Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia

Another lovely spot that I visited on my travels through New South Wales was the Hunter Valley, famed for its wineries.  I chose to do an overnight tour of the Hunter Valley with AEA Luxury Tours.  This gave me an opportunity to explore some of the Hunter Valley beyond the cellar doors.

The driver on day 1 was brilliant.  I think his name was John, but I can't remember for sure.  John is a Sydney-sider born and bred, and gave us a running commentary about various places in Sydney and beyond that we passed through on route to our first destination, Mount View Estate Winery. The view at the top of this post is over the vineyards surrounding Mount View Estate.  At Mount View, we enjoyed our first wine tasting of the day.  I was so impressed with Mount View's wines that I bought three bottles - a liqueur Shiraz, a Cerise (sparkling red) and a Fuschia (rose).

Our next stop was for a wine and cheese tasting, lunch and a winery tour at Leogate Estate.  

I confess to liking the wines at Mount View better. However, the lunch we had at Leogate was magnificent:

Leogate also has a rather grand function venue, which you can hire for weddings and other special occasions: 

After Leogate, I was dropped off at my hotel in Polkolbin to spend my afternoon at leisure.  I chose to book my own accommodation at The Mercure Resort Hunter Valley Gardens in Polkolbin rather than stay at the accommodation that AEA would have booked, which was at a resort away from the action and hence with no way to get around.  

I took the opportunity to visit the Hunter Valley Gardens (entry - $30; I received a discount voucher from The Mercure), which were in walking distance of my accommodation.  The Hunter Valley Gardens is a large estate with different gardens planted to represent different countries.  There is also a children's garden with nursery rhyme and fairy tale characters, and when I visited, I was just one day before their annual Christmas Lights Spectacular started.

Here is a short photo journey through the gardens:

After I had seen the gardens, I visited the adjoining Hunter Valley Gardens Shopping Village.  Among other shops, there is Cupcake Espresso, where you can buy icecream, coffee, tea and of course cupcakes: 

There is also the delightful Hunter Valley Christmas Shop, which is full of novel Christmas decorations:

The shopping village is also home to The Hunter Valley Chocolate Co.  Here is my haul from the chocolate shop:

I spied this wonderful waterbird family swimming in the pond at the shopping village:

Last but not least, I visited The Garden Cellars, which has a stunning array of different flavours of beer with amusing labels:

The next day, I had the morning at my leisure to explore, so I crossed the road from my accommodation to Polkolbin Village, where there are some more vineyards to admire:

One of my favourite shops in Polkolbin Village is The Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop, which sells cheeses, meats, condiments, icecream, sandwiches and other things in between:  

In the afternoon, AEA picked me up and I joined a new tour group for the final stop on my overnight Hunter Valley tour to Tulloch's Winery for a wine and chocolate tasting: 

What could be better than spending half an hour or so tasting wine and chocolate?

I was then transported by small coach back to my Sydney accommodation.

The Hunter Valley is a food and wine lovers' paradise - do check it out on your next trip to New South Wales.

Update: The Hunter Valley was on the Today show on 11 February 2020. Here’s the team at Tulloch Winery asking you all to visit:

AEA Luxury Tours
3/158 South Creek Road

Cromer NSW 2099

Ph: (02) 9971 2402