Monday, 2 May
Had we not been on the road for several days with an accumulated pile of laundry we might well have got away much earlier and may possibly have managed a bit more sightseeing, but the process of putting what we had through the washer and drier, both of which were free when I looked just after seven-thirty, meant it was close to ten before we headed off towards Murrumbateman for a three stop lap around the wine circuit.
As pointed out elsewhere, I've got a lengthy list of wineries I buy from, and it's going to be difficult to fit more into the schedule, but Helm is, by all accounts, the prime Riesling producer in an emerging Riesling district, and as a devoted fan of the variety I wasn't going to be going past, was I?
Getting there, however, wasn't quite as straightforward as it might have been, with a realisation that the fuel gauge was hovering uncomfortably close to Empty, a refuelling stop in Murrumbateman, and a missed turn just on the northern side of the township, but we eventually reached the converted school house that houses the Helm Cellar door and found, as expected, a very classy Riesling, a Premium version of the same that didn't impress as much as the first, as well as Sauvignon Blanc, a trio of Cabernets and a Cabernet Shiraz that impressed enough to have Hughesy ordering a box, though why they work in boxes of ten rather than a dozen wasn't obvious and I forgot to ask. More...