Hunter Valley
oday was probably the day that Andy and I were looking forward to the most. Today we headed up into the Hunter valley to visit some vineyards. It was a fun day out (and a rather alcoholic one too). The vineyards in Australia are certainly much more generous with their wine tastings than the ones in the napa valley were.
We started off at a vineyard called Iron Gate, which is owned and run by a retired industrial chemist from the UK. Judging by the selection of wines he produces he has a bit of a sweet tooth. We came away with a sweet Semillon and a rather unusual but very tasty sweet Shiraz.
Then we moved on to the cellar door at Ivanhoe Wines. We ended up coming away from there with a rather nice 2003 Chardonnay and a 2002 late picked Gewurztraminer.
After lunch we stopped at our final vineyard, Earnest Hill Wines. This was probably my favourite, not least because of the lady guiding us through the tastings. She was half-cut before we even got there. It was entertaining to say the least. We came away from there with a very nice Shiraz rosé and a dessert Semillon.
Overall it was a really good day out. I’m glad we went with a smaller tour company that takes you to the smaller indipendant vineyards rather than one of the larger ones that just ferry you between the larger more commercial cellar doors. I highly recommend them.