After a two hour drive out of Sydney back near Newcastle we arrived in the Hunter Valley, a group of 20, for a day of wine tasting in the oldest wine region.
Starting at Drayton's family estate which was established in 1853. Here we sampled semillon, tickled pink,shiraz bin5555,new generation merlot old tawny, white tawny and white chocolate liqueur.
Next was Hope estate, a popular concert venue having recently hosted Paul Simon and Sting with a crowd of 13,000. Here we tried a semillon, Chardonnay, delicious cabernet merlot (2011 the cracker), and a shiraz. Lunch of woodfired pizza was served in the barrel hall with a glass of the cracker.
After this we went to Savannah estate. Here we were given many tastings - semillon, muscato, port, muscat, shiraz and riesling plus more! Only half the group were still in the game at this stage.
We visited the Hunter Valley Chocolate Shop at the gardens and were given a tasting here too - chilli chocolate, chocolate covered coffee bean, a chocolate rock and fudge. I bought some raspberry dark belgian chocolate and a salted caramel bar - yum!
After this the Smelly Cheese Shop. This was full of delicious foods - all the cheeses you can imagine, olives, chutneys etc... A couple of cheeses were on offer for tasting.
Lastly those of us who were still keen visited one last winery, Tempus Two. Here we tried the botrytis semillon, rose and the barossa and local shiraz.
The Hunter Valley is famed for it's semillon and shiraz. Other vineyards of note were Lindemans and McGuigans Estates. Bus driver was Smokey - talked the entire way and back, full of fascinating stories but I had to wonder if they were all genuine!
He pointed out some kangaroos we passed on our journey back to Sydney.
