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March 22 - Australia: Cessnock, New South Wales (Hunter Valley Region)

Today we made the rounds of the Hunter Valley, Australia's wine region.  But to start out our days, we each went for a run.  This morning I ran up Allandale Road toward the wineries, but didn't actually run far enough to come across any winery.

At 10:00, we hit the wineries.  Last night, Jon looked at the map of the wineries and was completely overwhelmed.  There are about 130 wineries in the area, and the brochure we have lists them in no particular order.  The bigger wineries are usually distributed all over the place, so we try to avoid them.  We prefer the smaller, boutique wineries because those are the wines you can't get everywhere.  Here's where we went and what we thought:

Winery Tasting Notes

Sandalyn Estate

www.huntervalleyboutiques.com.au

Email: sandalyn@hunterlink.net.au

There was a beautiful golden retriever named Hunter who met us at the car and walked us in.  And as we tasted the wines, he brought us his squeezie toy to play with.  We tried the whole line of whites and reds, and especially liked the dessert wine (which the Aussies call the "sticky").  So we bought a sticky and got recommendations for other smaller wineries.

Allanmere Wines

www.allanmere.com.au

At Allanmere, we tried the reds, and fell in love with the 1999 Shiraz (Australian for Syrah).  So we bought two of them.

Blueberry Hill

www.blueberryhill.com.au

Email: blueberryhill@hunterlink.net.au

Here, we tasted the entire line of wines.  They had a delicious sparkling pinot and a good cabernet sauvignon.  But we didn't buy either of them.

Carindale Wines

www.carindalewines.com.au

Here, we tasted three Chardonnays.  They were good, but we didn't buy any of them.  Upstairs from the tasting room, there was a gallery displaying quilts and hand-painted fabrics.  We bought a piece of material for Mom's quilt.

One Broke Road

www.one.brokeroad.com.au

Email: sales@onebrokeroad.com.au

We stopped at One Broke Road for lunch.  They had a lovely restaurant which we didn't eat at, but we ordered baguette sandwiches to go.  

We took our sandwiches down the road to a park/shopping area and ate on a picnic bench.  The sandwiches were really good for such a cheap price.  Jon had ham and cheese and I had chicken and cheese.  After lunch, we walked around the shopping area and looked at some wine racks.  We also bought two ice creams.  Magnum has a brilliant marketing campaign right now throughout Australia.  I don't know if the "Seven Deadly Sins" campaign is also in the US, but basically there are a series of seven ice creams that represent the seven deadly sins.  The commercials are hysterical, but - more importantly - the ice creams are divine!  My favorite is "Gluttony" which has chocolate mousse on the inside and hard white chocolate over a milk chocolate shell on the outside.  Really, it's to die for.

So we took our Gluttonies out into the parking lot and sat on an old stage coach and an old wagon while we ate.  While I was sitting on the wagon, some guy drove by on the road and yelled "Giddyap!".  I thought that was pretty funny!

Jon on the Stage Coach

Winery Tasting Notes

Honeytree Estate

www.honeytreewines.com

Email: honeytree@bigpond.com

This place had some lovely reds.  We bought the Cabernet Sauvignon, which needs to cellar for a few years.

Scarborough Wine Co.

www.scarboroughwine.com.au

Email: sales@scarboroughwine.com.au

 

The winery was run by a couple, and had a really cute tasting room of a few dining tables and a black cocker spaniel who adored Jon.  They specialized in Chardonnays, so we bought two bottles of the '99.

Brokenwood

www.brokenwood.com.au

Email: cellardoor@brokenwood.com.au

This was a fun place, with an hysterical wine steward.  They had some great reds, and so we bought a young red called "Cricket Pitch", the Cab Sauv, and a Shiraz.

Thalgara

www.winestay.com

This is an incredibly small winery, with only a few wines to taste.  We loved both the '98 Chardonnay and the '99 Shiraz.

Reg Drayton Wines

www.regdraytonwines.com.au

Email: mail@regdraytonwines.com.au

We ended up spending a long time here.  The winery had a photo gallery which detailed the family history of the winery.  Five generations of Draytons!  We did the tasting here, and found out that - tomorrow night - they'll have a "Sunset BBQ Among the Vines" dinner, tasting, and wine social.  But we didn't think the motel would have room for us tomorrow night.  So Phillip, the wine steward, called a campground and made reservations for us.  Looks like we're staying another night! 

Jon and Me at Reg Drayton Winery

After Reg Drayton, we drove to Audrey Wilkinson Winery.  We'd been told that there was a gorgeous view of the valley from the tasting room.  We got there at 5:05 so it was closed.  No worries, because all we wanted were some pictures.

Jon and the View at Audrey Wilkinson Winery

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