The finer side of Canberra

Much as I was campaigning for the lesser known southern highlands vineyards in the last couple of years amongst my friends, this beautiful region of great produce surrounding Northern Canberra has eluded me, until this past long weekend.

When approached by friends to plan for a surprise birthday trip there, I did mentally wrinkle up my nose, but because I knew I could trust these guys' taste (they know which foods and wine are generally to die for), I decided to throw caution to the wind and go along to see.

The weekend drive began with a massive fog which very quickly cleared up to become clear blue skies for the two days we were there:

We all drove up to Poacher's pantry as the meeting point and also to 'surprise' the birthday boy who was expecting to spend just a romantic brunch with his newly wed wife. Tip for other wives planning similar bonanzas, if your husband is really clued on then, this is no easy feat to pull off. We didn't realy surprise the Birthday boy at all, other than with how good the menu was at Poacher's.


Pictured above from left: Potato and tasty pecorino frittata with a side of bacon, hash brown and yummy green tomato relish; L.F.T -

Poachers smoked mountain pepper lamb, whipped fetta and oven roasted tomato served on rustic style toast and; walking up to the smokehouse cafe

  We stayed at the Redbrow Garden, and was lucky enough to book three of the four spacious lakeside ensuite rooms and had an allocated lounge all to ourselves.



Clockwise from top: Beautiful peony roses; The Dingy you are welcome to take out on the lake; The four guestrooms;  Lakeview from the rooms




We visited the Clonakilla Winery on Crisps Lane first and most the group (even the hard to please ones) took a liking to their reislings. Failing to find the cellar door of Capital Wines afterwards, we headed directly to Shaw Vineyard Estate instead for more wine tastings and the vibrant dishes at their restarant, Flint in the Vines. On the wines, the crowd pleaser here was the Isabel Reisling, but I was pleased to note too that they produce the Laughter series in support of Camp Quality (who I had the luxury of working with very recently and is a charity that is all heart and transparency). On the Food, oh who would have thought that nestled in Isabel Drive in Murrumbateman, nowhere near the coast would we find such delightful seafood creations cooked to perfection as these:



Marinated Prawn & Buffalo Milk Mozzarella/ cherry tomato & fresh basil

Roasted Red Snapper Fillet / roquette, cherry tomato, confit lemon, kipfler potato


 Having feasted on such divine seafood creations, we didn't have room for anymore big meals but was greedy to try more wines. Tis was the reason we were drawn to make the trip to the real cellar door for Capital Wines. This was actually located behind The Royal Hotel on Cork Street in Gundaroo. The Grazing restaurant looks really refined and if I could have a meal there I would (perhaps next time). They boast of an impressive kitchen garden out the back, and they kid you not:

On Capital Wines, one must give the tongue-in-cheek Minister series a go. I loved the easy to drink Foreign Minister which was a light sangiovese with refreshing berry flavours.

I must say that we actually parted ways after Shaw Vineyard with another team setting out to amass local produce for grazing in lieu of dinner. They remained in Murrumbateman and visited Gallagher's cheeses and Robyn Rowe's Chocolates as well as Homeleigh Grove Olives. Between them and our find of the delectable Brasserie Freshly bakes Ciabatta breads and imported Ossau Iraty sheep's milk cheese available for purchase at Capital's cellar door, we were able to assemble a rather gourmet assortment for the night:

The next morning, we woke up Bright and early and hit Helm Wines as soon as we had breakfasted, cleaned and checked out. I was really impressed with their Museum Chardonnay which was released for the Queen's Birthday long weekend and just a buttery drink that needs no accompaniment.

Trying to squeeze another few big Canberran wine labels into our last day there, we treked to Mount Majura Vineyard, but was turned away because we were too big a group of ten and we hadn't called ahead like we did with the other smallish vineyards and so they couldn't accomodate us. Shame.

That was fine though because it made a our tour and tasting at Lerida Estate just that much more delightful and welcomed. Jim showed us around and took us through the delightful wine range they had set out for us to taste. Noteworthy wines were the earthy Josephine Pinot Noir and their yummy Botrytis with hints of honeycomb.



Left to right, Top to bottom: Lerida Cafe's Specials menu, Their wine tastings setup, The East facing vineyard, Mr.HEA's Beef Onion and Tomato pie, Terrine of the Day.



  

I truly think that Lerida Cafe was the highlight of the trip. The Terrine of the day was a Guinea Fowl, Porcini Mushroom and Hazelnut one, perfect with a glass of Pinot Noir ($6.50 extra) and I paid another $4 to upgrade the toasted sourdough in the dish to their advertised Truffle Bread ( a real lux delight). I believe I finished every morsel on that plate.

Whilst I still heart the Southern Highlands, I think it's definitely worthwhile going even further and spending a weekend in the Canberra wine region.

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