Winetasting in the Hunter Valley

"Sydneysiders" (residents of Sydney) were treated to another pleasantly cool day, perfect for visiting wine country.  After traveling over the Harbour Bridge and through the suburbs, we proceeded along the Pacific Highway. Within minutes we were seeing what the English settlers saw when they first landed at Sydney Harbour 230 years ago. Even though Australia is the most arid continent on earth, the hillsides appear lush and green.  Therefore, the English thought that they were landing on fertile soil with lots of available water.  They did not understand that the flora and fauna of the country had adapted to the dry conditions over thousands of years.  The sandstone was not fertile and suitable for growing crops. Eventually by moving to the west, up the Parramatta River, they were able to grow their own food to feed the emerging colony.

Meanwhile, to the north, aboriginal people had lived for 65,000 years. We drove through Ku-Ring-Gai-Chase National Park named for the tribe that lived here for 30,000 years.  Aboriginal art on the rocks shows fish, whales, dolphin, kangaroos, weapons, and gods they worshipped in this place.

The English discovered the area when Governor King sent the worst convicts from Sydney north to collect coal, cut timber, and build the Great North Road between 1826 and 1836. Now four to six lane motorway connects Sydney to the Hunter Valley where vines originally imported from Europe in the 1820's flourish.

We visited three "boutique" wineries - defined as those that source their grapes from their own local vineyards, unlike large operations, like Lindemans,  that import fruit to produce large quantities of wine for export.  There are about 150 small boutique wineries on the Hunter Valley.
Many grape varieties are well suited to the climate - shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, verdelho, and semillon.

 Our guide, Jim, was very knowledgeable but, sadly, had to drink tea and coffee all day.  We saw kangaroos in the wild for the first time on our drive.

Our group included couples from Hong Kong, China, Sweden, Hawaii, Washington D.C., and Canada. After three tasting sessions, lunch, a visit to a cheese shop and chocolate shop, we were a quiet sleepy group on the ride home.