This Christmas I was lucky enough to have my mum and partner over from the UK, so as part of my role as official tour guide, I took them up to the Hunter Valley for the day.
As the dutiful daughter I offered to drive (don't worry, I spat out most of the wine) so they could take in the scenery and copious amounts of vino!
I've been to the Hunter a couple of times now, but still try to go to a new winery each time to discover something new. Here are some highlights from my recent trip:
- Tintilla - I hadn't been to this winery for a while and was delighted to find it again (I had visited it on a wine tour years ago but had forgotten what it was called!). It's such a beautiful spot and the couple who assisted us with the wine tasting were very helpful. They struck a good balance between being attentive and smothering you whilst wine tasting and had a very cute bulldog that I took a bit of a shine to. Our personal fave was the 2004 Shiraz - absolutely beautiful wine that didn't last long in my house! They also do a great range of olives, but watch out for the chilli ones!
- Tulloch - now I am a little biased here as I know the Tulloch family, but I am always pleased with the tastings here. It's a bigger cellar door then some other wineries, which is nice as you can stay as long as you like and not feel like someone's hovering waiting for you to buy something. The wine list for tastings is very extensive with lots of varieties that you can only purchase at cellar door, which makes you feel like you're getting something a bit special. My purchase here was the 2008 Late Picked Verdehlo - currently in my wine rack so tasting notes coming later.
- De Bortoli - this was my first visit to this cellar door and lucky for us there was no-one else in there (apparently we'd just missed 'the rush'). The young man doing the tastings was very friendly and took a real shine to us (being an ex-pat himself). I took home the sparkling Emeri Pinot Grigio, which I thought was an interesting twist on the usual varieties of sparkling.
- Petersons Champagne House - to my mum's delight, there were bubbles to be had in the Hunter so of course our first stop was Petersons House. What hit me here was the wave of pink and bubbles (literally, blowing out of a bubble machine). What they've done well here is hang their hat on targeting women as the cellar door featured a wide array of pink sparklings, rose wines, bottle bags, T-shirts and everything else you could think of. It was a bit much for me, but I have to give them credit for doing something a bit different and it obviously works as the place was packed!
Helen
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