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Hunter Valley, NSW

Located approximately 160 kilometers north of Sydney with a population of around 700,000, the Hunter Valley is Australia's oldest wine growing region

The Hunter Valley wine story began in 1830 when George and Margaret Wyndham purchased "Annandale", renaming the property "Dalwood" and building Dalwood House as a home.

In 1828 George had planted his first grapes using 600 cuttings purchased from James Busby. Following the purchase he immediately made the first commercial planting of shiraz at "Dalwood". Then in 1831 he brought the 100,000 acre property "Bukkulla" near Inverell on the edge of the Northern Tablelands and there established another vineyard.

The first "Dalwood" vintage produced in 1831 was not a great success which due to the "extremely hot conditions promised to make good vinegar." Thereafter wine growing expanded rapidly. By 1860, Wyndham's total holdings were producing 11,000 gallons of wine.

The story of these early days can be found in The Generations of Men (Oxford University Press, 1955) by Judith Wright, one of Australia's best know writers and herself a member of New England's Wyndham/Wright pastoral dynasty. "Dalwood" itself is now the home of Wyndham Estate Wines. 

During the 1950's and 60's the Valley's place as one of Australia's premier wine growing areas was threatened by the emergence and growth of rival areas. However, rapid expansion in recent years has cemented the region's place as a premier wine and food region.

The Valley offers great variety in scenery and activities.

These range from the surfing beaches around Newcastle to the mountain country of the Barrington Tops to the Myall Lakes to the open rolling country of the Valley itself.

The Valley is relatively compact in geographic terms.This allows visitors to easily experience a range of scenery and activities. However, time needs to be allowed if you are to really enjoy the variety of wine tasting opportunities!

There are a number of wine growing areas within the Valley, with vineyards ranging from major commercial enterprises to small boutique operations. It's not really possible to visit them all, so you need to plan your trip.      

There are many Hunter Valley web sites. One of the best from a wine and food viwepoint is http://www.winecountry.com.au/. While the site still has content gaps, it is an easy site to navigate without being overly commercial in text or visuals.

Another general site is http://www.huntertourist.com.au/.

Many of the vineyards have their own sites. It is not possible to list all, but a short sample follows:

• Foate's Ridge is a boutique vineyard at Broke Fordwich in the Hunter Valley producing Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Verdelho medal winning wines that exhibit distinctive regional flavours.The wines cannot be purchased from liquor stores. See http://www.foate.com.au/.
• The Northern Hunter Winery, home of Glendonbrook and Lewinsbrook Creek Wines, is the long term realisation of an idea developed by Tom and Terese Smith focused on wines hand-crafted to display unique regional and varietal characteristics. See http://www.glendonbrook.com/.
• The Peterson family began with an original planting of ten acres of semillon planted at Mount View in 1971 with the intention of supplying garpes to the nearby McWilliams Mount Pleasant Winery. The family's wine making activities have expanded rapidly since then. See http://www.petersonswines.com.au/.

• Hungerford Hill's spectacular winery in the Hunter Valley, designed by renowned Sydney architect Walter Barda, provides a contrast to the smaller producers. Here you can visit the new Cellar Door and sample both the current award winning wines and Hungerford Hill Produce, a special range of food products produced in the Terroir kitchen by chef Darren Ho. See http://www.hungerfordhill.com.au/.

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