If you're looking for the ultimate social distancing wine event look no further than Winederlust's latest event - wine tasting on the Go Boats on Lake Burley Griffin.
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Jeanene Kennedy-Evans, the founder of Winederlust, a Canberra company encouraging people to travel and learn more about wine, has popped her thinking cap on during the latest round of restrictions and looked for ways to enable people to still experience the best the Canberra District wine region has to offer.
"I think this is a great social distancing event," she says.
"Each guest will be provided with their own stemless wine glass, bottle of water, Tilba Tilba cheese and crackers, all in a tote bag that they can take home after."
Each boat will hold up to six people, with the picnic table in the centre of the boat to separate guests that are not in the same group. Tickets are being sold as groups of two to three so that people can sit next to their friends, but be socially distanced if there is another group on board.
Kennedy-Evans escorts the groups, guiding them through the tasting process with two to four wines in the two-hour cruise.
"We will go through the wines one by one doing a full tasting of each - looking at the colour, bouquet and taste and discussing all that good stuff," she says.
"I will also talk about the winery that each wine comes from, and hopefully guests will be inspired to go and visit our local cellar doors too. Guests will receive a summary of the wines to take home as well."
She said COVID restrictions have had an impact on her business.
"Winederlust has been a bit quiet since March when we had to unfortunately cancel the last two Live Your Best Life series events," she says, with personal wine tastings and consultation also being placed on hold.
"With a young child at home, I have to say I haven't 'pivoted' very quickly and have been like a lot of other working mums out there, and just getting through lockdown . I have used the time for some online courses and connecting with other small business owners around Canberra via Zoom which has also been great.
"I have been planning lots of activities but am very conscious that we aren't out of the COVID-woods yet - which is why I think the Go-Boat events will work well - and Go-Boat also agreed.
"I am very excited about getting back out doing more events again."
The tours kick off on August 8 with sparkling reds and a fortified shiraz; August 15 sees two red blends and a fortified shiraz; August 22 taste four rose wines; and then August 29 is three sauvignon blancs and a dessert wine.
Go Boat Canberra launched in 2017 and have proven to be a popular way to see the lake but also enjoy some quality time. The electric boats are Danish designed and constructed from 80 per cent recycled PET bottles.
Tickets are $65pp and are on sale through Eventbrite.
Hungry for Hungry Brown Cow
I'm salivating over the thought of our favourite artisan brownie sandwich people having their own shopfront. They're not giving too much away but I suggest keeping an eye on their social media @thehungrybrowncow
In the meantime you can join the queue at the Canberra Region Farmers' Markets to sample their delicious treats.
Can't decide on a favourite flavour but am always happy when the caramelised white chocolate and honeycomb is on the menu, and the coconut rough.
Get moving cow, we're hungry.
Bill's back
The other thing we're a little bit excited about is the upcoming release of Bill Granger's latest cookbook Australian Food. Publishers Murdoch Books have been giving us little bites on social media - @murdochbooks and @bill.granger. It's been 20 years since Granger published his first cookbook Sydney Food and changed the way we all feel about eggs and avocado.
We have one on pre-order already.