A remarkable afternoon of Irish Australian Folk and Rock, Joadja wine and wood-fired pizza kicks off at 1pm on Saturday 28th January!

The band is Shameless Seamus and the Tullamore Dews, comprised of Australian and Irish music royalty:

Jim Moginie – founding member, songwriter and guitarist for the ARIA Hall Of Fame recipients Midnight Oil,

Alan Healy – who has performed with many Australian and international artists including The Dubliners, Christy Moore, Wolf Tones, Fureys, Foster and Alan, Mary Black, and Stockton’s Wing,

Lefty Wright (Stephen Coburn) – a founding member of ARIA Hall Of Fame inductees Mental as Anything, and an accomplished sculptor,

Evelyn Finnerty – from Blarney, Cork, Ireland and member of Blackwater on vocals and fiddle,

Samuel Mogadisco – poet/drummer on cajon and percussion,

Peter Mackie – on bass, and a past member of pre-Wiggles band The Cockroaches.

More details and RSVP on the Joadja Winery website.

the pleasantly rustic Joadja Winery Cellar Door

The Days of Wine, Art & Roses Festival kicks off on November 1st and runs until Sunday 21st 2010. The festival is a treat to all the senses for residents and visitors alike.

The Southern Highlands Wine Trail explores the many boutique wineries in the region, giving the opportunity to find great wines while enjoying the picturesque countryside and mild climate of the Highlands.

You can drive yourself around the wine trail, taking advantage of how every winery is just a short drive away through lush farmlands. Or you can join one of the organised Southern Highlands wine tours and let them do the driving for you so you can sample more of the local drop.

Either way you can’t go wrong. The Southern Highlands really are another world, yet they are little more than an hour’s drive from the Sydney CBD.

Plus you can enjoy the beautiful Rose Gardens, and take in the local culture on the Southern Highlands Art Studio Trail.

This fifth Southern Highlands Art Studio Trail event will be held on:

6 & 7 November 2010 – Studios in Aylmerton, Balmoral, Bowral, Braemar, Burradoo and Mittagong.
20 & 21 November 2010 – Studios in Bundanooon,Burrawang, Canyonleigh, Fitzroy Falls, Medway, Moss Vale, Robertson and Wildes Meadow.

There is free entry from 10AM -4PM each day.

Meet local artists and artisans producing paintings, textiles, jewellery, ceramics, sculpture, woodwork, mosaics, bookmaking, ceramics and more.

You can obtain further information from Jenny Kena ph: 02 4868 0855 Mob: 0438 298 989 email: jenny.kena@wsc.nsw.gov.au or by CLICKING HERE

This personal tour started at Sutton Forest Estate Wines,

Sutton Forest wine & food

famous for their Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and antipasto plates. They are right next to the Sutton Forest McDonalds (see my article – Would you like a Chardonnay with that?) but their cosy cellar door with an open fire, fine wine and homemade Tiramasu is a world away from burgers and fries.

Anyone for chess?

Then it was onto the expressway heading north, off at the Berrima exit, cruising through bustling Berrima past Mrs Oldbuck’s famous Jam Shop, cafes and craft shops, turn left at Greenfields Road and left again to Blue Metal Wines. They are named after the local rock, but their barn-styled cellar door is, you guessed it, made of metal (Bluescope Steel perhaps?). Inside, with a trendy cafe and plenty of room to sip wines and chat, they were doing great business.

Next it was back to Greenfields Road and up to Joadja Winery for their Cool Jazz event. Joadja is the oldest and

Jazz in the winery!

 most rustic boutique winery in the Southern Highlands, so it was amazing to see about 100 parked cars flanking the entrance. Inside it was easy to see why: there was a jazz quartet playing in the winery itself, surrounded by relaxed people and tall stainless steel fermentation tanks. You can’t help thinking those Joadja wines are going to have a cool laid-back feel with lingering sax and a hint of trumpet! The cellar door itself was three deep with keen wine tasters, outdoors there was expresso coffee, and everywhere there were people sipping on Joadja’s finest cool-climate wine.

McVitty Winery views

After a couple of enjoyable hours at Joadja listening to the music, and a lunch of Indian food cooked on site, it was time to head just down the road to McVitty Grove and take in the misty valley views from their stylish cellar door and cafe.

A few kilometres closer to Mittagong at Kells Creek we dropped in to Bousaada Wines before going across the road to Tertini, who scooped the pool of prizes at the 2008 Southern Highlands Wine Show.

