Canberra Does Wine

I would never have put Canberra and wine together in a thought before.  Just never an area that would have occurred to me to look out for next to the New Zealand Marlborough area, and places like the Clare Valley and McLaren Vale in South Australia, or McClaren Vale and Margaret River in WA.  But our Foodie and Wino weekend for the Human Brochure changed that.

We went out to Grazing on the Saturday for our lunch with matching wines, and then on the Sunday we were taken out to Jeir Creek Winery, and shown some of the wine making processes, and more exciting, given more tastings.

The standout and memorable wine for me on Saturday was from Lark Hill, a Pinot Noir, that was described as having no added preservatives.  And we all know that means no hangover - a winner to look out for!

On the Sunday, the sparkling that we tasted first was my favourite - one from Gallagher Wines, and definitely one you could drink all day at a wedding and not get sick of. That's my test for a sparkling!

The other wine message from our Sunday tastings was that Riesling is better.  I used to find Riesling too dry, and hard to enjoy.  But it seems to be back in the wine world, and Ken from Helm Wines was a very big advocate for it.  And the Half Dry caught my attention in our samplings.

Sunday's tour included time to take in the vast paddocks of vines, and the clear air out in this area outside of Canberra. We also heard about the wine making, and blending, processes in the shed at Jeir Creek, before our tastings began.

Over the weekend we learnt that there are in fact 35 wineries within 35kms of Canberra, and has a long history in the region.  The hot Summers and cold Winters are the perfect climate for some of the wines produced here, and after a full weekend drinking nothing but, I will certainly remember to look out for them in the future!