Hunter valley

Hi All

Will be in Hunter Valley in early Jan for 2 days .
Any recommendations for winery , shops or restaurants to visit?
Also will spend a month in Aus, so any recommendations for wine to drink while in Aus. let me know.
I am a novice to Aus wine.

Regards
Kristian

Purchase James Halliday’s Wine Companion. The book would be the first place to look for winery information and cellar doors with restaurants, then branch out from there.

It has been a long time since I have visited the Hunter Valley, but these are some of my favourite producers

Tyrrells, Brokenwood, Andrew Thomas, Lakes Folly.

The regions most famous variety is Semillon, a relatively neutral grape in youth, but blossoms with time in the bottle. McWilliams might also be worth checking out for some aged ones. Shiraz is alsp good in the right vintages. lakes Folly also produce an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon.

Lots of restaurants in the area and quality accommodation, but my data points are too distant to be of any use.

There are about 60 something different regions and if there are styles you like, someone is probably doing it somewhere.
What other parts of Australia are you planning to see and what styles of wine do you normally like?

Also, your chances of some hot to very hot weather during your stay will be high depending on where you are going to be so heavier reds may not be the thing to drink, at least without good aircon.

I am in the Hunter now for work…i believe tonight is my 95th in the Hunter this year.

Musts:
Mt. Pleasant
Tyrrells
Andrew Thomas
Lakes Folly

Shoulds:
Pepper Tree
Gundog

Lunch - Enzo’s
Dinners - Circa 1876, Muse, Exp

1 Like

Send me a PM. I’ll send you some tips and also put you in touch with wineries of which I’m a member (I’m thinking Tyrrell’s in particular - their 4 Acres and Old Patch shiraz, which drink like Pinot Noir and are from 100+ year old vines, are in my opinion Australia’s finest expression of Shiraz).

HV Semillon is unique, and if you get to taste something 15+ years old, you will be amazed.

+1 on Tyrrells and Mt Pleasant.

For Shiraz, I’d add Brokenwood Quail Shiraz, Tallawanta and HBA Shiraz. Their ILR Semillon is great too.

I bought a copy of the 2020 Halliday Wine Companion, and it’s ok. I only skimmed it, and am just keeping it for reference, but it seemed to have lots of useful info that I would not find in other places e.g. vintage charts for the various regions of Australia. It seems like there are now a team of reviewers, who tend to have different ‘voices’ in their notes.

Maybe they don’t publish scores/notes on lower rated wines, but it seemed like everything had high 90+ point scores. So I’m not sure exactly how to use the book to separate wheat from chaff, but I suppose if a producer is profiled at all that is likely to be a good sign to begin with.

Agreed with all the suggestions…two other suggestions…look for Penfolds Bin Numbered Semillon…they try to keep some back to rerelease with some serious age. And in Sydney please visit Camperdown Cellars…for my money one of the worlds most fun retail locations.

Might want to check before heading to some of the cellar doors - Lakes Folly closed until April. Mt Pleasant closed until January for renovations?
I second jmckinley’s recommendations, and would also add de Iulius to the list.

In addition to suggestions above, I like Margan and Usher Tinkler.

It looks like the *Small winemaker’s centre has closed and re-opened with something that appears to keep some of the aspirations of the original

*low volume, not vertically challenged

As for Halliday, the scores had long since escalated into the realms of nonsense, though the address details / wines produced list were always useful and still should be. FWIW I don’t think his palate was hugely relevant to my own either, but it took a while to realise that.

One not mentioned above is Tower Estate, which appears to have been merged with Hope estate. It sounded like a marketing-led winery (the legendary Len Evans involved at the start IIRC), based in Pokolbin, Hunter Valley, but also sourcing classic wines from across Australia (e.g. Barossa Shiraz, Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon etc.). What I tasted from ~ 1999 / 2000 vintage was very good indeed, much better than I expected. I’d be intrigued as to what they are like now.

Granted, it was 16 years ago, but we really enjoyed Saddler’s Creek for Cabs. Haven’t looked in a long time to see what they are up to.