Good wine and incredible food are made for each other. Like mac and cheese, or fish and chips. It just makes sense. However most wineries have a limited menu consisting of a simple platter. Now don’t get me wrong, I would eat cheese every day if it didn’t go straight to my thighs. But I really enjoy the experience of food and wine matching, when flavours are paired perfectly together and you’re presented with a more substantial meal. So I was excited to discover that the Capital Wines cellar door offers epicurean tastings of matched wine and food on weekends.
About Capital Wines
Capital Wines is a boutique Canberra District winery and vineyard owned and operated by Andrew and Marion McEwin. It was formally Kyeema Estate, which was established in 1986. When Andrew and Marion purchased the vineyard in 2000, it had plantings of shiraz, cabernet and chardonnay.
In 2002, they extended the vineyard with plantings of merlot, tempranillo and additional shiraz. The cabernet was removed in 2007.
Kyeema Wines became Capital Wines in 2008. That’s when Andrew and Marion expanded the range of wines, which now includes the highly successful Single Vineyard premium range and The Ministry Series.
Capital Wines has a selection of award-winning wines and they have a 5 Red Star rating in James Halliday’s annual Australian Wine Companion.
The Epicurean Tasting
We recently ventured to the Capital Wines cellar door in Hall to experience their Epicurean Tasting. It’s great value for $40, which gives you 4 dishes with 4 60ml glasses of matched wine. You can pay an extra $10, which will give you dessert and matching wine.
Capital Wines vineyard is a short drive away from the cellar door. The cellar door is attached to the Kyeema Gallery where exhibitions are showcased and they changing regularly.
So you can sit in the gallery and enjoy the epicurean tasting while taking in the surrounding pieces of art.
We stopped in at about 12pm on a Sunday and started with some wine tastings in the main room. The lovely Emily was very knowledgeable, giving us lots of information about the wine we were tasting. You can choose to taste some of the wines that aren’t included in the Epicurean Tasting before or during your meal.
After three tastings we made our way into the gallery and were seated at the table ready for the first course.
The first course was a generous slab of gorgonzola cheese drizzled with honey and served with crackers. I’ve never had this combination before and I don’t know if I should thank Capital Wines or not, because I now want to eat it all the time…. The sweetness of the honey cut through the bite of the blue vein, which worked perfectly with the creaminess of the cheese – yum!
This was matched with the ‘Whip’ riesling from the Ministry Series, a crisp riesling with hints of citrus. You need to check out the labels, they’re lots of fun and there’s a little story behind each of the characters. We took a bottle of it home, thanks to this matching.
A piece of hot smoked salmon with wasabi mayonnaise was presented to us next. I prefer hot smoked salmon instead of cold smoked salmon so I was very happy to see the beautiful piece of salmon on the plate. It was a simple but enjoyable dish with a hint of wasabi in the mayonnaise. This was matched with the ‘Abstainer’ rosé, a slightly darker rosé than usual. It wasn’t too sweet and it was nice and refreshing.
We then moved onto the reds. The ‘Foreign Minister’ sangiovese was served with a Tuscan duck liver crostini. I always enjoy a sangiovese, it’s easy to drink and this one was no exception. A smear of the creamy duck liver was spread across the crunchy crostini. It was really well with the sangiovese and it wasn’t as strong as some. We really liked it.
I love shiraz, especially in the middle of winter with a hearty winter dish like a rich tomato-based pasta. The Kyeema Reserve Shiraz was exceptional and it went beautifully with the rich, saucy and flavoursome Italian meatballs.
We decided to go with the extra course and finished with dessert. The orange and almond cake was matched with ‘The Treasury’ late picked riesling. I usually find dessert wines to be overly sweet. Although I’m a huge fan of dessert and sweet food, I’m not usually one for dessert wine. This was different, it wasn’t as sweet and thick as some and the hints of citrus were made for the syrupy orange and almond cake.
They often have two different desserts to choose and they’re currently working on a chocolate one that will be available soon. The menu changes seasonally so you can expect different menus throughout the year.
The Epicurean Tasting is a great experience for any food and wine lover. It’s a great opportunity to spend a few hours indulging in some great food matched with award-winning wines. Capital Wines also some platters available if you haven’t booked, or if you don’t have time to experience the Epicurean Tasting.
Details
Address: 13 Gladstone St, Hall
The Epicurean Tasting is available at the cellar door from 10:30am until 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. You need to make a reservation and the maximum group size is 8 people.
Capital Wines are one of the wineries participating in the Hills of Hall Wine Festival that’s happening on 3rd and 4th November.
The 4th Hall Street Party is happening on Friday 26th October from 4-9pm. The street will come alive and there will be lots of different stalls and entertainment at the event. Capital Wines will be open for tastings.
This is a sponsored post but all opinions are the authors own. Photos by Amelia Bidgood.
Amelia Bidgood
Amelia is the Founder and Editor of Eat Canberra and the Founder and Managing Director of Eat Canberra Food Tours. She's a qualified journalist, presenter, freelance writer and also runs a boutique communications agency working with small business owners on all things social media, content creation and marketing. She's taught cheesemaking classes, judged hospitality and tourism awards, completed the WSET Level 1 Award In Wines, loves to cook and has travelled to 23 countries. She's also passionate about mental health and has recently started studying to become a Counsellor.