Wine Tasting
As a joint leaving present and birthday present for Sean, Matt and Emily very kindly bought us some tickets for a trip on a wine tasting tour for when we got here.
We were originally supposed to be doing the tour on Sun 26th February, but this was the day just after we moved and we were very busy sorting stuff out with that so I called the Tour Operator and managed to rearrange for the Sunday after.
The coach left from Star City (a crazy giant casino-hotel complex), which is just out the back of our flat, so it was pretty convenient to get to. We according left 10 minutes to get there for what is a 2 min walk. There were a lot of coaches around (clearly these trips are popular) including a similar tour to ours with a rival company. We had been pointed in the right direction by the rival guide and caught the attention of a chap with a clipboard standing next to a departing coach. We explained who we were and he flagged the coach down quickly - it was our bus and we'd nearly missed it! I'm not sure what would have happened if we had - hopefully they would have let us rebook as the coach left 5 minutes early!
The coach took us up through the North of the city, through some nice looking suburbs such as Chatswood and then onto more remote parts. The landscape changed completely: open land everywhere you can see and signs warning of bushfires! It felt much more like we were in Australia proper rather than a metropolis.
We had a West Country (UK that is) coach driver, who gave us the usual commentry as we went along - explaining the names of towns and pointing out which bits of woods had burnt down recently.
One of the things that the coach driver pointed out as we went through rural Australia was the postal system. The post office refuse to deliver to house in the middle of nowhere, so everyone has to have a postbox at the end of the road they live on. We saw one road with about 30 different boxes at the end.
We made a stop on the way to the Hunter Valley wine region: historic Wollombi. I fully believe that this was a typical Australian town - there was absolutely nothing here - the main town "corner" consisted of a general shop, a cafe, a pub and a sign saying "Historic Wollombi".
Historic Wollombi
Apparently the main attraction was the fact that the pub sold Dr. Jurd's Jungle Juice, which you could try at the bar. We did so. It tasted not unlike port i.e. a sweet fortified wine. We didn't buy any.
We were back on the coach then, but not for so long (it had been 2 hours before Wollombi). Our first stop was at McWilliams Mount Pleasant, where we got a tour of the winery before a wine tasting with lunch.
McWilliams Vines
We learnt all about how the grapes are harvested (by hand or with a shaking machine), squished (a corkscrew and a press), filtered (another machine) and brewed (vats or barrels). Some examples of these are below. I was amazed by how easy it is you basically squash the grapes and stick them in a barrel.
You just tip the grapes into this...
The filter
Oak Barrels
Lunch was OK (but slightly meagre) - fish, potatoes and salad followed by a shared plate of fruit. We sat with the bus driver (from somewhere near Plymouth) and an American engineer and his family. He was working in Adelaide and they were visiting him.
The wines we had were somthing starting with a V (Verdhalo?), which was nice, Chardonnary, Merlot and Shiraz, which was also nice. The Chardonnay was typically Australian (i.e. sweet) and the Merlot was nothing special. We bought a crate each of the other two.
The second winey was McGuigan's, reputedly responsible for the rise in prestige of the whole of the Hunter Valley region. We undertook a tasting in more efficient surroundings here, sitting at a long table and being poured a new wine every 5 mins or so. We had Sauvignon Blanc (very nice - we bought a crate), Chardonnay again (no need to comment), Gerwurtztraminer (a bit sweet even for me who usually likes it), Merlot (I think), Shiraz (we bought two bottles as we already had a case of Shiraz - however this is the grape the region is best at growing) and Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cabernet Sauvignon was lovely but £20 a bottle so we didn't buy any. We also had a dessert wine (nothing special) and a port (apparently still not up to Sean's standards but better than any others he has had while here). We bought two bottles of port.
We then were back on the coach to a kind of little shopping complex, with a winery, chocolate shop and various what I would term "gift shops". I was feeling a little sick by this point; we had been given chocolate to eat with the port and this may have been responsible but I blame the alcohol. Consequently I couldn't face drinking and more and watched Sean through the last tasting. He bought a crate of the Rose (I can confirm that it smelt nice) so we should now be set up for a little while wine wise.
I had also started to feel slightly lethargic, the way you do in a pub garden in the summer when you just want to sit there all day in the sun and drink wine. This is one of the feelings that I gave up alcohol to avoid and I am surprised that I noticed it after drinking what was at most 2 glasses (I literaly had a sip of each wine and threw the rest away - or donated to Sean if he liked it). In fact I think that alcohol + me = a large deal of lethargy (more than usual) so I don't think I am going to be taking it up again any time soon.
An indication of the fact that all was not right came in the chocolate shop where I looked at the chocolates and declared I wasn't interested. In fact all I wanted was a fruit smoothie, and I duly bought and drank down in one a Nudie smoothie (an Innocent equivalent but decidedly inferior - more on that in another post). I felt instantly better (psychosomatic?) and suddenly desparate for chocolates, particularly as Sean had bought some.
A suspicion voiced by the coach driver on the way out became true on the way home: we fell asleep. I had been despairing of the discomfort involved in coach journeys (it wasn't this bad when I was a child!) but now I remember how to get through them: sleep. you feel awful when you wake up but then you get to go home.
We were dropping 5 mins walk from our flat (slightly irritating as the official drop off point was right by our door), pretty exhausted. A good days work.
A final note: all the wine we bought has completely failed to be delivered (even though I've been in most of the time) so I've got to go and pick up 5 cases from the post office. This is going to be interesting.
