Hunter Valley Wineries

It was a beautiful morning, perfect for a wine tasting tour in the Hunter Valley only an hour drive from Newcastle.  We had made reservations the day before at a nearby hostel.  For only $55 we would be able to visit 5 wineries in the famous Hunter Valley where great Australian wine is made.  To our surprise when we arrived at 9 am, there were 7 other girls waiting to go on the tour! It was an all girl crew and our driver and tour guide for the day was Tex.  The girls came from all over the world, we jokingly told people we were the UN since we had girls from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, U.S., and a few other places.  We all were similar ages and it was great hanging out with them for the day.

The girls on this wine trip

I didn’t know much about wines before going on this tour except that I loved Riesling, but I have to say that I know quite a bit more now at the end of the day.  The Hunter Valley stretches quite a bit and we although we only visited 5 wineries, Tex told us there were about 150 just in the valley.  Everywhere we looked there were vineyards with beautiful bunches of grapes hanging.  I’d never seen so many before!

Vineyards everywhere!

Our first stop was at Mount Pleasant and we were introduced to several great tasting wines.  Upon entering, the set up was that each person had a wine glass, a pitcher of water as well as an empty pitcher. We used the water to rinse our glass after a taste and used the empty pitcher to throw extra wine we did not want to finish.  The Semillon is a type of grape that grows well in Hunter valley and can be made into a white wine that comes  both dry and wet.  Now, when people refer to wine as dry, they are actually referring to the sweetness of the wine.  The drier it is, the less residual sugar is left in the wine after fermentation.  We tried several versions of the Semillon as well as a Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  One of my favorite tastings though is the Verdelho, also a white wine with a sweet flavor.  The late harvest Semillon is also delicious! Not to leave out the reds, we tried a few of those as well like the Shiraz and Merlot. Red wines tend to have more tannin in them that give it an acidity and bitter taste.  With aging it helps to preserve the wine and mature it making it taste better.  The tannin comes from the skins and seeds of the grapes. However, as the wine ferments, the alcohol content of the reds tend to be a lot higher, about 15% versus about 8-12%  for a white wine.

Brian, the wine master!

Me, the wine taster!

Second stop was at First Creek and there we had lovely seating outside on the veranda with our glasses.  We tried several Semillon’s and the Verdelho as well.  I was able to grab some recipes that would go well paired with several of these wines and am excited to try them out.  We also had several dessert wines that were very sweet including a raspberry wine and Moscato.  It was quite nice touring these first two wineries, but I was beginning to feel like I needed a some food instead of wine to carry me through the day. It wasn’t quite yet lunchtime though and we had yet another winery to visit but hooray this one also had cheese and olive oil tasting.

Pleasant outside tasting

Third stop, McGuigan Cellars.  We stopped first to taste some cheese and these were fantastic! I can’t remember all the names, but the one I liked best was a feta soaked in olive oil with red peppers and spices, yum! The olive oils were also awesome and there were flavors such as robust, ginger and lime, and spicy hot. After filling up on breads, oils, and cheese, we all headed down to the wine tasting.  Similar to the first two wine stops, we had a selection of whites, our Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Verdelho, and mmm Gewurztraminer.   Our reds we had a Noon Harvest Merlot and Cabernet Shiraz that was quite nice as well as several dessert wines including Muscat and a Port.

Lunch was finally here and we headed down to an eating area with a restaurant called Oscars where I devoured a huge sandwich and then sampled some local fudge.  Refreshed and a bit sleepy, we all trooped to our last two wineries, Lindemans and Golden Gate Estate.  Both places had similar tastings with some special wines as well.  At Lindemans we were able to try a Rosemount special, the raspberry "O".  It is so good! But unfortunately you can only purchase it in Australia.  It is a light white wine that has a bit of a bubble in it so  tastes like champagne but it is poured over ice and is so refreshing.  We all loved it!  At the Golden Gate Estate, there was a chile pepper wine that we all had to raise our glasses to and drink together, and because it was spicy we also had a bit of chocolate syrup placed on our finger which we licked after drinking, very interesting!

Mel and Tex (our lucky tour guide for the day)

I was exhausted and wined out by the time we finished with the day.  We had been out from 9 in the morning and got back at 5 in the afternoon.  What a great experience! I now have a finer appreciation for wine and the next time I head to dinner or to the store, I will be checking to see the year and the make of my wine as well as doing a bit of sniffing and tasting!