Australia…where to go in wine country?
Australia…it’s the other side of the world and a day away. Far from our normal life. A place where they drive on the other side of the road and sit on the other side of the car to drive. Where the signs on the road tell you to watch for kangaroos and wombats. But…the language is the same, well, mostly. The slang can be a bit of a hang up to translate.
In October, we got on a plane for the short (that’s sarcasm) flight to Sydney. Our destination was the Wine Media Conference in the Hunter Valley which is north of Sydney, but we flew in early to visit a bit more. Mind you Australia is a large country, almost as large as the US, so we focused on the region of New South Wales which surrounds Sydney and of course, primarily, we were looking at the wines of this region.
We visited 5 of the 14 wine regions in New South Wales: Shoalhaven Coast, Southern Highlands, Mudgee, Hunter Valley and Orange. These are the regions closest to Sydney. A little further north on the coast takes you to Hastings River, then even further north and inland you find New England. Inland to the West of Sydney (and mostly to the south) you find the regions of Cowra, Hilltops, Gundagai, Canberra District, Tumbarumba, the tiny Perricoota and the really large Riverina. We would have needed far more than 2 weeks to explore all these regions.
Mudgee Region
Mudgee is a wine region in New South Wales. It sits inland from the Blue Mountains and on the West side of the Great Dividing Range. The city is the 2nd oldest settlement West of the Blue Mountains, established in 1838.
In the 1870’s two gold rushes swelled the areas population. The downtown area is picturesque with plenty of heritage listed buildings. It is a great place to stroll and enjoy the shops and food, but don’t miss getting out of town to the surrounding vineyards.
The name Mudgee means “nest in the hills” in the aboriginal tongue. The name comes from the perimeter of hills that create a “nest”. Grapevines were first planted here back in 1858 by German settlers. Most vineyards are found on the gentle slopes, where you get beautiful vistas. This nest does have it’s downfalls as it can have frost prone pockets.
We drove through the Great Dividing Range from the Hunter Valley to get here and the climate here is very different. There is no maritime influence and bud burst is later here due to the cold nights.
Rainfall is lower here. If you are aware of the bush fires and the current severe drought being felt across New South Wales, you realize how much of an issue that is. Irrigation is essential here, and with the drought they are running low on water to irrigate with.
Mudgee Region
New South Wales
- Big Rivers
- Murray Darling
- Perricoota
- Riverina
- Swan Hill
- Central Ranges
- Cowra
- Mudgee
- Orange
New South Wales
- Hunter Valley
- Hunter
- Broke Fordwich
- Pokolbin
- Upper Hunter Valley
- Hunter
- Northern Rivers
- Hastings River
- Northern Slopes
- New England Australia
New South Wales
- Southcoast
- Shoalhaven Coast
- Southern Highlands
- Southern New South wales
- Canberra District
- Gundagai
- Hilltops
- Tumbarumba
- Western Plains
Western Australia
- Greater Perth
- Swan District
- Swan Valley
- Peel
- Perth Hills
- Great Southern
- Albany
- Denmark
- Frankland River
- Mount Barker
- Porongurup
- Southwest Australia
- Blackwood Valley
- Manjimup
- Margareet River
- Pemberton
Southern Australia
- Adelaide
- Barossa
- Barossa Valley
- Eden Valley
- High Eden
- Fleurieu
- Currency Creek
- Kangaroo Island
- Langhorne Creek
- McLaren Vale
- Southern Fleurieu
- Mount lofty Ranges
- Adelaide Hills
- Lenswood
- Piccadilly
- Adelaide plains
- Claire Valley
- Adelaide Hills
- Far North
- Southern Flinders Ranges
- Limestone Coast
- Coonawarra
- Mount Benson
- Mount Gambier
- Padthaway
- Robe
- Wrattonbully
- Lower Murray
- Riverland
- The Peninsulas
Victoria
- Central Victoria
- Bendigo
- Goulburn Valley
- Nagambie Lakes
- Heathcote
- Strathbogie Ranges
- Upper Goulburn
- North East Victoria
- Alpine Valleys
- Beechworth
- Glenrowan
- King Valley
- Rutherglen
- Northwest Victoria
- Murray Darling
- Swan Hill
- Port Phillip
- Geelong
- Macedon ranges
- Morninton Pennisula
- Sunbury
- Yarra Valley
- Western Victoria
- Grampians
- Great Western
- Henly
- Pyrenees
Queensland
- Granite Belt
- South Burnett
Tasmania
Tasmania
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