Part two of Hunter report, as promised!
Must see:
Wandin Estate-Excellent wines, and the restaurant is very good. Tapas style, we had 6 dishes and every one was delicious. Sparkling Malbec an interesting and tasty wine
Small Winemakers Centre-Some of the smaller guys show their stuff here, so there are about 6 wineries on offer. Off the top of my head, they were showing The Little Wine Company, Keith Tulloch, David Hook, Hart & Hunter, Thomas and Krinklewood. I think I saw Margan there too. I loved the Hart & Hunter shiraz, Keith Tulloch shiraz viognier and Kester shiraz and the David Hook shirazes.
It's also home to the Icon Lounge, which I highly recommend. You go to the bar downstairs and ask to go up to the lounge, they give you a card with $250 dollars loaded on it...then you go upstairs. Up there are these contraptions with all these current and back vintages of high end Hunter wines. You can choose a tasting portion, a half glass or a full glass of the wines you want to try, and then you just lounge around drinking them on leather couches. Take a good book and spend the whole afternoon if you like. Then you just give the card back downstairs and pay the difference. It's more tha worthwhile, with some really excellent back vintages.
Mt Pleasant-Really nice location and very nice wines. Because they are owned by McWilliams you can try a range of their other stuff too. I was pleasantly surprised by their cellar door only Hunter pinot, and they opened a bottle of 1998 botrytis the day I went. It was brilliant and they were flogging at at $30!! They also have a Barwang Tumbarumba riesling, off dry and very nice.
Petersons Champagne house-If only to keep the missus happy. Nothing but bubbles, but some nice stuff and the restaurant is pretty good. There's no end of sweet bubbles for the ladies but some interesting stuff too. 1997 Blanc de blancs was tasty, and the sparkling reds were nice. Sparkling botrytis was interesting but not for me...
Audrey Wilkinson-Another awesome location, and the wines were very good. A more broad appeal than most but nothing wrong with the juice. A nice gewurtz and a shiraz too.
I also liked Bimbadgen, De Iuliis (Estate shiraz especially), Caipercaille (gewurtz and Bordeaux blend), Glandore (tempranillo), Draytons (fortifieds and Joseph shiraz), Arrowfield (shiraz) and a few others here and there...but most of those guys were only showing a few when I went and/or didn't have all wines left in stock, as can happen.
In terms of eating, Esca at Bimbadgen is a must for the romantic, high end dinner. Brilliant food and service and honestly not massively expensive. The two main cheese places are very nice, as is the smokehouse at Majors Lane winery. For extra brownie points take the missus to Sabor at Lovedale...the menu is literally about 15 pages of nothing but dessert! Harrigans Irish Pub does above average pub food...
Good trip in the end! Boot is a bit full
