A total of 3600 bottles of the special edition Centenary of Canberra Riesling were packaged under the watchful eye of Brindabella Hills Winery co-owner Roger Harris, who sipped from a small glass of the wine as he looked on. The blended riesling brought together winemakers from around the region, with grapes coming from five vineyards.

The result, according to Mr Harris, is a very high-quality drop.

''Each wine [from the different wineries] brings with it its own qualities,'' he said.

''The flavours are determined by the soils and the climate, so this is representative of the whole region.''

The wine has been in the making since last March, when the grapes were picked.

After being bottled yesterday, it will be entered into a range of international wine challenges in the next four years, including the Canberra International Riesling Challenge, in which it received an unofficial bronze medal this year.

But the wine will be held for release until the centenary year of 2013 and only a limited number of bottles will be available for public sale. Mr Harris said it wasn't a problem that the wine was being bottled four years in advance, because rieslings were versatile and good to drink both young and aged.

''I wouldn't be so happy if we were doing this with a chardonnay, but we have rieslings here going back 14 years.

''When I started 15 to 20 years ago, restaurants didn't want to put local wines on the menu. Now it is really coming along, and you get people coming from interstate who ask for a good wine from the district.''

The ACT Government also has plans for a Centenary of Canberra shiraz, which will be blended early next year. Both wines will be labelled with a watermarked image from 1913, when Lady Denman named Canberra the nation's capital and an image of competition-winning City and Environs renderings by Marion Mahony Griffin, the wife of Walter Burley Griffin.