Love is the drug (Canberra)

Today, my dear reader, Canberra reminded us that Australia does, in fact, have more than 3 seasons and winter is a thing. Even if it was just a subtle nudge. The westerly winds didn't help at all and tomorrow morning is supposed to drop to zero. I don't remember the last time I experienced that ... perhaps Beijing in another life.

And so, what to do in the national capital? Another museum? Art gallery? Cruise the lake? Nope. Wine tasting. If you are looking for a modern day challenge, try organising four wine tastings across the Canberra Wine Region, that includes lunch. Everything must be pre-booked, which means estimating travel times, as well as how long a tasting might last. It would have been easy to just pick Murrumbateman and do four wineries there, but that was no challenge. So we start in Murrumbateman, head to Gundaroo for a tasting with lunch, and finish up in Majura on the outskirts of Canberra. Sit, back, pour a glass of something nice and read on.

There's that museum again.

There are so many wineries to choose from in the Canberra Wine Region, most of them in NSW. Internet research kept throwing forward about eight or so. After some reading and cross referencing, I came down to four, although one was because we are members of their Hunter establishment. In hindsight, perhaps I should have stayed with the original 5, but distances and a relatively unknown area, made me conservative. Ah, dear reader I laughed as I wrote that. I wonder if it will survive editing.

Bike art. Any winery with this style is a winner.

Here's a life lesson, my loyal reader - don't use Google Maps' time estimates of travel that are taken at variance with your time of expected travel - they can be significantly disparate. As I learned. 45 minutes easily becomes 30. As a result, we were 30 minutes early to our first appointment - a combination of time shifting Google and breakfast not lasting as long as anticipated, due to an insipid cup of long black. 

My morning coffee is an existential experience and, it appears, making one is more complex than quantum physics, otherwise there would be less variability. I consider it a personal challenge to procure a decent coffee while travelling. Jayne has given up and mostly opts for hot chocolate. The coffee, this morning, resembled coffee, in that it was black-ish and warm and served in a cup. It had neither crema nor flavour. Like deliberately singing off-key, it takes talent to destroy a long black. Half a cup of hot water and a double shot of coffee. I suspect this morning's coffee was constructed 'Starbuck's' style: coffee first and then water. Philistines!

First stop

I digress. Unusual I  know. Since retirement, my mind tends to wander. Where was I? Oh, yes, wineries. Our first stop was Shaw Wines. The 'net reviews rate the wines and experience well, but the god of wine, James Halliday, only gives them 4 stars. Harsh. Anyway. They were most welcoming, despite our early arrival. Tastings are so civilised these days; sit down tables, individual service. It appears Covid was good for something. Have I mentioned that before?

The view from our table.

We enjoyed their wines. Just about the whole suite and would certainly recommend a visit. They have a great set up, the staff are friendly and knowledgeable, the view is beautiful. What more could you want? A wine club? Funny you should ask, they have one of those too. I may or may not have joined.  OK, I joined. We were both quite taken by the experience. Jayne remarked about the excellent start to the day as we walked to the car, with a dozen bottles in my arms. "It can only go downhill from here," I quipped.

Our next stop was Clonakilla, the only winery in the Canberra region, to make it into the Top 50 Wineries of Australia. I'm not sure how the rating system works, whether a winery opts in or out, or whether you need to present so many wines, but it is a thing and is easily discovered on the web. That rating is what brought us there. That rating is what made us leave disappointed.

Random shot from Mayfield to break up the words

Last year's fires ravaged much of the east coast of Australia and one side effect, putting aside the obvious devastation at so many levels, was widespread smoke taint to the grape crops. Many wineries across the country were unable to produce wines made from their own grapes and imported grape juice from the few unaffected areas. Clonakilla produced a Viognier from Eden and a Chardonnay from Tasmania. Neither came home with us. Nor did either of their straight Shiraz; we found these wines underwhelming in bouquet and taste. We did purchase the signature wine, the Shiraz-Viognier blend, but, in essence, it was a sympathy purchase. We were rather underwhelmed by the whole experience here, after really looking forward to it. Once again it proves that taste in wine is really a personal choice.

On to Gundog and lunch at their (reasonably) new cellar door and next door restaurant collaboration. Does that sentence even make sense? Normally I wouldn't have stopped here, but I was keen to see the restaurant. So, yeah nah. The wines are good, but I know that already, I've already sampled some from this year's tasting packs and other orders. The food from the restaurant ... yeah, but, I didn't need the wine tasting experience to go with it and probably would have enjoyed the long-lunch experience better. That said, the tasting room is great and the open fire most welcome on a blustery day, and we bought a few bottles. Despite being a member, I didn't know they made a Rutherglen Muscat. But, I do now. Yum!

The last stop for the day was Mt Majura Wines, but we were waaaay ahead of schedule and decided to take the scenic route via Bungendore. We thought we might wander the town and see what there is to see. Not a lot, as it turns out, so on to the winery.

Mt Majura is interesting. It's on slice of limestone - champagne country, dry wines. Apparently it was a sheep farm. No, really. Oh, yeah, Canberra was a sheep farm (now it just attempts to create sheep). And then some CSIRO dude comes along and suggests to the owner it would be a great vineyard. "You can guess the rest". Hence the title of today's post, Roxy Music circa 1975. How cool was Bryan Ferry back in the day?

Random flower to break up my ranting

Sorry, where was I? Um, the wine tasting at Mt Majura. Another sit down tasting with a charcuterie plate with individual attention. The garlic infused feta was excellent and the manchego was pretty good too. However, food alters the taste of wine on the palate and tasting wine without food makes me very picky about what I might buy. I enjoyed the plate but they probably lost potential purchases because my palate was flavoured. In the past, the wines I've purchased at the end of the day when my palate would have have been most jaded, turned out to be totally excellent because I was super judgemental.

So, here I go for a rant. Ok, I'm old. I get it. And it's not like young people don't know stuff, but, like, I know stuff too and they are unable to interact, if you take them off script. One of my superpowers has been to engage in conversation at my table while also taking in fragments of conversations around me. Should anything interesting pique my attention then I'd hone in. I didn't need to use my superpower to hear the same spiel from our host at every table. I understand the "industry" perspective, but back in the day (yeah, yeah) we'd go to a winery and speak to the winemaker or someone closely associated with the winery, or somebody passionate about wine, not an hospitality worker. 

That bloody museum again

Anyone can learn a script - look at the PM, and it appears this is what Canberra operates on. From the overpaid, overblown politicians down to the, I suspect, underpaid guides at the museums and even the staff at the wineries. It is faux life. But that's Canberra too I suspect. I'm not having a shot at the staff at any winery. They were lovely and welcoming and everything they should be, but where is authentic? What is that my astute reader, Canberra? Oh, I see, yes, Canberra is not authentic. 

And on that note, I shall step down from my soap box until tomorrow. You see my dear reader, I too lack authenticity, I am writing this a day after it occurred and the events of today have somewhat coloured my words. That or the bottle of Grüner Veltliner I have been drinking in the delightful afternoon sun. Time will tell.

Until tomorrow.