|
SPECIAL REPORT
|
|
YARRA VALLEY'S
|
|
CHATÊAU YERING
|
A BOUTIQUE HOTEL SURVIVES AN UNTAMABLE COUNTRY
|
BY MARIKA MCADAM |
An hour from Melbourne but worlds away, Chateau Yering is situated in the Yarra Valley, a famed region in the heart of the Victorian countryside and at the forefront of Australian wine culture. This boutique hotel is a cut above its contemporaries, but its real charm is the old world/new world contrast proudly earthed in the rural life of the region. |
|
|
|
Though Chateau Yering's opulent dining room is laden with antique brass light fittings and high-backed chairs, it looks out over an uncultivated slice of the Yarra Valley. High tea is taken under the hand-painted ceiling of the Drawing Room, but the dairy cows in the paddocks out back are blissfully oblivious.
Indeed, humble roots are revered here; three brothers and four convict stockmen chose to graze their 250 head of cattle on this land in 1837. They built a small homestead at a bend in the Yarra River and planted the vine cuttings which led to Victoria's first vintage in 1845. The property was purchased in 1850 by Swiss immigrant Paul de Castella who converted the rustic property into a mansion. With the assistance of his botanist friend Baron von Mueller (who founded Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens), de Castella extended the gardens which would go on to be listed for protection by Heritage Victoria. After a succession of owners and division of the property among farmers and winemakers, Chateau Yering's current owners acquired the remaining property in February 1996 and set out to realize their dream of creating world-class opulence in this wild southern terrain.
WHAT IS GREAT BECOMES MIGHTY In this vast and tumultuous country, life and commerce take place at the behest of the land. On a fine day, the songs of stirring birds chase away morning mists, as hot air-balloons silently survey the patchwork of fields at sunrise. At its afternoon crescendo, the Australian sun blazes with its infamous life-giving and life-threatening furor. The land and the life on it breathe sighs of relief as the sun subsides. Wine glasses clink on terraces in the tepid dusk and the evening is serenaded by cicadas. Chateau Yering would stand alone anywhere in the world for its remarkable style, service and cuisine, but its setting in the Yarra Valley is its greatest asset.
But on a harsh day, Australia's Great Outdoors can turn from being a great asset into an extraordinary liability. What are great outdoors become mighty. All-powerful. Fierce and unforgiving. Bushfires are common in Victoria; they're nature's way of both renewing itself and reminding mankind that it can never be second guessed. The bushfires that took place on 7 February 2009 were so unfathomably extreme that the day has been etched forever in the Australian psyche as ‘Black Saturday' - a day that cost 173 lives and turned many of Victoria's most beautiful natural enclaves into hellish infernos.
(continued...)
|
|
|
|
|
"There are two stories to Chateau Yering now" says Sue O'Brien, Chateau Yering's General Manager, "There's the story before the fires and there's the story after the fires."
CREATING CHATEAU YERING Set in two separate wings attached to the renovated heritage house at its core, the 32 distinct suites of Chateau Yering demonstrate love of detail. Interior designer Elly Milner sourced furniture and fabrics from around the world, meticulously restrained in her selection so as to complement rather than detract from the natural surroundings. Len and Elly Milner opened their hotel in September 1997, with two silent partners. O'Brien came on board in 2000, her mission; to get Relais & Chateaux to take notice of this unwaveringly confident but respectfully modest hotel in the Yarra Valley. There are only four Relais & Chateaux properties in Australia - Chateau Yering became one of them in 2001.
There is no question that O'Brien is proud of what Chateau Yering has achieved. When asked about competition in the area, she does not hesitate in saying "There is none. There is nothing like Chateau Yering in the region, or in Victoria, or in the country for that matter."
In this tight-knit community, competition is a word rarely used. Like other business managers in the region - whether of wineries, hotels or restaurants - O'Brien doesn't just promote her business, she promotes the region. The Chateau's acclaimed Eleonore's Restaurant and its Sweetwater Cafe make use of local produce and serve local wines, while local wineries send visitors to Yering.
Neighbourly relationships were never more tested than on Black Saturday, when O'Brien and the manager of Yering Station winery next door decided that if the need arose, the 120 wedding guests she was hosting would be evacuated to the cellar of the winery along with the guests of the wedding being held there. It didn't come to that, but there were moments when O'Brien feared it would.
AUSTRALIA'S NOT-SO-GREAT OUTDOORS Normally chic in a style befitting the Chateau, O'Brien spent Black Saturday in runners and a t-shirt dashing around the property dousing spot fires with buckets of water, intermittently updating guests. Initially she thought that the property and the people on it were safe because of the road dividing the property from the fires in front, and the Yarra River flowing between the rear of the property and the fires advancing from the North-east. "When I understood how fast the fires were moving and how far they were jumping, I realized that the river would do nothing."
