Gourmet dining, superb wining and top local produce – the regional centre of Orange in Central Western New South Wales has it all. Except oranges.
At first glance Orange seems a typical country town; you’d expect a steak and a schooner to be standard fare. There are lots of pubs and parks, car yards and cafes – and the ubiquitous Chinese restaurant in the main street. But the Orange region of Central Western NSW has a well-deserved reputation for quality food and wine. Locals are more likely to be found tucking into duck confit and enjoying a local pinot.
The regional produce will knock your socks off – everything from apples, cherries, figs, raspberries, mushrooms, honey, hazelnuts and beef to venison and even truffles (strangely, no oranges, though: the climate’s too cool for them and the city was actually named after the Dutch Prince William of Orange). If that’s not enough, the restaurants are remarkably good (five made the 2008 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide) and there’s a burgeoning cool-climate wine industry producing an impressive variety of high-quality wines.
Cool climate? Absolutely. Locals point to the four seasons, which is a nice way of saying in winter, wear your woollies. In spring, the rolling hills are covered in cherry and apple blossoms, while in summer visitors are greeted by a canopy of green vines laden with tight bunches of grapes ready for harvest in April. Autumn brings a kaleidoscope of colour – yellow, oranges and reds amid the greens, and in winter snow carpets the ground and fog shrouds the dormant vines. In this part of the world, the countryside is every bit as dazzling as the produce that comes from it.
It’s been enough to lure scores of tree-changers with a penchant for fine food and wine, including former food editor of Australian Gourmet Traveller Kathy Snowball. “I wanted a place with four distinct seasons (tick that box) and my husband Peter is mad about wine. I also liked that there was a passionate and committed food community here,” she says.
The highlight of this foodie scene is the Orange Region Farmers’ Market, held on the second Saturday of every month. Here you can chat to the growers who picked or pulled the produce out of the ground the previous day, taste local venison sausages hot off the barbie, compare olive oils, honeys and jams, and load the boot with boxes of gourmet provisions.
For those who can’t make it to the Farmers’ Market, there are farm gates aplenty including Hillside Orchard (apples and pears year-round, and pick your own cherries from November to January); Norland Orchard, which sells fresh figs from January to March; and you can pick your own berries in summer at Huntley Berry Farm. Millthorpe Truffles runs a farm-gate tour each July, followed by a four-course lunch at Tonic Restaurant featuring the delectable black beauties. There are several good providores in town, the first-rate M&J Butchery, and Manners and Borg – former chef Michael Manners’ store, which sells takeaway gourmet meals.
Whatever you do, leave room for a case or two of wine. Over the past 20 years, Orange has established itself as a serious cool-climate wine region with about 40 wineries producing a surprisingly vast range of varieties – and doing it very well – including chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, riesling, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and shiraz. Pinot gris, gewürztraminer and zinfandel also show promise.
Just ask Philip Shaw, once chief winemaker for Rosemount and Southcorp, and a two-time International Winemaker of the Year. With that pedigree he could have chosen any Australian wine region to live in, but opted for Orange.
“I spent a number of years trying to find the ideal region for chardonnay and pinot noir, and chose Orange mainly because of the ideal soils and climate conditions. The beauty and diversity of the region is a plus. Orange is showing huge potential as a wine region. Most of the varieties planted show strong, vibrant varietal characters with elegant, intense fruit structures. Even though some vines are now more than 20 years old, generally the region is still young and evolving.”
Shaw makes wines under his own label at his Koomooloo vineyard and his living room operates as the cellar door on weekends. You’ll find most of the cellar doors in the area are very laid-back and hospitable – many open only on weekends or by appointment – and more often than not you’ll be served by the winemaker. Chatting to one of Australia’s most-respected winemakers in his open-plan living room as he explains the characteristics of the six wines he’s lined up on the kitchen benchtop (including the No.11 chardonnay, which is served on Qantas Domestic Business) makes for a very intimate – and memorable – cellar door experience.
A similar encounter awaits at Bloodwood, the first vineyard established in the area in1983 by owner/winemaker Stephen Doyle. His flagship Schubert chardonnay and late-harvest Noble riesling have won accolades, but check out the shiraz, which says “sans viognier” on the label – Doyle’s tongue-in-cheek comment on the current craze for shiraz viognier.
Patina winemaker Gerald Naef, who hails from California, offers another home-based cellar door experience. After sampling his top-shelf chardonnay and pinot in the sunroom, you can enjoy (and buy) the artworks – by his wife Angela Naef and Georgia Mansur – displayed on the living room walls.
If there’s still room in the boot, head to Canobolas-Smith (a well-established winery producing the acclaimed Shine Reserve chardonnay and flagship Alchemy blended red) and Cargo Road Winery, where you can also admire paintings by local artist Tanya Loviz while wine-tasting. Unlike other wineries, winemaker James Sweetapple is strongly pushing the zinfandel variety, though his sauvignon blanc has won several medals.