Tertini Winery tasting

Their cellar door was pretty busy, and we were invited into the winery itself to sample the Tertini range amid racks of patiently aging wine barrels. One of the special treats was to try the new Arneis white, made from a grape variety grown in only a few dozen vineyards worldwide. Notoriously dificult to cultivate, Arneis seems to have taken a liking to the Southern Highlands and is producing prize-winning wines. Meanwhile, the Tertini Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon are also winning medals, and their Pinot Noir took Silver in the Shanghai International Wine Challenge!

St Maur cantina style cellar door

After tasting the full range of wines at Tertini, we continued our Wine Trail adventure via the sophisticated Centennial Vineyards and Southern Highland Wineries at Bowral and Sutton Forest, finishing up close to home at the atmospheric St Maur Estate cantina in Exeter.

Not a bad way to relax on a Sunday!

have a happy meal at the vineyard

Imagine if you could pick up at the drive-thru then set down at a winery cellar door almost under the golden arches.

This parental dream sounds way too good to be true.

What if it was at the busiest McDonalds outlet in Australia?

wine & cheese

Unbelievably, this dream does exist, right now, in the Southern Highlands of NSW.

Everyone who travels the Hume Highway south from Sydney knows that halfway to Canberra they pass the Sutton Forest service center, Roadhouse and McDonalds. And for those with children it is a traditional food stop on the way to or from Canberra, the snow, or any other southern destination. So popular in fact, that Sutton Forest is the busiest McDonalds in Australia.

What very few travelers realise is that as you pull out of the Sutton Forest McDonalds you can pull into the Sutton Forest Estate Winery. The secret is to ignore the ”local residents only” sign on the access road and just drive into the vineyard. There you can park without getting monstered by coaches and trucks, sit under the trees or inside the cellar door, and try some truly excellent wines.

exit McDonalds and turn in here!

The Lo Russo family who run Sutton Forest Estate Wines have been there for nearly 30 years, and in 2002 they turned to their Italian heritage and planted a range of grape vines including Pinot Noir and SanGiovese varieties. These vines are now producing premium cool-climate wines, which you can taste on your Sutton Forest travel stop, and then take a bottle or two of your favorites home with you.

And, if you are touring the southern portion of the Southern Highlands Wine Trail, Sutton Forest Estate Wines is easy to find - just look for the golden arches!

St Maur's cantina style cellar door

Towards the southern end of the Southern Highlands Wine Trail is St Maur Estate, a unique vineyard and cellar door with the feel of a Northern Italian cantina. 

St Maur is at the corner of Old Argyle Road and Sallys Corner Road at Exeter, about five kilometers from the well known Sutton Forest service center, Roadhouse and McDonalds on the Hume Highway halfway between Sydney and Canberra. The estate itself goes back nearly 200 years to the days of the famous Australian explorer John Oxley. Since 1976 the land has been owned by the Panizzutti family, who planted the St Maur vineyard.

St Maur Chardonnay

The St Maur cantina cellar door is a delightfully atmospheric place to stop for a glass of wine and a chat, and the wines are among the best in the Highlands. Best known for their Pinot Noir, which is stocked by some of Sydney’s finest restaurants, St Maur also produces a Cabernet Merlot and an outstanding Chardonnay.

How about at the first winery established in the Highlands!

The Joadja Vineyard and Winery  is the original, and according to many the best, winery in the Southern Highlands. It has one of the most attractive and rustic “cellar doors”, and as you would expect from a vineyard and winery that has been in operation for over 20 years, the wines at Joadja are of consistently high quality.

Joadja started the whole cool climate wines movement in the Southern Highlands, and they now produce a wide range of wines and even liqueurs. Their flagship wine is the Joadja Cabernet/Malbec, and their Sauvignon Blanc is a multiple medal winner. Joadja also produce Cabernet/Merlot, Cabernet/Sangiovese, Chardonay, Rose and more.

And what about those liqueurs? Joadja Brambelini is a fruit liqueur made from fresh local boysenberries. It is not only good to drink: an elegant bottle of Brambelini makes an excellent and unique gift.

Then there is  Joadja Autumn, a late picked, lightly botrytis Sauvgnon Blanc that is sweet, smooth and refined – perfect for summer.

With all the fine wines at Joada, the best bet is to drop in there and try them for yourself..

Plus you can order online from their website at www.joadjawinery.com.au.