Wine Tasting in Hunter Valley

Wine, wine, and more wine! Devan, Isabelle, Sydney and I went on a wine tasting tour in Hunter Valley yesterday. As anticipated, it was a splendid day. How could it not be? Good company + lots of wine + beautiful scenery = A great way to spend a Sunday. 

Hunter Valley is one of Australia's best known wine regions, and is located approximately 2 hours from Sydney. We booked a tour through Hunter Valley Wine Tasting Tours (such an informative business name). The tour cost $120 (652kr/US$109), and included wine tasting at five wineries, cheese tasting, lunch, and transportation. In addition to the four of us, there were eight other people on the tour. Our tour guide, Jenny, was very nice and informative. I would highly recommend a wine tour! 

Devan, Isabelle, me and Sydney

There are TONS of wineries in Hunter Valley. Some are just small, boutique wineries, while others are much bigger and export their wine all over Australia. According to our guide, only 25 or so of the wineries accept bigger groups (like ours) for tastings. The schedule is determined on a day to day basis, so you're not really sure which wineries you'll visit until the day of the tour. As long as we got to try some different wines and gained some knowledge by the end of the day, we weren't too picky about where we headed. 

The most iconic wines of the region are the Semillon and Shiraz. They also produced wine from a wide variety of other grapes, like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Verdelho, and Pinot Noir. 

We tried a great variety of white, red, and rosé wines. Our sensory examination and evaluation of the wines weren't too complex, but we tried. The four recognized stages of wine tasting are: 

- Appearance 

- "In glass" (i.e. the aroma of the wine) 

- "In mouth" sensations

- Aftertaste 

Happy wine tasters

I'm no wine connoisseur, but I enjoy wine. So does Devan. Can you tell? 

We ended up visiting: 

- Blueberry Hills 

- Tempus Two 

- Tintilla Estate 

- Hermitage Road Cellar

- McLeish Estate 

I would have to say my favorite winery was the fourth stop, Hermitage Road Cellar. We ate lunch there, and then were allowed to go to the wine cellar and try whatever we wanted. It was much more informal than the other places, and we could try ones that we thought sounded interesting. The guys behind the counter were very entertaining as well. 

Classy wine chugging photo bomb

The guy in the middle, Terry, had lots of suggestions for what we would like based on our very basic critiques of the wines: 

"Oh, this was good. I like this one!"

"This one was okay."

"I mean I would drink it."

"No." (accompanied by crinkled nose/face of aversion)

To my pleasant surprise, we also visited a chocolate factory. Though nothing can compare to the delicious Norwegian Freia Melkesjokolade (milk chocolate), this wasn't terrible. I mean, it's not like I'm going to say no to chocolate. 

This may not look very appetizing, but believe me, it was. Melted chocolate and fresh strawberries. This photo doesn't do this justice. Delicious! 

Today has been a long day (not because of all of the wine yesterday). A busy day with three tutorials at the university, followed by a traditional St Patrick's Day dinner made by Caitlin. She woke up at 9am, and started preparing corned beef for all of us. The sides included cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. It was worth her hard work and dedication… It was very tasty! I was so impressed. I think I will have to prepare a traditional Norwegian meal while I'm here. Kjøttkaker (meat cakes) with boiled potatoes, perhaps? Or maybe something simple like Norwegian pancakes? I know Isabelle would vote for fiskeboller (fish balls) if we could find them here. We'll see!

Love, 

Suzy