11 Jan : Canberra & Canberra District Wine
Well, the wine tasting at cellar doors (tasting rooms) as begun. And it'll only get more insane as we hit the warm wine regions.
+Jill and I began the day with a nice 5k+ run in 70-ish degree morning heat. Hot for Seattle-ites but we chose this weather as a means to escape the grey winter so we can't complain. After cleaning up, we drove to the town/village of Murrumbateman which is kind of the center of the Canberra District Wine region. It was lunchtime so we went to "Flint in the Vines" which is at Shaw Vineyard Estate. Our glasses of wine weren't that memorable, but the food was delicious and interesting. We had a pizza that had pumpkin and chili sauce with pine nuts, bleu cheese, and spinach on it. We also shared a chicken dish with quinoa, corn, pomegranate, and a side of carrots with jamon and sage.
For our first stop tasting, we went to Eden Road which is known for Riesling and Shiraz. We learned a lot about the region and tasted some good stuff. 2011 was a particularly wet and challenging vintage for this colder climate region. I really enjoyed their peppery Canberra Shiraz. These folks have a US distributor in NY and they make a nice cold climate syrah.
The other winery that "everyone" has told us to go to is Clonakilla. It is the oldest in the area and the classic example of cool climate Shiraz in the Cote Rotie Rhone style. They co-ferment with viognier and the 2011 is blessed with white pepper notes.
We ate dinner at a place in the capital circle at the lake with a view of the ANZAC Memorial across the way. The food was quite good and the wines we ended up with were really nice - a pinot and a syrah. The shiraz was from 1997 and still had a cork - definitely a novelty here. They're probably at 98% screw cap these days in Australia.
The service at this restaurant left much to be desired. Apparently after you have chosen, you should close your menu to indicate this. 2 out of 4 of us did this and me just by chance. So they ignored us for what seemed like the longest time. I didn't look at my watch but it was too long. Then after they cleared the 2nd course, we sat for 45-60 minutes waiting for our mains. It might have been longer, but we asked to speak to a manager to see what was taking so long and WHY no one was even stopping by our table at all. Totally weird. They rushed out the mains which half our table had eaten before all 3 sides actually made it to our table.
Overall though, we had a good time in the capital so it was nice to see. Perhaps if the government had been in session, that would have made the bike ride more interesting. Over dinner one night, we heard some amazement at what we are doing together. Paraphrased (and anonymous): "You are spending every minute together for over 3 months. How can you do this? I can't even spend 3 months all by myself." Quote of the trip so far.
+Jill and I began the day with a nice 5k+ run in 70-ish degree morning heat. Hot for Seattle-ites but we chose this weather as a means to escape the grey winter so we can't complain. After cleaning up, we drove to the town/village of Murrumbateman which is kind of the center of the Canberra District Wine region. It was lunchtime so we went to "Flint in the Vines" which is at Shaw Vineyard Estate. Our glasses of wine weren't that memorable, but the food was delicious and interesting. We had a pizza that had pumpkin and chili sauce with pine nuts, bleu cheese, and spinach on it. We also shared a chicken dish with quinoa, corn, pomegranate, and a side of carrots with jamon and sage.
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| Good idea for the Big Green Egg when we return! |
For our first stop tasting, we went to Eden Road which is known for Riesling and Shiraz. We learned a lot about the region and tasted some good stuff. 2011 was a particularly wet and challenging vintage for this colder climate region. I really enjoyed their peppery Canberra Shiraz. These folks have a US distributor in NY and they make a nice cold climate syrah.
The other winery that "everyone" has told us to go to is Clonakilla. It is the oldest in the area and the classic example of cool climate Shiraz in the Cote Rotie Rhone style. They co-ferment with viognier and the 2011 is blessed with white pepper notes.
We ate dinner at a place in the capital circle at the lake with a view of the ANZAC Memorial across the way. The food was quite good and the wines we ended up with were really nice - a pinot and a syrah. The shiraz was from 1997 and still had a cork - definitely a novelty here. They're probably at 98% screw cap these days in Australia.
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| Sunset in the Parliamentary Zone with Int'l Flag Display |
The service at this restaurant left much to be desired. Apparently after you have chosen, you should close your menu to indicate this. 2 out of 4 of us did this and me just by chance. So they ignored us for what seemed like the longest time. I didn't look at my watch but it was too long. Then after they cleared the 2nd course, we sat for 45-60 minutes waiting for our mains. It might have been longer, but we asked to speak to a manager to see what was taking so long and WHY no one was even stopping by our table at all. Totally weird. They rushed out the mains which half our table had eaten before all 3 sides actually made it to our table.
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| Our wonderful hosts, Christine and Ashley |
Overall though, we had a good time in the capital so it was nice to see. Perhaps if the government had been in session, that would have made the bike ride more interesting. Over dinner one night, we heard some amazement at what we are doing together. Paraphrased (and anonymous): "You are spending every minute together for over 3 months. How can you do this? I can't even spend 3 months all by myself." Quote of the trip so far.