Australia…where to go in wine country?
Taste Washington Month!
We visited 5 of the 14 wine regions in New South Wales: Shoalhaven Coast, Southern Highlands, Mudgee wine region, 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.
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.
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.
Tasmania
We visited Rowlee a little over a year ago with a group from the Wine Media Conference This was a post-conference excursion to Orange Australia sponsored by Orange 360. We joined Nicole and James at their cellar door on the vineyard. We gathered on the porch to look out on the vineyard as the sun [...]
Blackberry Goat Cheese Chocolate Bombs Whew! That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? I was looking to pair with an Australian Nebbiolo and Goat Cheese and Blackberry…well that with chocolate would just do the trick. I found this recipe on Pinterest and tracked it down to Crumb Top Baking https://www.crumbtopbaking.com/frozen-blackberry-goat-cheese-chocolate-bombs/ Of course, I needed to adjust [...]
Early one spring morning we headed into the Southern Highlands region in New South Wales Australia to visit Tertini Cellars. It was October and we were staying on the coast in Shoalhaven. We arose early and headed inland up through the Kangaroo Valley, past Fitzroy Falls. It was a rainy morning and the driving felt [...]
Peach crisp This is such a simple recipe, it almost doesn’t need measurements. I whipped this up after lunch for Michael and me to enjoy as a dessert with a wine that really wanted peaches. What to Pair? Tertini 2018 Private Cellar Collection Arneis This wine comes from Tertini Wines in the Southern Highlands region [...]
Grilled peach, roasted chicken, and tarragon salad paired with the Tertini Arneis You can never go wrong with grilled peaches and this salad looks so lush and elegant. Grilled peach has those lucious fruit notes, with the texture made soft and the umami from those grill marks. Find some good greens, I used frisee, red [...]
As we turned in the drive to Nashdale Lane, passing row upon row of vines in the rolling vineyard, we could feel ourselves decompressing a bit. It had already been a busy day. We were up really early to drive to Orange from the Hunter Valley and had spent the afternoon in Millthorpe at Angullong [...]
It’s no secret, I like bubbles, so I was excited for our visit to Printhie while we were in Orange, NSW Australia. Printhie has a second label, called Swift, for their passion project under which they bottle traditional method sparkling wines. Swift happens to be the family name of the owners of Printhie Wines. Ed [...]
Last spring, we found ourselves in Australia for the Wine Media Conference held in the Hunter Valley. Well really, last fall for us in October, but it was spring in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. After the conference, we attended one of the sponsored post-conference tours to the Orange wine region. You might have seen [...]
During our stay in Orange during our post-conference tour at the 2019 Wine Media Conference, Orange360 provided us with accommodations. Our second night in the region we stayed in the city of Orange and the beautiful Byng Steet Boutique Hotel. Orange Australia Orange is a city in New South Wales Australia and is located within […]
ORANGE The first thing that comes to mind? The color, the fruit…. Then maybe you remember something about Prince William of Orange? There were actually a few Prince William of Oranges. This city in New South Wales Australia was named after one of them. We spent just 2 days exploring the Orange Wine Region that [...]
Ahh…the best-laid plans. When we began sheltering in place in March, we ordered a selection of wines from around the world to do some pairings with! We had set up with Sun Basket to provide some meal kits that would allow us to have fresh vegetables to allow us to do some pantry pairings. We […]
Last October Michael and I visited Australia and while in the Hunter Valley, we visited Krinklewood Vineyard. Rod Windrim the Vigneron, took us on a walk around the property. Rod is using biodynamic farming methods in his vineyard and it was something I really wanted to discuss with him. When we met him, he gave [...]
This area in the Western part of the Hunter Valley feels isolated and remote. As you pass through the village of Broke and drive down the 2 lane Wollombi Road, the hill of Yellow Rock rises up on your left while fields reach out past Wollombi Brook to the Mount Broke on the right. Out [...]
It was sunset of our only full day in Mudgee New South Wales. We headed out to meet Col Millot, the Viticulturist at First Ridge Vineyard on the south east side of the Mudgee Valley. While viewing the sunset from their cellar door, we discussed Mudgee, the First Ridge Vineyard site, their wines and soils, [...]
Not all things go as planned. We made chicken adobo, a dish from the Philipines, the day before and had planned to pair it with a Chardonnay. Chicken adobo is best enjoyed on the 2nd day, when the flavors have melded together. It's a pretty simple dish with chicken thighs, onions, garlic and the adobo [...]
The drought in Australia fueled the fires we saw the beginning of this year. We talked with David Lowe at Lowe Wine about the drought and about biodynamics, a subject you know we are very interested in. The drought in Australia David says that the drought has been very damaging for people who were [...]
While following our #stayathome orders, we are grateful that there are meal kit delivery services out there, so that we can prepare a delicious fresh meal. We give thanks to those people picking the produce and gathering ingredients to put these kits together and the people who are out there delivering them to us. We [...]
While visiting with David Lowe at Lowe Wine in Mudgee NSW Australia, David poured us a glass of his 2015 Riesling from Nullo Mountain. In addition to the Tinja vineyard where the winery is located and where we were sitting, David gets fruit from Orange as well as from a unique vineyard outside of Rylstone. [...]
Mudgee, it’s a fun name to say. The name of this region in Australia’s New South Wales is derived from the word "moothie" for “nest in the hills” in the Wiradjuri tongue. We drove from the Hunter Valley over the mountains and into this region to speak with David Lowe of Lowe Wine. I asked [...]
The Hunter Valley is a large region and holds the lions share of wineries when you look at New South Wales. In this region which covers more than 30,000 square kilometres (that's over 18,000 square miles) you will find more than 150 wineries and cellar doors. This is the oldest wine growing region in Australia. [...]
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