BRL Continues its Quest for Capital Wine

With the imminent planting of 40 ha of vineyard within the boundaries of the ACT, BRL Hardy is shortly to fast-track the development of the ACT as a significant wine region.

With the deservedly high profile of Clonakilla and the emergence of premium vineyards like Brindabella Hills and Lark Hill, the ACT has already a solid headstart over other emerging regions. Given the high profile the wine has attracted, its greatest achievement to date has perhaps been to provide a substantial component towards the excellent 1996 Hardys Eileen Hardy Chardonnay. This wine has won five trophies, including the best wine of the show, at last year’s Adelaide Wine Show. BRL Hardy has sourced fruit from the area over the past two vintages.

The Australian Capital Territory Government and BRL Hardy Limited has signed an agreement with BRL, for which the first stage is for the company to establish between 100 to 150 hectares of vineyards as a base for a new winery, cellar door sales and tourism facility within the bounds of the ACT.
Stage two will see the planting of a further 100 hectares of vineyards to support the planned growth of the project.

The 2000 tonne vintage processing facility will be established within three years, while the cellar door sales and tourism facility will commence operations from late this year. When fully complete, the new winery will be capable of handing 4000 tonnes of fruit each year.

The cellar door complex is being built adjacent to the Canberra Racecourse and will include a regional wine tourism centre representing the entire Canberra wine industry. A three-hectare vineyard in the centre of the race course is also proposed as part of a separate arrangement with the ACT Racing Club. Its role on what is frankly a rather frosty site is more likely to be decorative than functional.

The winery and cellar door together represent an investment in the region between $15-20 million.

The ACT Government’s part in the deal is to provide an assistance package to BRL Hardy, including a direct grant of land for the tourism facility.
BRL Hardy’s chief executive, Stephen Millar, says his company is particularly enthusiastic about Canberra as a winemaking region, including the local climate for growing premium fruit, and the significant added benefit of international and interstate tourism exposure, especially in the lead up to the year 2000.

My expectation is that Canberra is especially well placed to take advantage of the new-found interest in premium Australian riesling. The 1997 releases from Clonakilla and Brindabella Hills are nothing short of exceptional.
I would expect that its cool nights and continental location are responsible in large part for the racy acidity and crisply defined expression of musky and citrusy fruit of Canberra riesling.

The area’s best chardonnay wines, which must include the component which enters the Eileen Hardy blend and the excellent wines from Lark Hill and Brindabella Hills, reveal tightly-focused stonefruit and apple/pear fruit flavours with the richness and texture sometimes lacking in the wines from the more southerly cool extremities of the continent. With some sound winemaking and a little flair, they could be truly great.

I am less convinced in the cabernet sauvignons of the region, feeling that unless some warmer sites are found, Canberra cabernets will in most years look too green and vegetal. Shiraz, with its tendency to go more peppery and spicy in cooler regions, is far ahead, as the wines of Clonakilla and Brindabella Hills confirm. Some excellent potential exists for pinot noir in the region, as exemplified by the tight, musky and complex wines of Lark Hill. Please login to post comment