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Orange is a lovely regional area about 280 kilometres west of Sydney - about a three hour drive. It's long been associated with fruit growing - producing some of the countries best apples and cherries. In recent years another fruit has been added to the Orange trophy list: grapes. Orange is fast becoming Australia's most exciting player on the wine scene. Exciting and cold because it's Australia's highest altitude wine growing region and when Stuart visits the area he's surprised and delighted to find it blanketed in snow!

Mt Canobolas - an extinct volcano - overlooks the town of Orange and at Borrodell on the Mt they produce an exotic delight, truffles! Fetching up to $2000 a kilo, the truffles at Borrodell are unearthed by resident kelpie Sonny - who this season sniffed out 69 kilos of black gold. The truffle enterprise is only one of many concerns for owner Borrie Gartrell and his wife Gay. They also produce Plum, Cherry and Heritage Apples, while running an art gallery, boutique winery and restaurant called Sister's Rock. Sisters, Nina and Luisa regularly host truffle and wine matching nights at the restaurant and on the menu during Stuart's visit is herb encrusted rack of lamb with truffle jus. Luisa's husband Christophe Derrez is the Borrodell winemaker and he recommends their Pinot as a good match for the lamb as it doesn't overwhelm the truffles.

Next stop on the Orange wine tour is to Printhie Wines where brothers Ed and Dave Swift both left other professions to take over from their parents at the winery. Engineer Ed, designed the state of the art winemaking facility and Graphic Designer Dave, works on their distinctive labels - depicting artful scenes of Mt Canobolas throughout the year. At 600 metres above sea level, the Swift's winery is best suited to red varieties like Cabernet and Shiraz. The Printhie Chardonnay is sourced from grapes grown elsewhere (at higher altitudes). Their winemaker, Drew Tuckwell, shows Stuart how to ‘stir the lees' - lifting the yeast cells and sediments which have settled at the bottom of the Chardonnay barrel. By stirring them up and oxygenating the wine the lees eventually breakdown and this in turn, alters and enhances the flavour of the wine.

Much of the grape harvest in Orange is actually transported to the Hunter and Mudgee wine regions to be made into wine. James Robson, winemaker and owner of Ross Hill Wines plans to change that. He shows Stuart his ‘shed' near his highest vineyard which is to be his winemaking and storage facility.

James Sweetapple of Cargo Road Wines is focusing on aromatic whites like Riesling, Gerwurtraminer and Sauvignon Blanc. Their 2005 Riesling picked up an award last year for the best in NSW. Here the wines ripen slowly with lots of flavour and lots of colour. James also makes red wine, not the standard grape varieties, but a Zinfandel which was being grown at the vineyard before he took over.

Orange is fast gaining a reputation as a sophisticated centre for food and wine and this is typified in businesses like the Union Bank Wine Bar and Wine Store in the town itself. Union Bank is a bottle shop, wine bar and restaurant rolled into one and a great place to showcase the best the region has to offer. Here, Stuart catches up with one of the Union Bank partners, Nick Butler and food producer Tim Hansen from Mandagery Creek Venison.

Tim gets Stuart to sample their fillet of yearling venison which is the preferred venison of the local market. Nick gets Stuart to try the venison with a local Merlot - Belgravia Reserve 2006, saying the meat is quite subtle and delicate and the Merlot being a subtler red wine - with less heavy tannins than other reds balances it very well.

Taking a short detour off the wine path, Stuart's next stop is to husband and wife apple cider producers at ‘Small Acres Cyder'. Located near the base of Mt Canobolas, it's owned and run by Gail and James Kendell. Gail grew up in Bristol in England, in the heart of cider country and on arriving in Australia lamented the fact she couldn't get a decent cider anywhere. So five years ago they began production using true heritage apple varieties and now specialise in three alcoholic cider types: Sparkling, Norfolk Still and Somerset Still - with new releases emerging like their Muscato style cider (a light and spritzy cider for a sunny day).

Brangayne came into the Hoskins family in the 1930s and for 60 years they grew fruit trees until 1994 when they replaced them with wine grapes. They now produce a small range of wines themselves and also sell grapes to other winemakers. David Hoskins manages the winemaking and chatted to Stuart about how they take the best grapes for their own wines and give the others the best of the rest.

Philip Shaw is one of the world's leading winemakers. Behind the success of Rosemount Estate since the 1980s - he's won the coveted Winemaker of the Year competition twice at the London International Wine and Spirit Competition. In 1989 he established Philip Shaw Wines in Orange and was joined by New Zealand Winemaker Marc Udy in 2006. Marc talks about the evolvement of Chardonnay, and other varieties, as a move toward elegant and fine style wines, saying “its all about finesse, elegance and purity of flavour.” The beauty of Philip Shaw labels is that they have a tear off element - so you can easily remember a wine you've enjoyed.

Millthorpe is a quaint, historic village about 20 minutes drive from Orange. It's definitely worth a visit - thanks in part to its landmark restaurant, Tonic. Head Chef Tony Worland has created a sophisticated, fine dining experience at this popular eatery. While dining here, Stuart meets Ben Crossing - Manager of Sales and Marketing at Angullong Wines. This family run business had a pastoral history but planted grapes in the late 90s. Barbera, Sangiovese and Pinot Gris are some of the wines they produce. Ben describes their style as rich, ripe reds.

Orange is a fast growing wine region with a big future and Stuart showcases the best the region has to offer.