Cellar Doors around Canberra

[Benjay]

Can anyone recommend any cellar doors in the Canberra region?

Also, recommendations for restaurants and bars in Canberra would be great.

Cheers

[markg]

Clonakilla comes to mind and Mount Majura ..

[malliemcg]

There are over 40 cellar doors between Collector and Murrambateman - I've only visited a two of these myself - Mt Majura and Lerida. I have always been meaning to visit some more.

There are a few tours that exist and will take you around to a few of them for $85, I'll have to ask the guy who was talking about it over the weekend as he just went on one and was fairly happy. I suppose depending on what you're after it may be worth either waiting for a few more knowledgeable people to post, or grab one of the tourist maps and go off on a merry jaunt checking them out and posting the results back here.

[via collins]

I'd recommend Lark Hill.

Superb wines (Gruner Veltliner and SV especially for me), and lovely people. They're in Bungendore, so I guess that's more like regional Canberra.

Cheers,

[cuttlefish]

If you like riesling, check out "Helm" not too far from Murrumbateman, I think.

[DJ]

Lark Hill. ... and lovely people.

a few of us have had other experiences - I for one won't be back - not that having escape Canberra after 7 years I'm too likely to spend much time down there if I can help it.

Clonakilla and Mt Madjura are the obvious ones - didn't get to try that many as very young children made visiting wineries too much like hard work.

[pstarr]

Mount Majura (in ACT), then head up through town to Eden Road (open during the week). Then heading out in the direction of Hall and Murrumbateman, stop in at Brindabella Hills in Hall, swing back out to the Barton Highway and drive to Murrumbateman village. Take the turn to Clonakilla. After Clonakilla, duck over to Helm (Murrumbateman as well). A separate bit of driving can be had in the direction of the Bungendore escarpment, where you will find Lark Hill.

The first five are doable in one (week) day, no problems (just check who is open which day). Note that a bunch of our good producers don't have cellar doors (Ravensworth, Collector Wines, Nick O'Leary Wines) but you can find their gear on the list at Grazing (Gundaroo, good spot for food) or other retail around town.

Pubs/bars: Wig & Pen in Civic for good microbrew action.
Restaurants: depends on style & spend. Rubicon at Griffith shops excellent and good for decent BYO. Grazing good for local sourcing. Italian & Sons at edge of Civic (CBD) my top for Italian food in Canberra. Thirst for hybrid of new Thai food & wine bar. Poacher's Pantry (off Barton Highway on the way to Murrumbateman from CBR) if you want some local smokehouse product.

[Benjay]

Great help... thanks all.

Cheers

[KMP]

At the end of 2008 we did a quick sampling of the Canberra region as part of a larger tour of NSW, VIC and SA. Having gone to Uni in Canberra (ANU) in the early '70s I can say that access to wineries is way beyond what was available back then. On the '08 trip we were there during their Wine Roses and all that Jazz Festival which is not the ideal time to spend talking to wine makers and/or their tasting staff. We managed to fit in Clonakilla, Helm, Jeir Creek, and Shaw. Perhaps somewhat unfairly I don't recommend Shaw simply because when we were there the place was a madhouse of loud music and even louder customers two deep at the tasting counter; the few wines I tasted didn't improve the mood. Clonakilla was interesting and we did buy a few wines but to be honest, given the hype, I expected more elegance and finesse in the wines. Jeir Creek was OK. Its small but they make a number of wines of reasonable quality. Helm was an expected delight. Halliday describes Ken Helm as "one of the more stormy petrels of the wine industry" and so I was a little apprehensive; Miranda actually stayed in the car but she was recovering from a head cold and was saving herself for Rutherglen. The rest of us trooped in and spend a very enjoyable hour learning how to open a screw capped wine bottle and tasting through the wines with the Rieslings being the standout wines.

We stayed in Yass and had dinner at Schonegg as the sun set with a bottle or two including a Helm Premium Riesling. Restaurant and wine highly recommended.

Mike

[odyssey]

Second that about Ken Helm, a truly interesting bloke, very highly recommend a visit to Helm.

[daver6]

And make that a third about Ken. Big fan of his wines too.