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Hunter Valley
Now we couldnt come all this way and not go to the Hunter Valley wine tasting. We hired a car, booked a place to stay and a tour and set off early. The drive was interesting enough going from industrial to country and soon we were the only car it seemed on a long and winding road in the midst of the valley.
We were on the Rover Wine Tasting Tour and the mini van picked us up from the Hunter Valley Resort where we were staying in our chalet and took us to our first vineyard called Audrey Wilkinson wines, named after the family who used to own and run the winery. We sampled white, reds, dessert wine and fortifieds (Ports) before moving onto the next place to sample some liquores. Then it was lunch time followed by more wine tasting at other vineyards. It is a great day out and some of these boutique wines are really tasty but you drink them pretty fast before you are given something else to try so after only a few I felt wined out. They also love their shiraz here and I am not a huge fan of this type of wine. It is easy to feel a little tipsy throughout the tour. It was interesting to hear about the different types of wine, the fermenting of grapes, the process, how the weather affects this crop etc and one interesting fact we did learn was this. A lot of winegrowers plant a rose bush at the end of the row of vines as it often catches the same disease. However, symptoms appear earlier in the rosebush thus acting like an early warning system.
There is a certain snobbery when it comes to wines in Oz. Chardonnay for example is one wine that has fallen victim. A saying that makes the rounds here is "ABC" - "anything but chardonnay" as it just isnt fashionable anymore but classics always make a come back and chardonnay awards are still strong up in the hunter valley. Another type of grape that once had bad press but is fast becoming a premier wine is Verdelho. On our final stop on the tour which happened to be where we were staying, we sampled all sorts from chardonnay to shiraz but decided on a verdelho to go with our dairy for that evening. We had also visited a dairy and tasted several and most wonderful cheeses ranging from goats cheese to vintage chedder. I can still taste them.
The next morning we got up early and decided to drive the scenic route back to Petersham where we were staying. Driving through the town of Broke and its moutain range called Brokenback, the land shows you how hot and arid it can be up here. The grass was a golden colour with just hints of green. The vineyards were mostly green but had flecks of copper glistening in the sun. Its a well camouflaged landscape if you are a kangaroo hiding amongst the trees but because we were on the lookout for them we spotted a few watching us in the distance. To be driving through Australia's country and creeks and spotting such a native animal was surreal, although unfortunatly you see more in the way of roadkill.
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