Last night Pialligo hosted their Sunset Drinks, the third event in their ‘The Butcher, The Baker and the Merrymaker’ festive winter events series.

It was an exclusive opportunity to meet winemakers of the King Valley and Rutherglen regions and have a taste of the upcoming August Taste of Two Regions events in Canberra.

In a masterclass for readers of Her Canberra, Wendy Killeen and her daughter Natasha (the seventh generation of Stanton & Killeen wine makers) treated us to their  wonderful range of Muscats one of the only true Australian style wines.

Starting with the Rutherglen Muscat aged 2-4 years, then the Classic, aged an average of 12 years, and finally the Grand and the Rare aged 20-25+ years, we moved to richer and more viscous and luscious wines. We learnt that only the exceptional vintage grapes are used for the Grand and Rare muscats.

We noticed the raisins and rose petals characteristics and the developing complexity and silkiness. And along the way we shared in a little family history – how Norm Killeen married into the Stanton family wines started by Jack Stanton. How Norm was frugal and bought second hand barrels that turned out to have been used for rum, creating a new rum flavoured wine still requested today.

Tanya from Brown Brothers Wines introduced us to their King Valley Prosecco (a region in northern Italy but also the name of the wine as the cuttings have been brought from Italy).

Brown Brothers are market leaders in Prosecco, a wine with a fruitness – apple and pear on the nose, soft and round on the palette and an ‘approachable wine’ that matches well to seafood, fish, sushi and a soft Brie. Available in both vintage and non-vintage varieties, a few of us prefered the sweeter non-vintage.

In Canberra, this Brown Brothers Prosecco is easily available at Palace Cinema.

A wonderful and fascinating insight into the delicous world of wines! If you missed Sunet Drinks you might like to catch the Taste of Two Regions next month!

Fine Eating was a guest of the generosity of Pialligo Estate.