Wine columnist RICHARD CALVER takes a 10-minute drive from Albury to a warm welcome at Splitters Creek vineyard.

IT was an escape of sorts; I told my friend that it was going to be a little bit like the leopard’s problem. 

Leopards never manage to escape from the zoo. They’re always spotted!

We had decided to walk the edges of the Murray River and the Wonga wetlands as part of a visit to Albury. 

We’d originally started this journey two years before covid had us locked down or limited travel. But a brown snake had stretched itself across the pathway shortly after our walk started. Neither of us was game to move on. So, a return was a good way to extend the weekend and find an escape for three days. 

The wetlands are a genuine attempt to recreate the habitat of birds and other fauna that need floodplain conditions to thrive. Even though the wetlands are smack bang next to the Murray, they are fed by Albury’s reclaimed water. 

The stretches of captured water are fenced off with warning signs, a matter that puzzled us until I did some research later. The Hume Dam was built in 1919 and since that time the Murray River has been used for irrigation. 

The natural flow of the river is changed fundamentally. The change reduces flooding, and many floodplain wetlands and billabongs have dried out, destroying the breeding habitats of local birds and fish. 

The Wonga Wetlands development began in 2000. Using the city’s treated wastewater has helped re-create a flow into the floodplains. It is evident that, escaping behind their fenced-off stretches of brown water, birds are back and vegetation is abundant. 

The day after our long walk around the wetlands and along the banks of the Murray, a rest day was in order. We visited a winery that is a comfortable 10-minute drive from Albury: Splitters Creek vineyard. Stephen Altmeier, the owner, had welcomed our proposed visit when we gave advance notice (they are generally only open to the public on weekends and some holidays) and was a charming host. 

The day was hot but had been preceded by lots of rain, so the property was looking verdant, resplendent with a valley of vines and a rustic brick cottage that has become the cellar door. The place is often used for weddings because of its natural beauty, something revealed from Facebook reviews that I read after the visit. The old peppercorn trees presented an idyll for an exchange of vows. But we didn’t leave!

We had brought wonderful bowls of “tailored” salad that we’d purchased from a specialty shop in Wodonga where there is an abundance of healthy choice, even catering for my friend’s coeliac issues, and we ate and went through Stephen’s list (small sips and relaxed timing). He indicated that, despite his passion and dedication, he had a winemaker, Tony Costin. Together they were a team that had taken Stephen’s interest and turned it into a vocation.

“It’s a hobby that’s gone beyond a hobby,” he said. 

“It’s not an empire. It’s eight acres [3.2 hectares]. Even though the vines were planted in 1998, this has been my family’s property for over 150 years and it is everything.”

Despite the heat of the day, the two fortifieds took my fancy. The first was Dawn, named after Stephen’s mother. It is a lighter style of fortified, hence suitable for finishing a meal on a hot day. It’s fresher than most fortifieds and lower in alcohol than some, at 15 per cent (Morris of Rutherglen’s Classic Muscat alcohol by volume is 17.5 per cent). The contrast was with the Dusk liqueur muscat fortified, which was much more robust and had a classic dried-fruit finish. Both are cigar worthy. 

Stephen was an engaging host in a place that was memorable for its comfort and embrace. You should visit. Or even get hitched there.

“Reality doesn’t impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another.”

– Anaïs Nin