A Weekend at the Hunter Valley

When Paul and I were recently invited by friends to a weekend away at the Hunter Valley we of course said ‘Yes!’.

I love metro Sydney so much, though a part of me longs for the serenity of the country. I’m the person that gets excited when I see cows and sheep in paddocks, rolling green hills, and dusty roads. I don’t know if I could live there (yet!) but short breaks north to the Hunter, and down to the Southern Highlands, make me happy. After all, we had our wedding in the Hunter Valley, and we’re going back again for our anniversary at the end of October.

The occasion was Ana’s 30th birthday, and it was one of the best weekends I’ve had in a while. We laughed so hard all weekend that Paul said he’d need a Radox bath for his face 😉

Here is my long, photo-heavy snapshot of our 1 night weekend at the Hunter Valley…

Saturday

After an early start at home, we arrived at Dante and Ana’s apartment to be greeted with a second breakfast of strong coffee, croissants and ridiculously sinful, delicious, and morish ricotta cannoli from Pasticceria Papa.

The drive from Sydney to Pokolbin takes around 2.5 hours, depending on traffic and pit stops of course. After we reached Wine Country we headed straight to our first vineyard, Hope Estate. Our first wines tasted, we were feeling festive and headed to Bluetongue Brewery for a refreshing beer and a light lunch.

Bluetongue Brewery

Bluetongue Brewery at Hunter Resort is where I first became a beer drinker, when we first visited around 6 years ago. They have 6 beers on tap, and a tasting paddle of all 6 is $14 which includes a middy of your favourite when you return the paddle. Their all-day simple bistro menu includes foccacias, pies, pizzas, salads and steak sandwiches.

Tasting paddle of beer, $14 – includes a middy when you return the paddle

Hungerford Hill

We couldn’t resist a quick visit to the place we got married. We didn’t fancy too many of their wines this day, but I do think Hungerford Hill wines taste better when matched with food, rather than by themselves. However we did buy a bottle of the Heavy Metal Hilltops Shiraz, and their NV Liqueur Shiraz is an absolutely beautiful fortified wine.

De Bortoli Wines

Just down the road from Hungerford Hill is De Bortoli. There is a large warehouse where you can browse pallets and cases of wine for sale, as well as wine tasting just inside the doors. The DBHV Vermentino was quite nice, as was the DBHV Rainchild, which the salesman strangely described as ‘like making love in a canoe’. We assume he meant it was similar to water. I think.

The Hunter Valley Cheese Company

Before we headed to our accommodation we needed, yes needed, to pick up a selection of cheese for before dinner. There are a few cheese heaven spots in the Hunter Valley, and this one, the Hunter Valley Cheese Company, is at the McGuigan Wine site.

Have I mentioned that I love cheese more than I love sweets? I do get way too excited by desserts, but I love, love, love good quality cheese. If I had to choose between a cupcake and cheese, I’d pick cheese. Luckily I don’t have to choose 😉

Our haul included Hunter Gold Washed Rind, Branxton Brie, Tomme de Chevre, marinated fetta, a blue vein, olives, crackers, and bread. Sadly, I was too full of wine and snacks throughout the day that when we served the cheese I had a couple of pieces then had to go to bed before I burst. We still had dinner to get to.

Rothbury Escape

Our accommodation was the Rothbury Escape guesthouse, just 10 minutes from Pokolbin. It had been raining throughout the day and we managed to bog the van in the mud, causing us to laugh hysterically.

The grounds are beautiful, greeting us with a double rainbow and vineyards amongst the surrounds. We had our own rooms, which were simple but had heated towel racks in the bathroom (yeah!), and there is a guest lounge / common room with a fireplace, full kitchen, and a BBQ outside.

Paul supervising the fire in the common room

Goldfish Hunter Valley

After a nap, we headed to Goldfish for dinner which was recommended to me by Martyna at Wholesome Cook via Twitter. Located in the Tempus Two winery site, Goldfish is a swanky bar & lounge, as befitting the modern surrounds.