Fires were indeed crossing roads and rivers; those in Christmas Hills to the West sent embers to paddocks in front of the property, igniting hay bales one after the other. O'Brien later learnt that temperatures reached 48.5 degrees Celsius that day and that fires were travelling more than 60 kilometers per hour. As she rushed from spot fire to spot fire defending the heritage-listed gardens, she was fueled by a thought; "These gardens have been here since the 1800s - they can't have survived this whole time only to be destroyed on my watch!"
The gardens were not destroyed. Chateau Yering and the people on it were unharmed. Closed roads meant that help was delayed but after a couple of firemen broke police lines to get to the property, they saw how imminent the danger was and quickly deployed emergency services to keep the fires at bay. Aerial photos printed in Melbourne newspapers in the following days show just how vulnerable Chateau Yering was, surrounded on all sides by razed black paddocks. Many of the Chateau's staff spent the long day and night concerned about their own nearby homes. One chef had to stay on the property for eight nights because he couldn't get home and didn't know what would be there when he did. Another staff member spent the night intermittently working and trying to reach her partner who after 12 long hours was located (and confirmed safe) in an emergency shelter. Not everyone in the region was so lucky; the smoke billowing over Yering hailed from nearby homes and businesses that were hollowed into smoldering black skeletons.
(continued...)
|
|
|
THE AFTERMATH Months after the fires, Victorians are still working to meet the needs of those who lost their homes, and some their families. Against the loss of these things, the drastic decline in business is a secondary priority, but the economic impact on the region is profound.
In the six to eight weeks after the fires, people were not being encouraged to return to the region, but staff received full wages during this time. On top of this, O'Brien explains; "Because we sustained no damage, we received no compensation. We don't benefit from fundraisers or government hand-outs because we didn't lose anything." But like many in the region, Chateau Yering has lost business.
O'Brien candidly explains that before the fires "February and March was when we made the cream to get through winter. This February and March has been worse than any winter." Before the fires, Valentine's Day was one of the busiest times of the year, with Eleonore's restaurant having to turn people away; but the Valentine's Day after the fires saw the restaurant only half full. The same was true for the Easter Weekend, the Thursday and Friday before it uncommonly empty. In the months that have passed since, the Sweetwater Café and Eleonore's Restaurant have almost returned to normal, but occupancy rates still lag; periods that would see 100% occupancy before the fires are now lucky to reach 50%.
RISING FROM THE ASHES O'Brien is hopeful that people will return to the region, particularly after Tourism Victoria launches major campaigns to restore confidence in the region. In the meantime, the sense of kinship that pervades in this community has never been more evident than in the wake of the fires. Local businesses have come together to confront the challenge. Recently Chateau Yering together with Domaine Chandon, Global Ballooning, De Bortoli Estate, Healesville Sanctuary, Yarra Valley Dairy, Yering Station, Tarrawarra, Dominique Portet winery and Medhurst winery pooled resources to promote the region; the joint print advertisement aimed to inform Victorians that the Yarra Yalley is green again and invited them to come back and experience its enduring beauty.
|
|
|
|
With the same bold courage that turned a crumbling historical homestead into a world class hotel, Chateau Yering plans to march heart-first and chin-up through this, its biggest challenge.
Some 18 months before this tragedy occurred, it was decided that the hotel's rates would increase as of 1st of April 2009. O'Brien is adamant; "We are sticking to this. Our product hasn't changed. Our service hasn't changed. The owner is resolute on this and I totally agree."
The 60 staff (30 of whom are casually employed) will be maintained. Though some casual hours have been reduced, Chateau Yering cannot financially afford to reduce staff numbers, and as O'Brien explains, they are too valuable. Staff espouse the ethos of the property, their easy professionalism grounded by distinct and authentic Australian warmth.
O'Brien acknowledges that keeping staff thus and increasing rates as planned is a risk. "But we hope it will pay off in the long run." What this means is that like other Victorians affected by the bushfires, Chateau Yering is investing in the goodwill of those who recognize that the Yarra Valley is a region worth coming back to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DETAILS:
CHATÊAU YERING
42 MELBA HIGHWAY YERING YARRA VALLEY VICTORIA 3770 AUSTRALIA
OWNER: LEN & ELLY MILNER
MANAGER: SUE O'BRIEN
CONTACT: +61 3 9237 3333
WWW.CHATEAUYERING.COM.AU
|
