Australian Wine: The Hunter Valley

Monday morning ,,, we packed our luggage, had our last breakfast on the balcony, took the light rail and the train and walked the 10 minutes over to our rental car station closeby the airport to pick up our car at East Coast Car Rentals. It was a bit annoying to explain what we have booked and what we don't want, and, it took some time until we got our car, a KIA Stonic. Smaller than we had expected for Midsize, but pretty new and okay. Automatic gear, of course.

Well, all the rest was rather not okay, all screwed up and confusing: driver sitting on the right, gear shift on the left, blinker on the right (plus, left and right the other way around), belt on the right, wiper on the left, rearview mirror to the left. Well,,, we made it safely out of town on the 8-lane autobahns, but it cost me some nerves! Then, we drove on winding, partly steep side roads through Eucalyptus forrests and national parks to the north, towards Hunter Valley, a famous wine-growing region. 

Problem with left-side driving - for me for the first time - is 1st: tending to drive too far left for whatever reason,,, 2nd: the blinker, and, 3rd: being careful to always stay on the left lane, especially when turning directions or getting out of a parking lot. Hope I'll get better used to it in the next couple of days. Fortunately, I have a good navigator, who is now not only telling me directions, but, also reminds me of left and right,,,

We drove over 220 km on Monday along the Central Coast north to the wine region Hunter Valley, part of it through vast Eucalyptus forrests on windy, narrow, steep roads. Signage different from what we know from the U.S., too. Not much traffic on the side roads and not many opportunities to enjoy the views or to stop for a break.
 
Our first stop was at Wollombi, a historic village not far away from our final destination,  Cessnock. They have a "historic" General Store (below) and some historic buildings, but nothing too exciting. Therefore we headed on to Pokolbin, one of three wine-growing regions in the Hunter Valley.

First stop: Peterson Wines (they don't call it winery here, but "Cellar Door"). This winery has been at the forefront of the wine industry in the Hunter Valley since 1971. We had a tasting on their terrace. The wineries in this region are very elite and beautiful, though the whole setting is a bit different from what we know from California, and, many wineries serve mainly as event/wedding venues, and, probably most business goes on on weekends. Due to missing signage and such, it's sometimes difficult to decide where to stop,,,

With a stop at the Visitor Center we drove on to another winery in a prominent location: Audrey Wilkinson, on top a foot hill of the Brokenback Mountain Ranges, with 360 degree views (below), just beautiful, even though the skies were cloudy (at 30 deg C). Wines there were great, too, main varieties in the region are Shiraz (red) and Semillon/Chardonnay (white), and, they are still affordable!

Below the gorgeous views from Audrey Wilkinson winery and a glimpse inside:

Problem with visits in wine regions always is that you can only drink a very limited amount of wine while driving, plus, it costs. By far not as much as in California (a tasting goes for about AUS 15/9 Euro per 4-6 little glasses), but, anyway,,, at least, we chose two good ones!

After a stop at a cheese maker called "Cheesy Cheese", where we bought a selection of cheeses for dinner, we drove into Cessnock and checked in our rather modest hotel - some mixture between historic, retro and Indian, fancy and vintage, shabby and chic. Very affordable and okay for one night, ,,, When we arrived at 5 pm, the reception was already closed, and, we had to call (but, later we noticed, that's common here). 

The town itself (below) looked rather run-down, a former coal-mining town with many properties for sale and not too much going on. Reminded us of western towns in Nebraska, Nevada or Idaho, in the middle of nowhere! Real "wine connaisseurs" apparently stay in the fancy hotels adjacent to the wineries or boutique hotels on the countryside.

We had cheeses and we had wine, but needed some more provisions. So, we walked over to "Cole's", a supermarket chain, and found "Granny Smith" apples, the green variety, we enjoyed as kids. Didn't know that they were bred in Australia in 1868! They were named after a lady who propageted the cultivar from a seedling. 

Another typical Australian product is "Vegemite" (below), a spread made from leftover brewers' yeast extract, brown, thick and salty. It was first produced in 1922 and is still a favorite here.

Got us fresh bread, too, and walked back to the hotel, tired at the end of a long, exhausting day.