The Hunter Valley

Manly, New South Wales, Australia
Thursday, January 2, 2014

The Grape Escape has raised its ugly head once more! We were picked up this morning at 8am by Richard Everett of Wine Country Tours for an exploration of some of the wines in the Hunter Valley. Matt and Selina organised this for us as a Christmas present and a great day it proved to be.
This wine region is just over two hours driving time by road from Sydney and it is a beautiful drive, as you skirt the Blue Mountains, before entering the valley proper. The landscape is very typically Australian, lots of eucalyptus, grasses and drought resistant plants, names unknown by the author, but well managed and attractive. Obviously there are cellar doors and vines everywhere, plus some seriously good restaurants, guest houses, hotels etc. This is definitely an area to go on the list for further exploration if one ever has the chance. We pulled into the The Peppers Guest House for coffee and biscuits and sat outside on the verandah, whilst Richard explained the days plan in this magnificent setting. When I say we, I should explain that this consisted of a group of nine of us. An adult family group from the US, ( father originally from Leeds), three young ladies from the Melbourne area and us of course. It was a very friendly and informed group and the conversation flowed easily.
We moved on to the Tyrrell Winery, which was founded by one Edward Tyrrell from Berkshire. He planted the first vines here in 1828, probably as part of a general horticultural experiment to see what his land would cope with. These were the first vines to be planted in the Hunter Valley and they are still cropping to this day, smaller quantities, but of superb quality. The winery is now being run by the fifth generation and we were lucky enough to meet the oenologist (wine maker) Andrew Spinaze, who has been with the Tyrrells for over 30 years. We were taken to inspect the grapes hanging ripening on the vines. They are growing on strong red clay and are never watered. Did you know that a vines roots can permeate the soil by up to 20 feet? I was astonished. Andrew expects to start harvesting around the 13th and then it will be all hands to the wheel, but in the meantime he's heading to the cricket tomorrow! All morning, the temperature had continued to climb, until it was by now approaching forty degrees. We stood in the vineyard with a hot breeze blowing off the mountains and it was like being buffeted by an enthusiastic hair dryer! Fortunately, we were then taken through the cellars and shown the processes the wine goes through before it becomes that silky beverage so prized by us all. Here it was cool and temperature controlled, cooler for the whites than the reds of course and finally we were shown into the Tyrrell's original house, that has been preserved very much as it was originally and is now used for private tastings. The house was built of wood, tin lined, with further newspaper lining on the walls for insulation, before being distempered. They used what was available and survival was finely balanced. The wines were superb across the board and we tasted, compared and contrasted Semillon, Chardonnay, Shiraz and Cabernet, all from this one winery. The family own land in other wine growing regions, but the wine is made here. It is apparently very common in Australia to pick and must the 'berries' as they are referred to and then tanker the product in its raw state to the mother winery, for the wine to be made there. It is not unheard of for the must to be brought in temperature controlled vats from Western Australia to the Hunter Valley for production. This will take two drivers, driving in relay, five days.
Lunch was taken at the Tower Estate, restaurant. Another 1800s building of great interest and the food was superb. All organic and locally sourced and the vegetables grown in their own vegetable plot.
We moved on to a contrasting young winery called Hungerford Hill, which is only 40 years old. The winemaker here is experimental in his approach, knowing that they need to find a niche and it is no good trying to compete with the likes of the Tyrrells. Again, very good wines of a quite different feel. Once you have your taste buds in, you can taste the youth of the vines in the glass. There is no magic in wine production, it is all in the soil, grape, and weather conditions that year.
Richard is extremely knowledgeable on his subject and life's passion and yet is an excellent communicator and managed to make the whole day fun. It was fascinating, as apart from the tastings, the discussion encompassed commerciality, boutique productions, cork versus screw cap, climate change etc etc. We arrived home about 7.30pm, hot, bothered and pleasantly mellow, but absolutely delighted with what has to be our best Grape Escape to date. Cheers to you all!!Read more