January - February 2007
Dear Reader, Mildura has long been famous for its luscious oranges, lemons, grapes, stonefruit and sweet flavourful dried fruits. But it wasn’t until Stefano De Pieri’s ABC cooking series “A Gondola On The River” was broadcast in the late 1990s that it began to be taken seriously as a food and wine destination. Peddling around the district on an old push-bike,
Stefano introduced viewers to local farmers and producers
and to the bounty of the surrounding Sunraysia region. “Many were touched by the Murray River, not only by its intrinsic beauty, but by what it has come to represent in contemporary Australia – a source of life,” he observed presciently. Now another enterprising local couple have devised
a series of small personalised tours to give gourmet travellers
a true taste of the area. Three months ago, Alison and Phill
Stone launched their Mildura Discovery Tours, a first for the
district. On the day I visited, Alison Stone took us to a number of fabulous food and wine producers, many of whom – like Stefano – hail originally from Italy. In fact at various times during the day, I felt as if I’d stepped straight onto a vineyard or orchard somewhere in Italy. |
 |
 |
| At Tabletop Grapes, Calabrian-born Elina
and Gino Gareffa grow ten varieties of table grapes on 240 acres
of fertile red soil. Most of their fresh grapes are exported
to Europe, South East Asia and the Middle East while their air-dried
muscat clusters (dried muscats left on the vine) enjoy increasing
demand from restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. “Gino invented a way of drying our sultanas, raisins and currants without using chemicals,” boasts Elina. “They’re really sweet and full of flavour.” The Gareffa’s home in Sultana Avenue is surrounded by vines and fig and citrus trees. An abundant vegetable patch lies close by and alongside it is a purpose-built cantina decorated with strings of braided garlic and chillies. Here Elina makes her fabulous “pane di casa” (home-made bread) in a wood-fired oven and preserves the tomatoes, capsicums, chillies, olives and quinces from her garden. Cooking classes can be arranged with her by appointment and her bread and preserves can be bought at the Sunraysia Farmers Market. |
 |
 |
 |
Then it was onto Oak Valley Estate where
Joanne and Ferdinando De Blasio make traditional hand-crafted
wines, pickled olives, olive oil, tapenade, jams, dried fruit
and syrups. Ferdinando learnt his wine-making skills from his
Calabrian father and Joanne’s cornbread recipe (which incorporates fresh elderflowers from her garden) comes from her home town of San Nicola. |
After lunch at Rendezvous, a pleasant bistro
which serves a wide range of local Sunraysia wines, it was out
to the spectacular salt flats at Mourquong where tasty pink salt
flakes are harvested for use on gourmet tables. Sunsalt managing
director Duncan Thomson has successfully turned a potential environmental
problem into an up-market food product winning the 2004 Engineers
Australia National Salinity Award for his efforts towards salinity
reduction. Water is pumped from an underground saline aquifer
onto the flats - the hot Mildura sun causes the water to evaporate,
producing 15,000 – 20,000 tonnes of salt a year. A freshly squeezed orange juice at Orange World
helped to quench our thirst after the tour of the salt flats
and it was here that I saw one of the biggest oranges I’ve
ever set eyes on, a late Lane navel which was 1.5cm in diameter. Maria
and Mario Mammone run this picturesque citrus property and tourist
park and sell a range of delicious home-made citrus marmalades
and products from their shop front. Don’t miss the very more-ish crunchy pistachios produced by “Just Go Nuts” – their chilli pistachios are great on salads and in stir-fries; the Ishwinroo farmed Murray Cod and golden perch; Robinvale Estate olive oils and olives; organic dried fruits and fresh fruit vegetables. The breakfast’s pretty good too. |
 |
 |
And while you won’t get to cycle around the district with Stefano, make sure not to miss a meal at his charming intimate restaurant in town. There’s even a gondola made by local artist Dimitri Nicka at the entrance.  |
FACT FILE Mildura Visitor Information
Centre Sunraysia Farmers Market www.orangeworldmildura.com.au Trentham Estate – for a wonderful lazy lunch by the river – and make sure to taste some of their award winning wines. www.trenthamestate.com.au |
|
