Wine tasting in the Hunter Valley

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Day 193: Thursday 8th January - Wine tasting in the Hunter Valley

Up early this morning as I have to check out ahead of my wine tasting tour, which starts at 9am. Sign up for a free feed this evening on my way out of the hostel.....us backpackers never miss the opportunity when something is free!! My sole purpose of coming to Newcastle is to do a tour of the Hunter Valley - which comes highly recommended. My friend Katie, from back in sunny Wigan said it was one of her highlights of her time in Australia a few years ago. Although wine tasting brought me to Newcastle, the idea of being in a city with the same name as my hometown is cool. A lot of the places around here have the same names as those back in the North East - there is a Hexham, a Jesmond, a Wallsend and a Stockton!

Our guide for our tour of the Hunter Valley is the entertaining Tex and our bus includes 4 Geordies out of the 12 of us, and we’re all travelling separately so maybe Newcastle, Australia does have a certain pull on us Geordies! It takes us an hour to drive up to the Hunter Valley. I chat away in the front to the entertaining Tex on the way. It has cooled down a lot today and as its overcast it’s not unpleasant touring around the area by bus. We will be visiting 6 wineries as well as doing cheese, relish and fudge tasting. We get 6-8 tastings at each winery, so for $50 for the tour it is a bargain. We visit three wineries before lunch, Oakvale,Mcguigan’s and Lindeman’s. We taste a variety of white’s, red’s, rose’s and port’s at each winery. At Mcguigan’s there is also cheese and relish tasting which is also good. For lunch we stop at a place which does gourmet sandwiches. Mine is like a doorstop, so I practically have to dislocate my jaw stuffing it in! After lunch we have enough time before we have to start driving to the next winery to visit the English Lolly shop which has all those sweets I’m missing from back home as well as some you can no longer get. I would spend a fortune in here if I wasn’t on a budget. I manage to resist the temptation to buy some sweets but don’t fare as well when it comes to the fudge. After tasting some Chocolate Mint flavour and some Cookies and Cream flavour I end up buying some Chocolate Orange flavoured fudge. Speaking of which I’ve just remembered it’s in my bag. It’s a bit squashed but yummy!!! There were so many different flavours but they only allowed you to taste one, I had to use my Geordie charm to get two tastings!! I also manage to squeeze another wine tasting in at the Hunter Valley cellar winery with Emily and Sarah before we must go.

The afternoon is taken up by visiting two more wineries, Drayton’s - which was struck by a family tragedy last year when the chief winemaker died in an explosion - and the Golden Grape vineyard. It’s more of the same tasting around 8 different whites, reds and ports at each winery. The port is so good and so cheap at Drayton’s I have to buy a bottle. $8.50 (4 pounds) for a good bottle - bargain!! I’ve never liked port when I’ve had it back in England before today, but now I love it. Before I started my travels I was only really a white wine drinker. Now give me white, red, rose, port - I love it all. I sound like a right wino!! At the last tasting at the Golden Grape vineyard they have a chilli schnapps drink. Having had a chilli vodka before (never again) I’m reluctant but after 40+ tastings who cares now??!! The chilli schnapps has a definite kick but it’s not a bad as chilli vodka.

We get back to Newcastle just before 5pm. It’s been a great day. Tex and Textours rock and our group today has been really good. I’ve met some great people: Emily from Rothbury, Sarah from Bristol, Gerard originally from Sunderland and his girlfriend who now live in Manchester, a couple of girls from Guernsey and Adam and Elly from Torquay. I check my when my bus leaves when I get back to the hostel and buy a pass for 10 nights at YHA hostels to try and save some money in the long run. This done I crack open my bottle of port for some pre-pub drinks with Emily and Sarah. What seems like the entire hostel (must be well over 50 people) then walks down the road to a nearby pub on the waterfront to get our free feed. The pub makes it up on the quantity of alcohol drunk I’m sure. After the food there is a quiz, which myself, Emily, James, Gerard and his girlfriend come a respectable second in. I stupidly volunteer to represent my team in the quiz before I know what it entails. When I realise it’s a dance off I gracefully exit before I make a complete fool of myself....I might be tipsy after all the wine but I’ve not drank that much!!! We miss out on a prize when we lose in paper, stone and scissors. It doesn’t bother me, I have to leave now. Its 9pm and I need to get my bags from the hostel then catch my bus for the 10 hour overnight journey up the coast to Byron Bay. What a great day!

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Comments

[olivia]

Hunter Valley Wine Tour
Hi there, your tour to the hunter valley sounds great, can you please tell me who you booked it through? i am going up that way this week and want to book a day at the vinyards. Thanks, Olivia