Thursday 5th January 2023
Today we’ve hired some electric bikes so we can explore the wineries of the Hunter valley. We’ve decided to do a loop of about 20km, starting and ending at the H Boutique Hotel, where we’re staying.
Our first stop was Hart & Hunter, where we shared a tasting between us (we didn’t want to drink too much when we’re cycling!) The big surprise was the lovely creamy Chardonnay. We’re not normally massive Chardonnay fans but both agreed this was the best wine and are very tempted to come back with the car tomorrow to buy a bottle.
The setting was also beautiful. We were overlooking the vineyards and fields, where lots of kangaroos were relaxing under the trees. There were also quite a few rabbits that hopped past every so often.
Our next stop was Keith Tulloch Wine, which has a lovely balcony overlooking the vineyards below. Again we shared a tasting, although felt this one was less good value as it was more expensive (at $15, or about £8.50) and the pours were very small. We also shared a grazing plate, which was nice enough, but we expected a bit more for $32
We continued to James Estate Wines, which is overlooking a lake with rabbits playing in the surrounding fields. The wines here were very pleasant but none particularly stood out.
We then decided to mix it up a bit by visiting Hunter Distillery. This time the tastings were of spirits, and were served out of test tubes. It was an interesting experience, but I found most of the spirits and liqueurs a bit too sweet and artificial tasting.
Our next winery was First Creek, which again was in a beautiful setting. The tasting room was also quite cool, and we were sat on a table by a window overlooking all the wine barrels (although I forgot to take a photo!). We really liked the wines at First Creek and bought a bottle of Shiraz and a bottle of white to take home with us (and because we’d made a purchase, the tasting fee was waived).
We then continued up the road to John Wallace Wines. Here the highlight was a lovely sparking rose, which was a bit of a surprise to both of us as we’re not usually that keen on rose. We might need to come back tomorrow morning and buy a bottle.
Our next stop was Calais Estate Winery, which is just opposite. Although it closes at 5pm, when we turned up around 4.20pm they said we were too late for a tasting which was slightly disappointing.
Instead, we went to neighbouring Moorebank Vineyard. This also closes at 5pm but they were quite happy for us to have a tasting. The tasting includes a choice of 5 different wines. They’ve got 10 in total, so we decided to have a tasting each so we could sample them all. They were good wines, but we’ve already bought a couple of bottles at other vineyards so didn’t make a purchase.
On the way back, we called off at Pokolbin Brothers Wines, which is open until 6pm. Here, the owner was extremely friendly and chatty (if he’d not offered to give a couple of other customers a lift to the station, I’d half suspected him of being tipsy!). I’ve no idea if you’re meant to pay for tastings, we weren’t charged but that could be because we bought a couple of bottles. You can also hire electric bikes from here, which gets you a discount on the wines. We’d hired ours from elsewhere (as we could pick up and drop off at our hotel), but he still gave us the discount which was lovely of him.
We also spotted a flyer for takeaway pizzas. The owner saw us looking at at and highly recommended giving them a go – so that’s dinner sorted!
We cycled back across the road to our hotel to return the bikes. I was slightly apprehensive as the return time was very vague (the guy that gave us the bikes had said he thought it might be 5pm but wasn’t sure) and it was now approaching 6pm. Fortunately though, it was all ok.
All of the units at H Boutique Hotel have terraces overlooking beautiful fields where loads of kangaroos hang out. It was a lovely place to relax with some of the wine we’d just bought, and we ordered a takeaway pizza from Gourmet Pizza Cessnock (where the flyer was from).
The pizzas were delicious! A great end to a fabulous day.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 