Wibbly Wobbly Wonky Wine Tour on our Bikes!!!
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
205
349
Trip End
May 14, 2009
Cessnock,
New South Wales,
Australia
Monday, December 22, 2008
It was the Vickers on wibbly wobbly wonky wine tour - on our bikes!!
There are a few tours you can pay to do round the Hunter Valley but we thought bugger it, and hired two bikes to do it ourselves. We are so glad we did because it was brilliant.
We headed off on our trip which we worked out was about 20-25kms - with LOADS of hills!! Lorna wanted to know why our bikes didn't have motors!
We set off about 10am and got back about 5.30pm - mainly because the wineries close about 5pm.
We managed to get in 5 wineries, an Irish bar and lunch at Hunter Valley Gardens. We think this is just about right so you can spend plenty of time at each place.
There are vineyards everywhere - the Hunter Valley is huge.
First stop was Drayton's Family Wines - we'd heard they were good and one of the original families that first started up in the Hunter Valley - 'We heard it through the grapevine'! Sorry about that!
There was a really decent bloke called Matt who worked there. He taught us a fair bit about wine as we kept supping away. There was only a few people in the winery so we basically got a private tasting session and wine lesson for free. It was really good.
We tasted loads of wines : Semillon, Chardonnay, Traminer, Bella Rosa Rose and more.
Lorna kept asking for extra tastes, just to make sure she did or didn't like the wines! Typical. And this was only the first place!
Our favourite wine was a 2005 Traminer Reserve Wine - Reserve meant that the grapes are from the oldest vines, about 80 years old, and are hand picked. It was also one of the expensive wines of course! We decided to treat ourselves though and bought a bottle so we can have it on Christmas Day!
Next stop was Lindemans. Again we tried loads of wines : Chardonnay, Semillon, Early Harvest Rose, Porphyry Red, Reisling and more. They were all OK but nothing that made us want to buy.
The bikes were starting to get a little bit wobbly now! I even tried to get on mine the wrong way (see photo).
We made it to Rosemount Winery. Here we tried Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Reserve Semillon, Gabbiano Rose, Muscat 'O' amongst others.
We really liked the 2003 Show Reserve Hunter Valley Semillon - by far the most expensive wine on the list - our budget didn't spread that for!
Merryness was now in full flow so we headed for Hunter Valley Gardens to have our picnic lunch. We then went round the little shops in the gardens.
We found the 'British Lolly Shop', (lolly meaning sweet in Oz), which was full of sweets and chocolate's from the UK. We got free samples whilst here so we could have stayed all day! They had all types here including.....Quality Streets!! They were still too expensive though - about £20 per tin! We treated ourselves to a few bits though - Coff Candy Twists, Cadbury's Wispa, Fry's Orange Cream and a Kendall Mint Cake. Naughty naughty, very naughty!
Must admit, Aussie chocolate isn't very good so this was a nice change.
Then we went to Hunter Valley Chocolate Shop. It was hard not to keep our hands off. However, the shop was no where near as good as a little shop we know in Newark!!
Then it was off to Harrigans Winery. This place also had an Irish Bar!! It was nice to go in and get a pint of Tooheys instead of a wine. They also had a re-run of the Arsenal v Liverpool game on the TV's!!
When Lorna managed to drag me out of the bar we headed off to Mcguigan's Winery. Things were getting really blurry now. Lorna was evening wearing her cycle helmet on the wrong way - she looked like a blummin' Gladiator!
Tried loads more wines : Reisling, Semillon, Unwooded Chardonnay, Traminer Reisling, Mcguigan Rose, Black Label Red, Noon Harvest Merlot and others.
We really liked the 2004 Reisling so we treated ourselves to a bottle for tonight - as if we need any more wine today!!
We decided to head back as it was nearly 5pm and the wineries were closing. We had a few bicycle accidents on the way and ended up in the vines - see photo's! We did manage to make it back somehow though.
Lorna just had the giggles all the way back!
Back at the park we sat in the jacuzzi for half an hour to rest our aching limbs. We were a bit saddle sore as well! We then had a curry which probably wasn't the best choice when you've got a saddle sore backside!!
We also drank our 2004 Reisling which was a great end to a fantastic day!
It is definitely better doing this winery tour your own way - great fun!
