1 Mar: Sydney (NSW) --> Pokolbin aka Hunter Valley (NSW) --> Sydney (NSW).
Well the forecast for Friday wasn't looking so good so I provisionally booked a car service to take us up to a wine region "near" Sydney called the Hunter Valley. One of our friends, +Chris, who is also a sommelier, pretty much "ordered us" to make time for "the Hunter". It ended up being a great call because the entire East Coast of Australia ended up being dumped on with rain.
I did a quick workout (tried push-ups and failed with the gimpy wrist) and then the driver was downstairs waiting for us at 745am. He took care of arranging private tastings at Mount Pleasant (very good), Tyrells (good) and Brokenwood (best) with lunch at Margan (food - good, wines - ok). And of course once +Marc found out about the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, we had to stop there as well.
The tastings were all very informative and we got to sample some freshly picked free run juice as everyone was just wrapping up harvest in the Hunter. Shiraz is predominant here as is Semillon. Other varietals are grown but those are the biggies. I enjoyed the Shiraz produced from this region because it wasn't as overpowering as much of the stuff from McLaren Vale and Barossa.
After "Chockles" got his fix of chocolate, we headed back to Sydney to meet our friends, Mel and +Jamie, for dinner at Chiswick in Woollahra, one of the local neighborhoods outside of downtown (aka CBD). Marc and I really enjoyed our meal there in early January and thought our friends might like it. The wine was very good, the food was super fresh and tasty, and we had many laughs, which included Mel's disappointment that we whacked the bat.
All in all, another great day. Now just hoping that it stops raining in Queensland, our destination for the next 3.5 weeks, as it has been raining there non-stop for a month plus now!
Thanks again for tuning in! We appreciate it!
I did a quick workout (tried push-ups and failed with the gimpy wrist) and then the driver was downstairs waiting for us at 745am. He took care of arranging private tastings at Mount Pleasant (very good), Tyrells (good) and Brokenwood (best) with lunch at Margan (food - good, wines - ok). And of course once +Marc found out about the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, we had to stop there as well.The tastings were all very informative and we got to sample some freshly picked free run juice as everyone was just wrapping up harvest in the Hunter. Shiraz is predominant here as is Semillon. Other varietals are grown but those are the biggies. I enjoyed the Shiraz produced from this region because it wasn't as overpowering as much of the stuff from McLaren Vale and Barossa.
After "Chockles" got his fix of chocolate, we headed back to Sydney to meet our friends, Mel and +Jamie, for dinner at Chiswick in Woollahra, one of the local neighborhoods outside of downtown (aka CBD). Marc and I really enjoyed our meal there in early January and thought our friends might like it. The wine was very good, the food was super fresh and tasty, and we had many laughs, which included Mel's disappointment that we whacked the bat.
All in all, another great day. Now just hoping that it stops raining in Queensland, our destination for the next 3.5 weeks, as it has been raining there non-stop for a month plus now!
Thanks again for tuning in! We appreciate it!