New South Wales - Australia 2004 - page 192

A Wine-Tasting Tip
Some wineries routinely offer some of their inferior wines for tastings. I've
made a habit of asking for a list of their premium wines available for tast-
ing. Most wineries usually have a bottle or two of their better wines
uncorked for those with a serious interest.

Tips

Hunter Valley wine clearinghouse, sending bottles and cases to members all over
Australia, and some overseas. It's also a good place to talk to the experts about the
area's wines, and to taste a few of them. It's open daily from 9am to 5pm.
You might also like to visit the Small Winemakers Centre, McDonalds
Road, Pokolbin ( & 02/4998 7668 ). At any one time it represents around six of
the region's smaller producers.
Most of the wineries in the region are open for cellar-door tastings, and it's
perfectly acceptable just to turn up, taste a couple of wines or more, and then
say your good-byes without buying anything. Though you will come across
some unusual vintages, especially at the boutique wineries, don't expect to find
any bargains—city bottle shops buy in bulk and at trade price, which means you
can probably get the same bottle of wine for less in Sydney than at the cellar
door in the Hunter.
Drayton Family Wines Drayton's produces some spectacular shiraz. Oakey
Creek Rd., Pokolbin. & 02/4998 7513. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; Sat-Sun 10am-5pm.
Hunter Estate Winery The Hunter's largest winery crushes some 6,500 tons
of grapes a year. Come here for excellent semillon and shiraz. Hermitage Rd., Pokol-
bin. & 02/4998 7777. Daily 10am-5pm. Tours daily 11am and 2pm.
Lindemans Hunter River Winery This famous winery offers an interesting
sparkling red shiraz. McDonald Rd., Pokolbin. & 02/4998 7684. Mon-Fri 9am-4:30pm,
Sat-Sun 10am-4:30pm.
McGuigan Brothers Winery Another winery worth visiting in the area,
McGuigan Brothers also has a cheese factory and bakery on the site. McDonald Rd.,
Pokolbin. & 02/4998 7402. Daily 9:30am-5pm. Tours daily at noon.
McWilliams Mount Pleasant Winery Famous for both its Elizabeth Semi-
llon, which has won 39 trophies and 214 gold medals since 1981, and its
Lovedale Semillon, which has won 39 trophies and 74 gold medals since 1984.
Marrowbone Rd., Pokolbin. & 02/4998 7505. Daily 10am-4:30pm. Tours daily 11am.
Mount View Estate The pioneer of Verdelho wines in Australia—a grape
attributed to Portugal, but it's also grown in small quantities in Italy and France.
It's a very crisp and dry white wine, which I like with seafood. Mount View Rd.,
Mount View. & 02/4990 3307. Daily 10am-5pm.
Peterson's Champagne House This is the only specialist champagne win-
ery in the Hunter. At the corner of Broke and Branxton roads, Pokolbin. & 02/4998 7881.
Daily 9am-5pm.
Peterson's Vineyard Peterson's produces fine chardonnay, semillon, and shi-
raz. Mount View Rd., Mount View. & 02/4990 1704. Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm.
Rothbury Estate This very friendly winery produces the magnificent Bro-
kenback Shiraz and the nice Mudgee Shiraz. The Rothbury Café (p. 201) serves
meals. Broke Rd., Pokolbin. & 02/4998 7555. Daily 9:30am-4:30pm.