The Auswine Forum

I am going to the Hunter Valley to do a few wineries next Monday, and was just wondering if you guys had any suggestions of interesting wineries to visit?
Thanks in advance,
Luke.

Yes, always...

In my mind there are 3 must-dos:

1) Mount Pleasant (McWilliams): always a great range of wonderful aged Semillons as well as Shiraz. Their fortified are also excellent. You can also taste their Coonawarra (Brands) and Yarra Valley (Lilydale) range - if the Hunter style is not your preference.

Elizabeth's for lunch at Mount Pleasant is very good for lunch. Great outlook.

2) Boutique Wine Centre: Primarily for the Meerea Park range, while Glenguin and Pato can be great too.

3) Tyrrells: Numerous vintages of top class Semillon and Shiraz are always on tasting, which are in the traditional Hunter style so beware if this is not your preference. With the Vat 47 and the cellar door itself, this is a great experience.

Kind regards,
Adair

Adair has some excellent suggestions, I would also recommend Irongate Estate, Petersons (for bubbles) and Lakes Folly (if you can spend $45 per bottle).

Have some impressions of several cellar doors at: http://winetastic.blogsome.com/category/the-cellar-door/

I think Adair has picked the pearls.
If you have time, take a look at Keith Tulloch (r+w), David Hook wines (r), and Capercaillie (r+w) after Adair's suggestions.
I don't know your experience of Hunter wines, but don't expect much opulence in the young Hunter shiraz and semillons. They can be very much an aquired taste. If you are inexperienced with Hunter wines, ask cellar door staff about cellaring potential, because many of these wines take longer to show their wares compared with, for example, Barossa shiraz and semillon. At Mount Pleasant and Tyrrells, you will probably taste wines with some time in the bottle, so go to these first.
If you are experienced, sorry for the gratuitous advice.

Do Tower Estate have a cellar door? If so, might be worth a look in as well as the others suggested.

Ian S wrote:Do Tower Estate have a cellar door? If so, might be worth a look in as well as the others suggested.

Yes, they most definitely do. Probably the most expensive setup in the Hunter actually. If you like the wines, then definitely go there. However, I always feel the “need” to purchase here more than elsewhere, and there have been times that I did not feel the value for money of their wines justified purchasing.

Adair

Agree with Adair, again. Just wanted to add that Tower has wines from all around the country and thus IMO are not really a Hunter winery. You will taste wines from the Hunter, but it is likely to be a minority of the line-up. They have an eclectic range- Barossa shiraz, Coonawarra Cab etc which are all made in limited quantities, so the range is constantly changing. If you sign up you are likely to be on the receiving end of telemarketing down the track.
Wines can be very good in my experience, but not cheap.
An Australian rather than Hunter experience.
Some may argue that you could say the same about Tyrells and Mount Pleasant, but I don't think so.

True the normal prices are relatively high and I'd never approve of high-pressure sales techniques, however got some 99 Coonawarra Cab and 00 Hunter Shiraz at auction recently and the Cab is a very fine wine (and would have been value at normal price, let alone what I paid).

On the basis of potential sales pressure, I'd be tempted to avoid on that basis alone - I don't think theres a place for it at cellar door and there's plenty of other wineries with a good attitude.

regards

Ian

Ian,

That 2000 Hunter Shiraz is a beauty too. Their wines tend to go for low prices at auction, worth looking out for.

Cheers

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. I have a had a very small amount of experience with Hunter wines, so it will be interesting to taste a few more.
After Monday I will get back on here and post some of my notes/impressions.
Thanks again,
Luke

Grant wrote:Ian,

That 2000 Hunter Shiraz is a beauty too. Their wines tend to go for low prices at auction, worth looking out for.

Cheers

Chris
About £4.50 (~ Aus$11) a bottle in this case (including delivery and buyers premium). I like these low profile auction houses!
regards
Ian