“My two friends and I were amongst about 10 or so people who enjoyed the tasting in the Griffin Room, which has a very welcoming fireplace and some comfortable leather armchairs,” writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.

It had been cold all day, with the fog barely lifting and the maximum temperature well below double figures. 

The Hyatt’s kick-off of its complimentary fireside wine tasting was therefore very welcome. Running Fridays at 5pm until August 1, it’s a great way to combat the winter blues. 

For the launch of this event there were five wines from Eden Road, a winery located on the Barton Highway in Murrumbateman but which uses grapes from the broader region.

The wines were presented by Ron Molloy, of Oatley Wines, which represents a large number of wineries, because Celine Rousseau, the French-born Eden Road winemaker had returned to France on vacation.

Ron and I remembered each other from meeting at one of the Riesling Challenge events, but confined ourselves to a handshake rather than a chorus of “Freeze a jolly good fellow”. 

My two friends and I were amongst about 10 or so people who enjoyed the tasting in the Griffin Room, which has a very welcoming fireplace and some comfortable leather armchairs. 

Frost and foremost was the 2023 Canberra Riesling. It had a wonderful citrus bouquet with lime predominant. Light in colour but big on flavour it had a long crisp finish with enough acid that will last a while if stored well. It had a pleasant minerality. It was the favourite wine of the night for one of my friends. 

Second up was the 2023 Long Road Chardonnay. This is a new style chardonnay with stone fruit and subtle biscuit tones with a barely discernible taste of vanilla that derives from time on oak.

It certainly is much less in-your-face than the buttery, oaky chardonnays that were marketed when I first got to taste chardonnay in the 1970s. Pleasant but not memorable. 

The 2023 Long Road Pinot Noir was from grapes grown in higher-altitude vineyards at Tumbarumba and Hilltops. It gave strong forest floor notes that dissipated once the wine was given air. It had a measure of spice in the mix together with a cherry crush on the front palate. It finished with length and richness. This is an elegant wine. 

The Long Road Shiraz was next, the wine that in 2009 won the Jimmy Watson trophy for Eden Road. Its colour is purple/red and the bouquet is a mix of blackberry and pepper. This is a complex wine that has lovely texture, the tannins giving it a velvety finish. At this point in the evening, we wished we’d had what this wine would have paired with well: a great chunk of roast beef. Alas, a meal had to be awaited further in the evening; dinner is like a good joke, it’s all about the delivery. 

The final wine was a 2022 Gundagai Sangiovese. I was looking forward to tasting this wine, as I’d previously found delicious the Gundagai Nero d’Avola produced by Eden Road. The medium-bodied sangiovese is a wine with which you’d settle in for the night. Robust cherry and earthy flavours that sing, with no grippiness in the tannins that some sangioveses offer; it is reminiscent of some styles of Chianti Classico. I admit to having a second taste of this wine, my favourite of the night.

When we were done with goodbyes to dear friends, the cold once more enveloped, with the night bringing yet another below freezing temperature. 

“Friendship is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warm feeling inside.” –Robert Bloch