Twenty years ago, Canberra’s wine industry began when two CSIRO scientists, quite independently of each other, established vines in the district. Dr Edgar Riek planted ‘Cullarin’ on the gentle slopes at the base of the escarpment overlooking the Federal Highway just a few hundred metres from Lake George. At the same time, Dr John Kirk established Clonakilla Vineyard at Murrumbateman.
The area under vine has increased steadily, if slowly, ever since so that by 1989 – the last year for which I have figures – there were 80 hectares (and still growing) in the Canberra district. Thus, there are no broad acre ventures as we see in areas like Coonawarra and Padthaway.
Rather, viticultural Canberra consists of a series of isolated vineyards with no major aggregations and, therefore, no large-scale production. As far as I can ascertain, the larger groupings of vineyards are the fourteen odd hectares making up the Pankhurst, Harris, Lane vineyards near the Murumbidgee River at Hall.
At its last annual general meeting, the Canberra District’s Vignerons Association agreed on the area’s boundaries, subsequently applying for international recognition of it. Interestingly, there is not a single vineyard within the ACT.
The Canberra district, flanking the national capital, currently takes in vineyards as far south as Eienfield Estate at Yass, south to Chambers at Bredbo and includes Queanbeyan, Lake George, Gearys Gap, the Bungendore Escarpment, Hall and Murrumbateman.
While these widely scattered operations share some climatic and topographical features, it is simply too early yet for any regional style to have emerged nor to say definitely which grape varieties are best suited to the area.
It’s easy to see why the vignerons want to define the area for their own sakes, but I’m at a loss as to why they want a formally recognised boundary at such an early stage of the region’s evolution.
As in so many emerging wine regions, the varietal mix in Canberra’s vineyards is very narrow, but of high quality. Chardonay (16 hectares) and cabernet sauvignon (15 hectares) constitute forty per cent of the total.
These are followed by rhine riesling (14 hectares), pinot noir (seven hectares), and a combined merlot/cabernet franc total of seven hectares. Then comes shiraz, sauvignon blanc, and semillon all between three and five hectares.
All these are outstanding varieties for wine production, the success of each in Canberra seeming to vary with the seaon. But, in general, each has produced good to outstanding wine with some thing of a question mark hanging over pinot noir, a notoriously difficult grape.
Strangely, we’ve got five hectares of that spicy/floral variety traminer. It has a role in the winemakers repertoire, but I suspect five hectares out of eighty may prove too much. I’m told most of it is in Rick Ruker’s vineyard near the Barton Highway. Perhaps it will eventually be grafted over to a more popular variety.
If the majority of Canberra’s wine grapes are of the proven French and German types easily recognised by consumers, John Kirk, Ken Helm, and Edgar Riek all experiment with lesser-known varieties on a small scale. But there is no sign of anyone moving out of the main stream being followed by winemakers Australia wide. Perhaps there’s room out there for something different? An Italian red variety or perhaps a marsanne or verdelho?
For the near future, there is strong evidence of another big lift in the aver age quality of local wines. First, about half the vineyards were planted only in the last five years and are therefore only just yielding first crops. Second, the winemaking skills and equipment available to our winemakers for both production and bottling are vastly superior to what went before.
Recent vineyard plantings benefit from over a decade’s local knowledge acquired by the district’s pioneers. This, plus the best of modern trellising systems as employed, for example, by the Pankhurst/Harris/Lane group is, by all accounts, producing outstanding winemaking grapes.
Winemaking expertise in the area has improved dramatically through knowledge acquired each vintage. More importantly, it has improved through the use of outside professional help and the acquisition by people like Sue Carpenter (Lark Hill) and Roger Harris (Brindabella Hills) of formal winemaking skills at university.
From my encounters with Canberra’s wines, Lark Hill was the first of the locals to achieve complete reliability in totally estate-grown, made-and-bottled, wine.
There is every sign that a similar success is quickly being achieved by several others. Thus, with the annual winerywalkabout coming up for the October long weekend, Canberra’s wine drinkers may venture forth with growing confidence of discovering outstanding homegrown wines.
First published 15 September 1991 in The Canberra Times
Copyright Chris Shanahan 1991 and 2026