in 1966 when Daryl and Nini Sefton established Idyll Vineyard in the Moorabool Valley on the site of  one";
HI7[0]=" of  the region's early vineyards. Other vignerons followed the Sefton's lead, including Maltby's, Mt Anakie -later purchased by the Hickinbotham family, Staughton Vale, Asher, Lovely Banks, Hoopers, Bannockburn, Griffiths, Batesf";
HI8[0]="ord, Prince Albert, Waybourne and Austins, Campbells at Mt Duneed, The Minya at Connewarre, Scotchman's Hill at Drysdale and their superb historic Spray Farm hospitality centre, Kilgour and Bellarine, with several other vineyards ";
HI9[0]="producing grapes late in 2000. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vie for supremacy with Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and have done so since the rebirth of the area.";



























