Festival celebrates the grape harvest

Is that fruity cinnamon toast in the air or is it the scent of a wine harvest? John Leyshon says it is both.

Canberra’s wineries are busy getting their grapes in and starting this year’s vintage, and some are encouraging visitors to join them next weekend for the Wine Harvest Festival.
‘‘There is a real interest in [the harvest], a real interest in how the wines are actually made,’’ Leyshon says.

‘‘And the wineries do smell different; there are some great smells coming out of the wineries this year. Very yeasty and fruity.’’

At one winery the fruit was so spicy and fragrant that a visitor asked if they were making cinnamon toast.

Leyshon is president of the Canberra Wine District Wine Industry Association, which runs the harvest festival.

Twenty-one wineries across the Canberra district will offer music, food and harvest activities throughout the weekend of April 5 and 6.

He says there’s usually a fair bit of interest in the festival and quite a bit of repeat custom, even though winemakers are up to their elbows in vintage.

‘‘The good thing about it is that it’s so interesting in wineries at this time. It is something really good to show the public, even though it is an extra burden,’’ hesays.

The Canberra Wine Harvest is on from April 5-6. See canberrawines.com.au