Hoorah! A mini weekend getaway to celebrate the office's second birthday.
Friday 11.30am, last week, we all hopped on a coach to Hunter Valley. Two and a bit hours later, we wined and dined at Pepper Tree Vineyards, Tamburlaine, Petersonhouse, Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, Harrigan's Irish Pub and Oishii Restaurant! Talk about an action-packed weekend.
So... at the first wine tasting, I bought a lush dessert wine... it was sweet as honey: 2005 Boytrytis Semillon. I must admit though -I'm not at all a wine expert. After a while, they all taste the same. Here's what we swirled, sniffed, gargled and sipped...
Whites
2006 Limited Release Hunter Semillon
2004 Reserve Wrattonbully Chardonnay
Reds
2005 Limited Release Hunter Shiraz
2002 Coonawarra Classics
Fortified
2005 Limted Release Botrytis Semillon
2004 Limited Release Wrattonbully Liqueur Merlot
Next was Tamburlaine Organic Vineyards. Ooh, so do organic wines give you less of a hangover? Apparently so, if drunk in moderation... because of its low sulphur dioxide content.
All throughout Hunter Valley were cute gardens and cosy cottages. Outside Petersonhouse were these adorable lanterns and garden chairs...
Inbetween the wine tasting, I craved something solid and starchy... so at Harrigan's Pub, we ordered 2 giant servings of wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce and another 2 giant bowls of fries with tomato sauce. The wedges weren't anything fancy... but they definately were cut the perfect size. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
A full day of vineyard hopping left me exhausted. Here's the view from our room at Harrigan's Pub. You never get to see this much of the sky in Sydney.
Dinner was at 8. Oishii Restaurant sits within Tempus Two's ultra-modern landscape. However, the food was average... so I didn't bother with any notes. Photos are below if you're still interested.
And then Ben, Hazim, Adam and Mat decided to see what gravity could do to their face...
Pepper Tree Wines
Halls Road, Pokolbin
Phone: (02) 4998 7539
Web: www.peppertreewines.com.au
Tamburlaine Vineyard
358 McDonalds Road Pokolbin
Phone:: (02) 4998 7570
Web: www.tamburlaine.com.au
Peterson Sparkling Wine House
Corner of Broke Road & Wine Country Drive, Pokolbin
Phone: (02) 4998 7881
Web: www.petersonhouse.com.au
Hunter Valley Chocolate Company
Corner of Broke Road & Wine Country Drive, Pokolbin
Phone: (02) 4998 7221
Harrigan's Pub
Broke Road, Pokolbin
Web: www.hvg.com.au/harrigans_pub.asp
Oishii Japanese & Thai Restaurant
Tempest Two Winery, Pokolbin
Web: www.tempustwo.com.au
More pics & bits on Hunter Valley below.
I haven't done the whole hunter valley winery tour yet, hopefully i will do one soon though, cause that looks really good. I swear wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli is the best thing to ever be invented!
You know i was just here the other day thinking about how much i love Pepper Tree wines...I wish Jacky would go with me to HUnter Valley but he's no fun (doesn't eat cheese or drink wine!).
Hey Susan, this was my first time to the Hunter Valley... and i'll definately be back. Good food and good wine!!
Hi Emily... I finally opened my bottle of Bortrytis Semillion tonight! It was so sweet and luscious. Perhaps you could bribe Jacky with the food and chocolate factory :-P