Well, I am sorry to say that yet another rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne goes in Sydney's favour. The Hunter Valley is much nicer and more developed than the Yarra Valley, sort of a friendly Southern Napa.
I am actually in Newcastle, which is much closer to the valley for touring. Yet again, I chose a package including van, and this one was very reasonably priced. It was a fun day in spite of the cool fall weather.
You know you are not in Napa when you pull up to the winery, and the guide points to some fields beyond the vineyards saying "look at the wild kangaroos". Yes, and there they were. One of the very excited Americans in our group almost got run over while running across the road to get a picture. My zoom could not do it, so you'll just have to settle for a cute story.
We toured a number of different sized wineries, including giant Lindemans. All the wineries had excellent tastings and staff - very friendly, knowledgable and generous with the pours. Like Yarra, we typically had a dozen pours at each.
Hunter Valley is known for its Semillon and Shiraz, so we got to know those two better. We also did some cheese tasting - Aussie cheese is super! We ended the tour with a liquour and schnapps tasting, finishing the day downing a butterscotch schnapps flavoured with rosemary and hot chilli peppers.
I left the valley with a smile, and a really weird taste in my mouth.
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