“We tried a large array of table wines on the day, as well as a delightful fortified, a muscat, that was intense and went very well with coffee.” Wine writer RICHARD CALVER visits Gundog Estate.

A friend hounded me about going to the Gundog Estate winery in Gundaroo for Sunday lunch until I finally barked back: “Yes, yes, let’s do it fur real”.

We drove to this small town, only 45 minutes from Canberra, on a hot and intermittently rainy day.

Kieran, the cellar door hand who looked after us, unleashed an array of wines to taste and we ordered food that’s prepared at the adjacent Grazing restaurant.

The cellar door is in the stables that are part of the historic Royal Hotel, from which the restaurant operates.

The cellar door area is exposed wood and old stone, comforting and welcoming. There was no equestrian that this was a renovated space. The cellar door is, of course, dog friendly. 

The winery has another outlet in Pokolbin, in the Hunter Valley, and the wines that are made by Matt Burton are from grapes sourced not only locally (Canberra District and Hilltops) but from the Hunter and the Yarra Valley.

There is a separate range of wines marketed under the name Burton McMahon that are the result of a collaboration with another winemaker, Dylan McMahon, produced from Yarra Valley fruit.

The winery produces more than 30 wines from at least six vineyards, one of which is owned by the winemaker, with the Canberra vineyard owned by his parents. 

We tried a large array of table wines on the day, as well as a delightful fortified, a muscat, that was intense and went very well with coffee providing a nutty, toffee-like contrast to the slightly bitter but very well made cappuccino that rounded off the day. 

Leaving aside the muscat, my two favourite wines were very different in taste.

The first was a young semillon, The Chase 2025. This is from Hunter Valley fruit, with the Hunter being a great place to grow this varietal.

The Chase exhibits the essence of young Hunter Valley grapes of this kind: taut and refreshing with a clean citric character.

In my view, semillon should be drunk young or after at least six to seven years when the wine should become multi-layered and complex.

For now, in its youth this is a wine that goes well with fish and that was demonstrated when we paired the taste with the fish croquette we ordered. It costs $35 a bottle at the winery.

The outstanding wine of the day is a premium wine, priced at $80. We were lucky enough to get a taste of the 2022 Gundog Estate Rare Game shiraz.

Again, this wine is made from Hunter Valley fruit that is obviously of excellent quality. The wine is dark red in colour, with a nose of liquorice, slightly earthy. On taste there’s a light tobacco flavour with deep plum and a peppery finish.

From the flavour profile, you would think that this is a high alcohol wine, like a Rutherglen Warrabilla for example. But it achieves a great depth of flavour with an alcohol by volume of only 13.5 per cent. 

It was a great way to spend a rainy Sunday, and I’ll be bark, uh, back.