Bikes from The Wine Experience in Rutherglen ready to hit the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail. Picture: Sarah Nicholson Source: Supplied
All Saints Estate has a rich winemaking history. Picture: Sarah Nicholson Source: Supplied
MY NEMESIS was waiting for me on the other side of the cafe.
I tried not looking in that direction, hoping that if I ignored the beast it might go away, but there was no changing the plan and I was set to spend the better part of this beautiful Rutherglen day with an old foe.
So I stood up, took the last gulp of my coffee and adjusted my riding gear, and walked confidently towards the bicycle that would be my trusty steed for the day.
I can ride a bike, I just choose not to because I don't see the point getting all hot and bothered riding up hill and down dale when I could drive in airconditioned comfort. But I had agreed to a day exploring Rutherglen's wineries on a cycle tour, and I wasn't going to let my travelling companions down by suggesting we ditch the bikes for a more automated mode of transport.
Don't fret, I was told, we won't be spending much time on the open road and would instead follow a section of the Murray to the Mountain Rail Trail with a chunk of the journey done at a leisurely pace between the farms that dot this northern Victorian landscape.
I had second thoughts when I was informed we would be riding around 20km - for a girl who hasn't pedalled anywhere for a dozen years that seemed like a long way - but after donning my helmet and adjusting the seat of the modern bike I was hiring from The Wine Experience in Rutherglen's Main Street, we were off.
Our first stop was Jones Winery & Vineyard and, after cruising gently past the long lines of vines that carpet the fertile land stretching away from this peaceful village, we came to the cellar door on Jones Rd. For the next hour we chatted with winemaker Mandy Jones, who's been running the 75ha estate with her brother, Arthur, since the pair took over "one of the oldest and smallest wineries in the Rutherglen district" from their Uncle Les in 1998.
The cellar door and cafe occupy what looked like an old tin shed but once inside we settled into a serene space that was half Australian homestead, with antique furniture and vintage tea cups, and half Parisian chic emphasised by the French favourites on chef Kate Akrap's lunch menu.
After a second cup of tea - Mandy makes some pleasant varieties from herbs growing in the kitchen garden - it was on to the bikes again to pedal back into town and the Rail Trail.
There was a brief stop at the Vidal Cellars, one of Rutherglen's oldest buildings with strong links to the area's winemaking tradition, and as we peered over the fence at what's left of the red brick building my local companions told me the story of the structure that's now home to a flock of grazing sheep.
In the 1890s, when grape growers were making a river of fortified wine with some drops so poor it was bringing a bad name to the district, the locals teamed up to establish a "co-operative of eminent winemakers" to buy fruit from inferior producers and make a brandy at Vidal Cellars worthy of the Rutherglen name.
That union also gave birth to the generations of Rutherglen winemakers who have become internationally famous for producing some of Australia's best port, muscat and tokay at estates such as Morris, Campbells, Buller, Pfeiffer, Chambers Rosewood, Stanton and Killen, and All Saints.
We could have headed in any direction from this landmark, following Rutherglen's Muscat Trail to call on these esteemed wineries that rest near the settlement's busy main street, but we decided to continue north on the Rail Trail to the neighbouring hamlet of Wahgunyah and All Saints Estate, an 8km pedal on flat terrain.
At All Saints Rd we turned right and headed for the historic vineyard and winery, where the first vines were planted in the 1860s.
All Saints is another of Rutherglen's family operations - siblings Eliza, Angela and Nick Brown took over when their dad, Peter, died in 2005.
As the sun sank towards the horizon we tasted magnificent fortified wines that had been ageing for decades in The Great Hall's 100-year-old oak casks, enjoyed a meal at the Terrace Restaurant while watching workers tending the vines and visited the Chinese Dormitory where staffers lived rough during the early 1900s.
And, best of all, my companions had arranged a car to take us back to Rutherglen so I could rest up from my day in the saddle before dinner at Black Bull restaurant with Scion Vineyard winemaker Rowly Milhinch, whose hands were stained with the grape juice he'd been crafting into a resolute red earlier that day.
But it wouldn't have been the end of the world if I had to pedal back to Rutherglen, because I had made friends with my bike and decided that a day cycling around a region as agreeable as Rutherglen wasn't so bad after all.
The writer was a guest of Tourism Victoria.
Go2 - RUTHERGLEN
Getting there: Rutherglen is 300km from Melbourne or 50km from Albury Airport where QantasLink, Virgin Australia and Regional Express offer flights from Sydney.
Staying there: When it comes to accommodation Tuileries has contemporary suites in a vineyard on the edge of Rutherglen.
For more information on visiting Jones Winery & Vineyard or All Saints Estate consult each property's websites.
The Rutherglen website has information on hiring a bike from The Wine Experience, details on the region's other wineries and cellar doors, suggestions on where to eat and drink, and a link to download the Rutherglen Muscat Trail brochure.
More: The Visit Victoria page has the facts you need to plan a visit to this enticing corner of northern Victoria. See visitvictoria.com
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