As a joint leaving present and birthday present for Sean, Matt and Emily very kindly bought us some tickets for a trip on a wine tasting tour for when we got here.
We were originally supposed to be doing the tour on Sun 26th February, but this was the day just after we moved and we were very busy sorting stuff out with that so I called the Tour Operator and managed to rearrange for the Sunday after.
The coach left from Star City (a crazy giant casino-hotel complex), which is just out the back of our flat, so it was pretty convenient to get to. We according left 10 minutes to get there for what is a 2 min walk. There were a lot of coaches around (clearly these trips are popular) including a similar tour to ours with a rival company. We had been pointed in the right direction by the rival guide and caught the attention of a chap with a clipboard standing next to a departing coach. We explained who we were and he flagged the coach down quickly - it was our bus and we'd nearly missed it! I'm not sure what would have happened if we had - hopefully they would have let us rebook as the coach left 5 minutes early!
The coach took us up through the North of the city, through some nice looking suburbs such as Chatswood and then onto more remote parts. The landscape changed completely: open land everywhere you can see and signs warning of bushfires! It felt much more like we were in Australia proper rather than a metropolis.
We had a West Country (UK that is) coach driver, who gave us the usual commentry as we went along - explaining the names of towns and pointing out which bits of woods had burnt down recently.
One of the things that the coach driver pointed out as we went through rural Australia was the postal system. The post office refuse to deliver to house in the middle of nowhere, so everyone has to have a postbox at the end of the road they live on. We saw one road with about 30 different boxes at the end.
We made a stop on the way to the Hunter Valley wine region: historic Wollombi. I fully believe that this was a typical Australian town - there was absolutely nothing here - the main town "corner" consisted of a general shop, a cafe, a pub and a sign saying "Historic Wollombi".
Historic Wollombi
Apparently the main attraction was the fact that the pub sold Dr. Jurd's Jungle Juice, which you could try at the bar. We did so. It tasted not unlike port i.e. a sweet fortified wine. We didn't buy any.
We were back on the coach then, but not for so long (it had been 2 hours before Wollombi). Our first stop was at McWilliams Mount Pleasant, where we got a tour of the winery before a wine tasting with lunch.
McWilliams Vines
We learnt all about how the grapes are harvested (by hand or with a shaking machine), squished (a corkscrew and a press), filtered (another machine) and brewed (vats or barrels). Some examples of these are below. I was amazed by how easy it is you basically squash the grapes and stick them in a barrel.
You just tip the grapes into this...
The filter
Oak Barrels
Lunch was OK (but slightly meagre) - fish, potatoes and salad followed by a shared plate of fruit. We sat with the bus driver (from somewhere near Plymouth) and an American engineer and his family. He was working in Adelaide and they were visiting him.
The wines we had were somthing starting with a V (Verdhalo?), which was nice, Chardonnary, Merlot and Shiraz, which was also nice. The Chardonnay was typically Australian (i.e. sweet) and the Merlot was nothing special. We bought a crate each of the other two.
The second winey was McGuigan's, reputedly responsible for the rise in prestige of the whole of the Hunter Valley region. We undertook a tasting in more efficient surroundings here, sitting at a long table and being poured a new wine every 5 mins or so. We had Sauvignon Blanc (very nice - we bought a crate), Chardonnay again (no need to comment), Gerwurtztraminer (a bit sweet even for me who usually likes it), Merlot (I think), Shiraz (we bought two bottles as we already had a case of Shiraz - however this is the grape the region is best at growing) and Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cabernet Sauvignon was lovely but £20 a bottle so we didn't buy any. We also had a dessert wine (nothing special) and a port (apparently still not up to Sean's standards but better than any others he has had while here). We bought two bottles of port.
We then were back on the coach to a kind of little shopping complex, with a winery, chocolate shop and various what I would term "gift shops". I was feeling a little sick by this point; we had been given chocolate to eat with the port and this may have been responsible but I blame the alcohol. Consequently I couldn't face drinking and more and watched Sean through the last tasting. He bought a crate of the Rose (I can confirm that it smelt nice) so we should now be set up for a little while wine wise.
I had also started to feel slightly lethargic, the way you do in a pub garden in the summer when you just want to sit there all day in the sun and drink wine. This is one of the feelings that I gave up alcohol to avoid and I am surprised that I noticed it after drinking what was at most 2 glasses (I literaly had a sip of each wine and threw the rest away - or donated to Sean if he liked it). In fact I think that alcohol + me = a large deal of lethargy (more than usual) so I don't think I am going to be taking it up again any time soon.
An indication of the fact that all was not right came in the chocolate shop where I looked at the chocolates and declared I wasn't interested. In fact all I wanted was a fruit smoothie, and I duly bought and drank down in one a Nudie smoothie (an Innocent equivalent but decidedly inferior - more on that in another post). I felt instantly better (psychosomatic?) and suddenly desparate for chocolates, particularly as Sean had bought some.
A suspicion voiced by the coach driver on the way out became true on the way home: we fell asleep. I had been despairing of the discomfort involved in coach journeys (it wasn't this bad when I was a child!) but now I remember how to get through them: sleep. you feel awful when you wake up but then you get to go home.
We were dropping 5 mins walk from our flat (slightly irritating as the official drop off point was right by our door), pretty exhausted. A good days work.
A final note: all the wine we bought has completely failed to be delivered (even though I've been in most of the time) so I've got to go and pick up 5 cases from the post office. This is going to be interesting.
posted by Zoe at 5:30 PM
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