Central Victoria and Summerfield

Since we are on the mailing list for Summerfield winery, we received an invitation to sample two new releases of special wine. Saieh 2012 and Sahsah 2012 are made by Mark Summerfield and named for his two daughters. Saieh was first produced in 2008 when Saieh was a baby. This year is the first release of a label for Sahsah, who must now be around 3.

The two girls were on parade: Saieh is quite chatty, Sahsah still shy.
We had a stopover in Ballarat at a comfortable B&B on the main road into town. For dinner we chose Pipers by the Lake at Wendouree.

We thought that the chef is talented, and the setting wonderful, but the service needs a further period on trainer wheels.
We lingered in Wendouree in the morning for the small farmers' market by the lake, now comfortably full.  The bed had been dry for years until the 2011 rains ( there was a story that at one point the only water there was when the CFA had quell a grass fire). It is very pleasant walking among the friendly swans and other teeming birds. We then strolled through the adjacent Botanical Gardens, which has an avenue with a bust of every Prime Minister up to Kevin Rudd. We read that Julia Gillard's is ready to add.

We passed along Lake Learmonth on our journey north, and while it's a pleasure to see it is a lake at the moment, it is receding.

The wine tasting was accompanied by some generous beef slices and lamb chops, grilled by the winemaker Mark as we chatted, and accompanied by Japanese inspired sauces. Mark assures us that his reds are particularly suited to accompany Japanese flavours. On the day we were most impressed by the aromatics of the Sahsah shiraz.

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