CANBERRA'S reputation as home to some of the nation's driest whites and spiciest reds - wines not politicians - was sealed last night when a winery without a vineyard, run by the Swiss-born son of a former Canberra diplomat, won best new Australian winery in a new national wine award.
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Northbourne Avenue - a road well travelled by the nation's politicians - may soon become a well-worn path for wine lovers thanks to Eden Road Wines, which was named best new winery at the launch of the inaugural Sydney Morning Herald Good Wine awards at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide last night.
The awards also marked the launch of The Good Wine Guide, which joins a stable including The Good Food Guide. The award for the winery, which also won this year's Jimmy Watson trophy for its 2008 Hilltops Shiraz, is further proof the Canberra district has arrived on the international winemaking map.
Nick Spencer, 32, the winemaker at Eden Road, won the nation's top honour in winemaking in the first vintage he produced under his own label in the Kamberra Wine complex, formerly owned by the Hardy Wine Company (now part of Constellation Brands).
Spencer trucks his grapes into the winery, one kilometre from the city centre, from the foothills of the Snowy Mountains in NSW, around Tumbarumba, and the Hilltops region north-west of Canberra, as well as the Canberra district.
As a winemaking graduate fresh from the University of Adelaide, he was on his way to France when he stopped at his parents' home in Canberra and saw the potential for winemaking in hills around the nation's capital.
He got his start at Madew Wines, a Lake George winery then run by the son of a former Queanbeyan mayor, Dr David Madew, one of the area's winemaking pioneers.
Nick Stock, author of The Good Wine Guide, presented last night's awards in which 35 wines and wineries were honoured out of 1250 wines tasted. He said Eden Road wines were consistently at the top of the pack, and Canberra was an area to watch closely over the next few years.
''It's quite an amazing accomplishment for such a relatively new winery to be able to achieve such consistently great quality. Definitely the Canberra district is providing some of the most exciting aromatic white wines like dry riesling and spicy cool-climate shiraz. For a region with a relatively small number of producers they are punching well above their weight in terms of overall wine quality.''
Mr Stock also singled out Hunter Valley winemakers Andrew Thomas, from Thomas Wine Cellars (which won the award for best semillon for its 2006 Reserve Braemore Semillon), P.J. Charteris from Brokenwood Wines, Jim Chatto from Pepper Tree Wines and Mike De Iuliis, of De Iuliis Wines, as winemakers to watch.
TOP OF THE CROPS
Winery of the year - Henschke, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Best new winery - Eden Road Wines, Canberra district
Wine of the year and best shiraz - 2008 Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz, Grampians, Victoria