We had a private room to ourselves which was gorgeous with opulent finishes, but it was so dark that I needed to use my iPhone torch to read the menu. That of course meant food photos were never going to work well, since I struggle with low light at the best of times. That was unfortunate, as the food was fantastic! We had such a feast, and the prices may seem expensive for the serving sizes, but if you share within a group it worked out quite reasonable.

The menu is broken into 3 sections, ‘Nibble’, ‘Graze’, ‘Filling’, as well as a selection of sides and salads. The 9 of us ordered multiple plates to share: dried hot beer beef with sriacha dipping sauce ($8), hot crispy chorizo ($8), crunchy white bait with dill mayonnaise ($8), pomodoro meat balls ($18), five spice squid served with nahm jim sauce ($19), sticky crisp pork hock blocks ($19), baby back ribs with caramelised black vinegar sauce and sesame ($29), seafood hot plate with dipping sauce ($34), and sushi, sashimi and nori rolls ($34).

The highlight for me was the spectacular sticky crisp pork hock blocks, which were cubes of slow cooked hock, pressed then fried; cut through the crunchy exterior to be met with tender, fall apart, sweet pork. The baby back ribs were meltingly tender and darkly sweet, and the salmon sashimi was fresh and soft (the sushi platter is made by the sushi restaurant next door to Goldfish, though they share a kitchen).

Sticky crisp pork hock blocks, $19

Pomodoro meat balls, $18

Seafood hot plate – selection of fried seafood with dipping sauce, $34

Sunday

After a long, deep sleep, I snuck in a quick photo of the resident horses, before we packed up and headed to breakfast at Pokolbin Village.

Pokolbin Village

There are a couple of cafes at Pokolbin Village, though I found Oscar’s to be overpriced for what you get; standard tourist-trap prices really. But there is plenty to see in Pokolbin Village, including a fudge store (with signs saying ‘no photos’), and it is also the home of the stunning Hunter Valley Gardens, and these gorgeous bright flowers along the pathway:

Brokenwood Wines

The usual ‘no alcohol before midday’ guide doesn’t apply in wine country, and after breakfast we get straight back into tasting. Brokenwood was my favourite cellar door this trip, with almost all the wines eliciting an ‘ohhhh’ reaction from me. Mandy was a fantastic hostess, and very passionate about their wines – and she took a group photo for us!

Our group

Robyn Drayton Wines

We stopped at Robyn Drayton for coffee and white port. Though I didn’t try any wine, it was one of the most beautiful scenic locations, and rustic in design. They have a museum which showcases the area’s history and development into a wine region, with photos dating back to 1853.

Ivanhoe Wines

Our last cellar door, Paul’s favourite and my 2nd favourite, was Ivanhoe Wines. Ivanhoe has rich, interesting wine, including a top Chambourcin. We learnt a handy tip here:

The label date on a wine is the year the grapes were picked, not the year the wine was made. It takes 18-24 months to make red wine in barrel then 6-12 months for it to settle. White wine takes 14-18 weeks to make, then 3-6 months after bottling to settle. This is referring to smaller-produced oak-matured wines, and we were recommended to drink a red wine no sooner than 4-5 years after the label year, and 2 years after label year for a white wine.

Why, hello there!

Potters Brewery

Our final stop for a refreshing beer and a quick lunch before driving home (note: Vito, in charge of driving, wasn’t drinking!) was at Potters Brewery. The Hunter Brewing Co is a micro-brewery that produces several signature beers, including a lager (my pick), ginger beer, chocolate porter, and ‘Christmas Cheer’, which is an intense, rich, spiced beer. They hold a brewery tour for $10pp, which includes a tour of the production, as well as tastings, or a standard offer at the bar is to choose 4 beers for a $12 tasting paddle.

A beer’s ingredients

Groggily, we piled back into the van one last time, and headed back to the city of Sydney.

I love home, but I am looking forward to our next trip to the Hunter Valley in October…

So tell me, where do you like to escape to for a weekend away?