A third-generation butcher in Tasmania shares his passion for the trade

For a snapshot in time, we asked eight people around the country to reflect on Australia Now. Here, Marcus Boks, master butcher of Boks Bacon in Tasmania, shares his thoughts on what the global pandemic has taught him.

Keep reading our Australia Now series here.

I live in a little town called Margate, which is over the mountains from the Huon Valley in Tasmania. It’s about 15 minutes south of Hobart. My family are from the Huon Valley, but we have just moved from the Huon to Margate.

Why it’s great to live and work in Tasmania

I’ve lived in Tasmania for 50 years and I’m a third-generation butcher. I have my eldest son working with us now so the fourth generation is entering the business. It’s a family tradition that dates back to my grandfather in the Netherlands.

My Australian family grew up in the Huon valley and with everything that’s been happening in the world, we feel lucky to be here. It feels like a safe haven. There are so many tracks for bushwalking and I love that freedom of setting off into the landscape. The scenery is breathtaking. One of my favourite landmarks is Sleeping Beauty, a mountain that resembles a giant female sphinx lying under a rumpled blanket.

The Huon is a vibrant place to live. I can travel two minutes down the road and be at a secluded beach. I can be fishing or picking oysters the size of my hand off the rocks. We’ve had a lot of mainland people moving down here recently for a sea change.

One of my favourite places to visit is Hastings Caves. It is a massive magical dolomite cave with stalactites and stalagmites and a thermal pool. Not too far is the Airwalk down in the Tahune Forest, which is a big footbridge system that has been built through the trees.

What the global pandemic has taught him

The beautiful scenery and our ability to get back to nature has definitely helped us weather the extraordinary circumstances of the past few years. And in terms of selling Boks Bacon, business has never been better. It’s been a challenge to keep up with the demands. We had to lift production, but I have plenty of good workers, so that wasn’t a problem. COVID nudged a lot of people to seek pleasure in simple things, like artisan produce. Our bacon has no added water, which means more flavour. Boks Bacon is made following an old Dutch recipe that was brought to Tassie in the 1950s. It has developed even more of a cult following during COVID.

Boks Bacon being dry-cured — The first thing to note about Boks Bacon is that it dry-cured and not injected with brine, says master butcher Marcus Boks. (Image: Samuel Shelley)

As a community, we learned a lot during COVID. Tasmania has, in the past, been a bit divided: with Hobart in the south, Launceston in the north, you were either north or south. There was a real divide there. Now that COVID has happened and we closed borders it made Taswegians feel like we were all living in the best spot. It made us get together a bit more and become more of a unified state rather than a state split into two different halves. The only place we could go was within our own state. It has given Tasmanian people a very good reminder about what we have here.

The growth in popularity of food from Tasmania

In the last 10 years or so, people around the world have started to recognise how good the food is coming out of Tasmania. Interstate people have known about just how good the food and wine is here for a lot longer than the Tasmanians. COVID has shifted the focus to products such as ours. People have started looking for local product. They want to support us. A lot of the big producers don’t use Australian pork. The pork we use is all Australian; it’s free-range pork from ethical and sustainable farms in Tasmania and Victoria. Our bacon is 100 per cent Australian pork.

When I offer my bacon to someone who hasn’t had it before, the first thing I tell them is it is dry-cured, so not injected with brine. Some of the mass-produced bacon is injected with 25 per cent to 50 per cent brine, which means you are paying for a lot of water. It’s also already cooked so you lose all the flavour when it hits the pan. Our bacon is cold-smoked. But we developed a no-nitrite product in the past year and we want to eventually move over to doing all nitrite-free. People have started looking at what they are consuming.

Boks Bacon is cold-smoked in a wood-fired smoker using Tasmanian Oak.

I am so proud of the fact our bacon is still made using this old-fashioned recipe. It’s a product that has withstood the test of time. My grandfather came out from Holland with his family in 1951. He had spent a few years in a POW camp and after that he decided he was going to ship the family out and start anew. He came to Australia and he brought that recipe with him. He learned his trade in about 1930 and learned the recipe from an old butcher who learned the craft in the late 1800s. The recipe has gone from my grandfather Johannes Sr to my father Johannes Jr to me and now onto my son Justin.

Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.

But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.

The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

liquid gold barrels at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.

Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.

Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.

Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat , now one of the largest estates.

Meet the new generation of local winemakers

the Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. — The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate , whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor , who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will , who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.

Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.

farm animals atKyneton Ridge Estate — Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”

the vineyard at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.

Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods . “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.

Come for the wine, stay for the food

pouring sauce onto a dish at Lake HouseDaylesford — Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.

For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.

the Midnight Starling restaurant in Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.

The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.

Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

the accommodation at Cleveland Estate, Macedon Ranges — Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Soak up vineyard views from Cleveland Estate near Lancefield , embrace retro charm at Kyneton Springs Motel or indulge in lakeside luxury at the Lake House .

Eating there

Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument , which also has a sculpture park.

Drinking there

wine tasting at PassingClouds Winery, Macedon Ranges — A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds .

the Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar signage — Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Playing there

a scenic river in Castlemaine — Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens , hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.

purple flowers hanging from a tree — Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)