Macedon Ranges
1,364 heat units, fewer than anywhere else on the mainland. Ripening is never guaranteed here, which is exactly the risk that makes the sparkling base and the Pinot Noir worth growing.
Known for
- Sparkling
- Pinot Noir
- Chardonnay
Why Macedon Ranges tastes the way it does
The coolest region on the mainland, high and exposed, where ripening is genuinely marginal. Sparkling base is the safest crop, and in warmer years the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are exceptional. Yields are very low at 1.1 tonnes a hectare.
January averages 20°C here and the growing season adds up to 1,364 heat units, which is cool enough that ripening is never guaranteed.
A short history
Vines were planted in the 1860s and disappeared. The modern region dates from 1968 and has grown slowly, because the climate punishes carelessness.
Macedon Ranges was registered as a protected wine name in 2002, which makes the boundary a legal definition rather than a marketing one.
What your house does to a bottle from Macedon Ranges
A bottle from Macedon Ranges ages at the rate its temperature sets, not at the rate the vintage chart says. Barello's model is the physical one: every 10°C above 13°C roughly doubles the rate, and at 25°C or more you are not ageing it, you are cooking it. Pick where you live and where the bottle actually sits.
Choose a city and a spot, and this line will tell you how much faster the bottle is ageing than it would in a cellar.
This is the same model that dates every bottle in Barello. Open the app to run it against your own wine. Or read how to store wine without a cellar, or the wine temperature chart.
Macedon Ranges in numbers
| Planted vineyard | 215 ha | number 50 of 64 in Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Region area | 2,815 km² | 0.08% of it under vine |
| Grapes crushed | 226 t a year | 1.1 tonnes a hectare |
| January average | 20°C | number 8 coolest of 64 |
| Heat units | 1,364 | warmth added up over the growing season |
| Land in the GI rises | 211 to 1,013 m | the boundary, not where the vines are |
| Registered | 2002 | as a protected name |
Nearby
- Heathcote58 km north, 2.8°C warmer
- Bendigo69 km north west, 2.7°C warmer
- Geelong91 km south, known for Pinot Noir instead
Distances are between the registered centres of each region, so they are as the crow flies rather than as the road goes.
Where these numbers come from
Boundaries and figures: Wine Australia Geographical Indications register, used under CC BY 4.0. Climate figures are the register's own long-run averages, measured in the vineyard. The history and the tasting notes above are Barello's own.