Hunter Valley-Wine Country

Two hours from Sydney is where you’ll discover Hunter Valley Wine Country. Ideal for visitors to Sydney wishing to experience the unique Australian natural landscape. A feeling of open, endless, timeless space-while indulging in the delights of the award-winning restaurants and vineries for which the region is renowned.

Famed for its wines, the Hunter Valley is all about the good times that come with those wines and is a great break that never falls short of expectations. The origins of Wine Country followed the colonial settlement of the Hunter by only a few years. In 1825, a young Scotsman, James Busby gathered French and Spanish wine samples, and then sailed back to the New South Wales colony with 700 carefully wrapped cuttings. Half went to Sydney’s new Royal Botanic Gardens-the rest he brought to Kirkton, his 2000-acre grant on the Hunter River near Belford. The wines thrived and a new industry was born.Today, Hunter Valley Wine Country is not only a heaven for wine-lovers, but offers something for everyone.

It’s a place where one is prompted to ask, what makes a better wine, or, perhaps more pertinent, what makes a winemaker want to make of better wine? What makes a chef want to continue combining different flavors and produce? How did they discover that salmon and saffron make a sublime spring dish? The atmosphere in Wine Country can be enchanting.

Some of Australia’s finest wine is produced in Hunter valley. Both the red and whites are famous, and in a good year perhaps the subtlest wines in Australia come from this area. There are so many good vineyards in the Hunter region alone that to name them sounds like the wish list of a wino in a bottleshop; Lindemans, Tullochs, Rothbury, Brokenwood. Among the numerous boutique vineries are Wandin Valley, Saddlers Creek Wines, the Rosemont Estate and Horseshoe Vineyards.

There are giant complexes like the Hunter Valley Gardens, a sort of “wine world” Centre, with resort accommodation, conference facilities, an “aqua golf driving range”, art gallery, market, restaurant and yes-even wines. So the Hunter Valley really does offer much to tickle your taste.