roasted to caramel perfection and a decadent
cauliflower cheese.
It truly is a lunch to remember, and although
driving the three-and-a-half hours from
Sydney purely to visit The Zin House may be
totally worth it, it would be a tad extreme.
Luckily there are many other Mudgee
treasures to discover, making the destination
perfect for a short gourmet getaway.
Home to more than thirty-five cellar doors,
Mudgee had its first grapes planted in 1858,
and although it’s perhaps one of Australia’s
less talked about wine regions — famed
mostly for its big earthy reds and beautiful
Chardonnay — there are a lot of young
players who are moving in and shaking things
up. A visit to Short Sheep micro-winery
proves that Kim is not alone in her ‘shortest
distance from produce to plate’ no-fuss
philosophy. Winemakers and spouses, Tony
and Sue, produce small batches with minimal
interference that really showcase the varietals
and the quality of their fruit.
“I call it lazy farming,” says Tony. “We like to
keep things simple and let the fruit speak for
itself. It’s a vineyard-to-glass operation;
everything is done here. We handpick the
fruit, ferment, age and bottle on site. I always
joke with visitors to the cellar door that if
they hang around long enough, I’ll give them
a job to do.”
This lazy farming idea is actually to blame for
the micro-winery’s cute moniker. When
pondering how to avoid having to mow the
rows between the vines, Sue hit on the idea of
letting sheep graze the property to keep the
grass down. Tony wasn’t convinced, saying
that the sheep would eat the vines, but to Sue
the answer was simple: just use short sheep!
A bit of research and determination later, and
the first Babydoll Southdown sheep came to
live — and work — at the vineyard.Originally from England, the thing Tony loves
about Mudgee is that the climate suits many
European-style wines, and taking a journey
from cellar door to cellar door takes on a
whole new feel. “You can basically take a bike
ride through Europe,” he enthuses. “There are
a lot of Italian, French and German styles of
wine that do well here. The warm days bring
colour and the cool nights develop flavour.”Other cellar doors of note include Logan,
with its glass-walled tasting room designed to
make the most of Mudgee’s postcard-pretty
views. They do an amazingly good cheese
platter, which, like most menus in Mudgee
features the beautiful handcrafted offerings
from the local High Valley Cheese Company,
as well as local honey, hazelnuts and a rich
dried fruit ‘salami’. After a tasting, ordering a
glass of your favourite with a cheese platter
and sitting for a while gazing out across the
vineyard is a fine way to while away an hour.Also highly recommended is a visit to Robert
Stein Winery. Its adjacent restaurant,
Pipeclay Pumphouse, is another follower ofA visit to Short Sheep
micro-winery proves that Kim
is not alone in her ‘shortest
distance from produce to plate’
no-fuss philosophy.
Left, top The view
from chef Kim Currie’s
kitchen bench across
the main dining space
at The Zin House.
Left, below The Zin
House dishes are
prepared fresh from
the garden.
Above, top A cheese
platter at the Logan
cellar door is the
perfect pause.
Above, bottom The
Logan sparkling is a
local favourite and
features on many
Mudgee wine lists.G O U R M ET GETAWAY