Here are two of Lerida Estate’s latest releases …..

Lerida Estate 2012 Chardonnay ($25)

On your way to Canberra in 2012, if you drove past Lake George you would have noticed it had water in it. I remember back in the 1980s when the Lake was getting up close and personal to the highway and then it mysteriously disappeared in the 90s. In 2012, I saw it way off in the distance for the first time in such a long time. So I guess that vintage must be significant to Lerida Estate, the winery situated right there on the banks of Lake George.  Having that body of water and a cool but long summer melded to give a Chardonnay that you will want another bottle of.

The cool ripe and tangy grapefruit and white stonefruit are crisp and clean combined with some lightly spiced oak.  A wine with a nice balance, elegantly bodied and long length. There is a lot of finesse in this tightly textured Chardonnay and it will take a couple of years to unfurl some more if you want to wait.

Lerida Estate Cullerin 2013 Pinot Noir ($35)

This vintage had a loads of fragrant appeal in the nose of cherry, mushroom and exotic spice. For me however, it is a wine that needs food to counter the extra alcoholic heat and sweetness. I enjoyed it with the rich sweet sauce of Peking Duck and it came to life with that spiced perfume coming to the fore.