Hunter Valley

There are a number of companies that run wine tours into the Hunter Valley. We left it a bit late and the 3 that we got in touch with were all fully booked. The forth, called Boutique Wine Tours, sounded a bit snobbish but turned out to be superb. Our first stop was Irongate, an estate owned by a Brit named Roger who gave us our tour and tasting. He made loads of money somewhere and bought the vineyard because he loves wine. He sells only from his cellar door and doesn't enter any of his wines in competitions because he reckons he doesn't need someone else telling him that his wines are good (and they certainly are). We visited Tempus Two, McGuigans, Brokenwood and then the family run Ernest Hill. By the end of the day the group had become slightly raucous. All except for a 26 year old chap from Florida who (according to himself) could drink unlimited quantities of Absinthe but seemed to struggle with the wine and passed out at our last stop.