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BETTER WINING THAN WHINGEING IN CANBERRA

Canberra has more interesting places to visit per square kilometre than any other city in Australia. It’s reputation rightly suffered from a past when things were quieter. And whilst Canberra politics doesn’t quite live up to West Wing for the political junkies there is plenty to see and sense.

But when the whingeing of politics wears off, go wining! 23 wineries are within a thirty minute drive of Canberra and they have a remarkable strike rate for producing results well beyond their size.

In the 1990s, I felt reliability of quality was the real challenge to the Canberra Cool Climate wineries. Quality tended to vary within the range of wines offered from any one vintage but there was always a examples from each vintage that signalled great optimism about the future. How well placed that optimism was! Over 2 million bottles of wine are now produced annually. With over thirty years history behind the region, lessons have been learnt. Vine maturity, improved viticulture and building a strong and critical customer base have all contributed to a very strong performance by this region where each new vintage is genuinely look forward to with excitement.

The wineries of the region are clustered in three adjoining areas. Many are set in very pretty Australian bush settings nearby a few small towns or hamlets that are much older than Canberra itself. This provides a lovely historical backdrop and ambience for the most pleasurable of pleasures – wine tasting. Sure beats whingeing!

July 2002

Photo Courtesy BMW Australia