Hunter Valley
Week 11 – Hunter Valley
Went to the Hunter Valley at the weekend. This is one of the main wine producing areas of Australia and it is fabulous! We planned this a couple of weeks ago as soon as we knew Zain’s schedule and we have been looking forward to it SO much. Headed up to Newcastle after work on Friday via the train which didn’t take that long, about 2 and a half hours or so (which over here is a drop in the ocean!). Zain had organised a place to stay in Newcastle which is the biggest nearest town to the Hunter Valley region. You can stay locally nearer the vineyards, but it costs A LOT! So instead of that, we opted to do a tour of the area via a specially organised bus tour. This meant a very early start on the Saturday morning, but it was worth it. We were waiting for the bus by 8.15am – impressive, huh!? It takes just over an hour to get to the Valley itself (travel is a bit of a theme here!). The tour group we went with was Rovers Wine Tours and I have to say it was pretty well organised. We started at a small boutique wineary called Robyn Drayton; which is part of a family owned business that has been making wines for over 150 years. It was a nice little place, with proper rustic charm and a lovely views over the vineyard from where our wine came. I have never been to wine tasting before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I seemed to do ok: drink the wine, and then decide if you like it – that seems to be about it! We tasted some really yummy wines there. Not all were to my liking though; everyone had recommended the desert wines which they are mad for down in this part of the world, but although they were bearable, they were just too sweet for me. We bought 2 bottles from this place; a red and a white. The famous ones; a shiraz and a Semillon (they are the varietals that grow well in this region and therefore make the best wine. I learnt a LOT).
Then we moved on to another small/medium wineary called Tullochs. This was by far my favourite place. It had some charm, an excellent wine tasting host and THE most delicious wines. I wanted to buy one of everything, but as we didn’t come by car, that plan went out of the window. This time we bought a cuvee (bubbly, always a good choice) and a verdelho (which is actually a Portuguese variety, so I felt right at home). Next was Tyrrells which is a very large concern and exports all over the world. I didn’t like any of their wine; at all. The vineyards were nice, and we got a big tour around the whole place explaining the process of making the wine in all the various stages which was interesting and educational (and I like that kind of thing), but we were distracted by the number of children (why?), pregnant women (why?) and bloody Japanese tourists! They talk ALL the time, loud enough so that they talk over the speaker. Arg!
Then we went to our last place, by which time, I was kind of losing the buzz (Tyrrells did me in a bit). However, the last place was ok. Tasted some cheese (always good), saw someone get married (such a beautiful setting and just imagine the reception!), and the wine was ok. Decided not to buy any as we had used up our carriable allowance. Some other people one the tour bought absolute tons! One couple bought about 3/4 cases! If only we had the finances and the transport to do that.
Overall the Hunter Valley was such a perfect day; a trip to gorgeous countryside, wine drinking and learning, cheese, food and then chauffeured home (well, in a bus). The weather had also been very well behaved and it was a gorgeously sunny day for most of it, however, by the time we got back to Newcastle, it wasn’t looking that healthy, and when we headed out to dinner it was pissing it down. Went for some Vietnamese food, because Zain had never had any, and it was delicious if a little raucous – give these Aussies wine….
Sunday was also very over cast which scuppered Zain and I’s plans to go to watch the surfing competition. Instead we wandered around town soaking up the atmosphere and having a look at some wildlife. Zain was grumpy because he doesn’t like shopping, bad weather or wandering around – 2 of my favourite things to do (can you guess which ones??). Anyway, we managed to fill our day and then headed back to Sydney on the train which was nice as it was daylight on this journey and that meant that we got to see some of the countryside; some of which was worth missing and some of which was spectacular. I can’t wait to see more of this country.
posted by Yogini @ 10:13 am
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