The Hunter Valley

Our latest wine excursion took us to the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.  The Hunter is particularly known for growing Semillon which everyone there makes.  It is popular to blend semillon with Sauv Blanc here and it does some wonderful things.  They also do oaked and unoaked version of the semillon. I really learned to like this white. What is amazing is that this is a white variety that ages quite well.  Tasting a semillon a year or 2 old is very nice - tart with alot of citrus.  Great for a hot summer day.  However when we tasted one that was about 8 years old it was a world of difference - smooth and rich.  Most of the acidity had gone away.  Of course my pocket book tended to like the tart citrus flavors - go figure.  They also do shiraz and some cab there as well.  The shiraz was particularly interesting.  Shiraz from the Hunter was medium body to light even.  More like a Pinot that the dark bold Shiraz we tasted in Barossa and Heathcote.  It was actually quite good.  The other thing they do in Australia is a sparkling shiraz which I found to be very unique - a bit sweet and the bubbles are creamy and not sharp (like the difference between a beer carbonated with nitrogen vs co2).

We had a great day as always eventhough it was grey and a bit rainy - what better thing to do on a rainy day than go around tasting wine?  We had a marvelous lunch and visited a great local cheese manufacturer.  It all made for several great evenings eating sharp cheese and drinking wonderful wine.

A couple of the big boys - Lindeman's & Rosemount to name 2 are in the Hunter.  But we found out while there that Rosemount is now owned by Fosters which was rather dissapointing.  We stayed with smaller boutique wineries often getting to meet the owner/wine maker.

Our first stop was Iron Gate Wineries - a marveous oaked Semillon and beautiful grounds

 

 

Next was Savannah Estate.  Not terribly impressed with the wines although they had an amazing 20 yo tawny that I fell in love with.

 

 

 

And of course outside of the celler door were Kangaroos in the field.

 

Brokenwood was an interesting place making single vineyard wines from the property around the winery

 

Lunch at the Cellar Door restuarant

 

 

 

 

Ernest Hill Wines was an interesting place.  As a family member dies they spread their ashes across one of the vineyards and subsequently name the wine produced from that plot after the person who's ashes are there.  A little creepy when you think about it.  But a beautiful cellar door just the same - and a really nice shiraz.