A Day in to The Culture of Hunter Valley

Wine, cheese, decadent chocolates in one place is a PLEASURE in which to indulge in without any apology. I remember a quote from the book: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, “La Dolce Far Niente,” or the sweetness in doing nothing– could literally sum up my day in Hunter Valley again with my 2 friends, Charmagne and Nathan from the US who visited the country (whom again, toured me around, LOL),  quenching our taste for the culture and the greenery landscape.

In general, Australia undeniably produces a lot of the best wines in the world. Hunter Valley, also known as Hunter Region in New South Wales has a vital role in the history and continuous production of the wines. The vast stretch of vineyard properties have  more or less 150 cellar doors to date with its Semillon and Shiraz as its most sought- after produce. Check the site for more Hunter Valley information.

Initially we planned it the night before with a package tour worth 60 AUD. With the tour, we were to visit 3 wineries for tasting and some other perks. We slept on it, and in the morning we decided to cancel and made a DIO (do-it-ourselves) which I think is a good idea for us. That idea didn’t fail us as we enjoyed the rest of our day on our own without breaking our pockets and we even chose to visit a distillery on the final leg of our tour. We only had to make sure we have a leader, and it’s an unanimous one, it has to be Nathan. Haha! However, most of the tourist would prefer for a wine tour especially for those who are coming from distant places without a personal vehicle and wise enough  not to assign a designated driver so as to just to make the most out of their visit,  But for us, who are tight on giving away our money and who want to keep to ourselves, we preferred our own plan.

We started our DIO tour by dropping first at the Visitor Info Centre first where we got a map of where to start. Mostly, we explored at the south area of the Hunter Valley, in Pokolbin. First on our list is a family owned winery: The Peterson House (please click for the link for map navigation) and lucky for us it is just beside the Hunter Valley Chocolate shop.

For wine tasting, we were introduced with 5 selections of wines for only 5 AUD. Most of the wineries would charge you for the same amount and you will have a discount of 5% for a wine that you will buy. My pick for their wine is their Sparkling Brut Rosé  which for me has the right amount fruitiness and acidity.

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We then headed to the Hunter Valley Chocolate shop! My top 1 for the trip. Well, I’m a chocolate lover first before cheese and before wine. I kind of over spend in this section and in the cheese shop as well. I recommend their Milk Chocolate Macadamia, Milk Chocolate with Desiccated coconut, and Hazelnut Praline with Truffles.

Next stop: Audrey Wilkinson winery. I would say, this is my favorite so far just because of the landscape. I took so many pictures in this place that I cannot choose which picture to post, hence I posted almost everything. My pick for their wine is the Muscat NV; it’s more of a dessert wine and also their Shiraz.

 

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The view from outside is just breath taking. We spent most of our photo op in here.

Our favorite tree in this landscape. Look at Nathan!

Next stop: Cheese! As recommended, we went to the Smelly Cheese where in they have a wide variety of cheese both soft and hard. We actually felt having lunch here as we are quite on a buzz already. Haha! I personally have two picks for the cheese, first is the BLACK GARLIC TRIPLE CREAM BRIE and the COWS FETA WITH SUNDRIED TOMATOES AND GARLIC. They also have gelatos available to combat the alcohol related body heat.

Smelly cheese is located at the Roche Estate also within the Pokolbin area. There are also other rest options so if you wanna lie low a bit on the drinking, this is my recommended place.

On our last agenda, we went to Hunter Distillery just straight ahead from Roche Estate where we had a tasting of gin, vodka and liqueurs from a test tube, I mean, how cool is that? Same price for 5 AUD with 10 for different kinds. My favorite would be the Mango liqueur and the Butterscotch liqueur.

Voila! We called it a day and we had a blast! Hunter Valley DIO is such a good deal for us. Last 2017, My husband TJ, and I visited Yarra Valley in Melbourne but not as extensive as Hunter Valley. We liked it there too. At this point, I couldn’t compare as my wine taste buds are still developing. All in all, this kind of culture has made us mellow down and get in touch with our spur-of-the-moment side. We capped the night off with a seafood theme dinner with TJ, now included at the Terrigal Beach in Central Coast.

We so much enjoyed it that I am obligated to bring TJ there too! For further queries, please leave a comment and I’ll try my best to answer.