“The Tahbilk winery is renowned for its marsanne. Despite its origins in the Northern Rhone district of France, Tahbilk has the world’s largest single holding of marsanne, which was first planted in 1927,” writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.

I was sent four bottles of Tahbilk 2025 white wines as part of the winery’s 2025 release.

The Tahbilk name brings fond memories of the scenic views of the Goulburn River and the related charm of the Nagambie Lakes region, which I used to visit for work many years ago when I was a lawyer for the Victorian Farmers Federation.

Greater Shepparton enjoys a temperate climate, boasting more hours of sunshine a year than the Gold Coast. It is an area renowned for fruit growing and is where many dairy farms are located.

I am reminded of the question, what kinds of things does a farmer talk about when she is milking cows? Udder nonsense: excuse me while I milk that joke… butter stop but one more: How do you get a farm girl to like you? A tractor.

I was sent a bottle each of 2025 marsanne, viognier and pinot gris and a 2024 chardonnay, the latter I haven’t yet sampled.

The Tahbilk winery is renowned for its marsanne. Despite this varietal’s origins in the Northern Rhone district of France, Tahbilk has the world’s largest single holding of marsanne, which was first planted in 1927.

It is a dry white wine, evincing when young similar citrus flavours to riesling (in the case of the 2025, lime leaves) with white flower aromas. It is clean on the palate and finishes fresh.

It has the capacity to age well and can be kept for up to 15 years. As it ages, it changes colour to a more golden hue and develops a striking minerality. It’s a good flagship wine, accessible and easy to drink and one to go 50/50 on a case: drink half now and store the other half. The change over time is remarkable. 

The 2025 viognier was tasted at a family dinner. My daughter led the tasting without knowing the varietal (I’d placed the bottle in a brown paper bag). We tested her knowledge. She noticed a heady aroma, one she described as like honeysuckle, but couldn’t pick the varietal especially given the slight acidic finish and the fruit notes that she said were reminiscent of a semillon blend, perhaps with sauvignon blanc.

This wine has a density that I think is in part attributable to the 13.5% ABV and was a very pleasant accompaniment to an entrée of olives and dips, fresh and quaffable with a lingering stone fruit flavour. My daughter’s assessment: good for a picnic on a hot day, nicely chilled.

My son and I tried the pinot gris at a separate dinner and he guessed the varietal. It is made in the French style so is labelled pinot gris rather than the Italian equivalent, pinot grigio.

Both translate to the colour grey, because the vines have a typically greyish-blue fruit after which the varietal is named. 

The Tahbilk pinot gris was also a lively wine, with a hint of spice and a mouth-filling taste of pear and an edgy flintiness. Pinot grigio generally is zestier than pinot gris, both being made from the same grape variety. However, wine made in the French style is usually from grapes picked later when riper. This reliance on more time and more sunshine gives the wine more weight and hence the more mouth-filling nature of the wine made in the French style. 

“The juice of the grape is the liquid quintessence of concentrated sunbeams.” –Thomas Love Peacock