Another not to miss is Borrodell on the Mount. The dirt drive up to the 1000m-high vineyard is steep, but the bucolic views from the cellar door and Sister’s Rock restaurant make dodging a few potholes a small price to pay. The other option is to arrive by helicopter: owner Borry Gartrell has put in a grass helipad to accommodate high-end tourists from Sydney. You can easily fritter away a few hours here, sitting on the balcony overlooking the Towac Valley enjoying Scottish chef Alan Meaney’s slow-cooked pork belly with pomegranate jus.
There are several other excellent dining options – all with one thing in common. The chefs are passionate about transferring produce from paddock to plate.
Orange’s trailblazer is Selkirks. Legendary chef Michael Manners put Selkirks on the gastronomic map after opening in 1997 and twice being named best regional restaurant in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide. Following Manners’ retirement in 2007, brothers Cameron and Euan Macpherson took over the stoves and their seasonal mod Oz menu continues to pull the crowds. There’s a good wine list as well, concentrating on local producers, to complement dishes such as Mandagery Creek venison sausage with walnuts, prunes and spiced rice pilaf.
Another long-standing favourite is Lolli Redini. Chef Simonn Hawke’s carefully crafted modern Italian/Australian food has earned her seven consecutive chef’s hats and this place is popular for good reason. The interior is cosy with red banquettes and white linen-topped tables, the staff welcoming and the food top-notch. How does house-made squid ink tagliarini with slow-roasted tomato passata, grilled Eden sardines, chilli, basil and lemon sound?
Quickly becoming the hangout for winemakers and foodies, after opening in 2006, the Union Bank Wine Bar is a chic wine bar/café. The menu is small, with antipasto and cheese platters on offer all day along with rib-sticking favourites such as Manners and Borg sausages and beer-battered flathead with chips. The local-leaning wine list is compiled by manager Nick Butler and wine writer Peter Bourne (another who swapped the pace of Sydney for the pinot of Orange), who holds tastings and wine courses in the building out back. An outdoor courtyard has live music in the warmer months and a new wine store where you can try and buy a range of local, national and international wines.
Just outside town, the School House Restaurant at Mayfield Vineyard is an exceptional lunchtime spot. The 100-year-old former schoolhouse overlooks a lake that is home to a gaggle of geese, with the Mayfield vines stretching out beyond. Settle in to enjoy the view and chef Shaun Arantz’s French-style cuisine, such as oxtail soup with braised oxtail dumplings, and a bottle of Mayfield’s second label, Icely Rd sangiovese.
Make sure you detour to nearby Millthorpe, a quaint village 20 minutes’ drive from Orange, to dine at Tonic. Talented chef Tony Worland (who has worked with Michael Manners, Matt Moran and Gordon Ramsay) transformed a former general store into a fine-dining establishment in 1993 and has been awarded a chef’s hat four years in a row. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable dining experience with oodles of space between tables, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the town’s heritage buildings and a menu with a strong regional influence. Pancakes with berries and vanilla cream are a hit for weekend brunch and local Blayney pork loin with parsnip puree, French lentils and braised trotter a popular dinner choice.
The locals’ commitment to their food and wine is reflected in the town’s marketing moniker – Taste Orange – and in the annual food and wine festivals, including Taste Orange@Bondi (September), Orange Wine Week (October) and Orange FOOD Week (April).
If you’re planning a visit during one of the festivals you’ll have to book well ahead. The most upmarket accommodation option is the boutique De Russie Suites on tree-lined Hill Street. It’s within walking distance of the restaurants in town and offers a range of top-notch self-contained apartments, from studios to three-bedroom family suites. All have five-star fittings, king beds, cable TV, kitchenettes and wireless broadband. The 4½-star Cotehele is another popular option for those who like traditional B&Bs and it’s right next to Selkirks. Enough said. The gracious 19th-century Victorian building was a former magistrate’s house and has been lovingly restored. If you prefer to stay out of town, Black Sheep Inn is a 100-year-old shearing shed 9km from Orange that has been converted into five immaculate guest suites.
At just under a four-hour drive from Sydney, Orange has all the right ingredients for a gourmet getaway. But take care. Like those tree-changers Kathy Snowball and Peter Bourne, once you get a taste for the fresh flavours of Orange you might not be willing to leave.
Orange Information Centre
1800 069 466 (Toll-free Australia only).
Cellar door guides available from Wines of Orange.
Stay
Black Sheep Inn
91 Heifer Station Lane.
De Russie Suites
72 Hill Street.
The Magistrate’s House Cotehele
177 Anson Street.
Eat & Drink
Lolli Redini
48 Sale Street.
+61 2 6361 7748.
Website
Selkirks
179 Anson Street.
+61 2 6361 1179.
Website
Sister’s Rock
Borrodell, Lake Canobolas Road.
+61 2 6365 3128.
Website
The School House Restaurant
Mayfield Vineyard, Icely Road.
+61 2 6365 9295.
Website
Tonic
Pym & Victoria Streets, Millthorpe.
+61 2 6366 3811.
Union Bank Wine Bar
Sale & Byng Streets.
+61 2 6361 4441.
Website
Source: Qantas The Australian Way September 2008