166 – 173. Hunter Valley II

Some workmates of Isla’s were going up to the Hunter for the weekend and kindly asked us to come along. Two nights in an old villa, copious amounts of wine and 10 people making fools of themselves meant that it would have been rude not to join them. We headed up on the Friday night courtesy of the chauffeuring skills of Steven and Jo but none of us had eaten dinner so we went looking for an eatery. We had taken the back road to the Hunter as it was quite a bit faster however, the trade off was that there was no signs of civilisation for miles. As the wheels ate up the tarmac we continued to starve until we eventually came across the prestigiously named Mangrove Country Club.

This place truly was a sight to behold. We pulled into the car park – or should I say gravel pit – out in front and made our way into the corrugated iron building that looked much like a scout hall. Inside was just as rustic and had the appearance of a dilapidated youth club where a mix of elderly people, hicks and their rug rats sat around wobbly tressle tables. There was even a broken down stage where I’m sure the locals (all 12 of them) would have held their annual talent show.

Surprisingly there was a bar in the centre of the hall run by a bloke from Nottingham and we asked if it would be possible to get some food. He said “Yeah, we’ve got a Chinese over there,” and pointed towards the door. We all walked back outside and went looking round the car park but there were no other buildings in sight. Totally confused we went back to the bar thinking at least we could have a drink and some crisps however, literally a hole in the wall revealed itself to be the “Chinese” and we had walked right passed it.

The food was actually not too bad and I have to say that I really enjoyed the Chicken Chow Tourist and Steven’s Mongolian Road-kill looked delightful. Soon we were back on the road and soon after arrived at the delightful Mulla Villa. The others already had the log fire going and the wine was flowing by the bottle. Before we knew it the clock had gone past midnight and everyone dribbled off to bed.

We didn’t get a chance to have a long lie as the crazy pet goose started honking as soon as the sun came up. To say the Villa was cold was a bit of an understatement and as we tucked into our cooked breakfast everyone’s breath hung in the air. There was only one cure for the cold and that was to head to the vineyards and start tasting.

166. Nightingale Wines
When we first arrived in Sydney we went out for dinner in Darlinghurst and picked up bottle of this vineyards Merlot. It was one of the most memorable of all the wines I’ve ever drank but unfortunately we’ve never been able to find it again so when people were asking if we had any requests we put in for a trip to Nightingale.

It was our first stop of the day and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. They wines just didn’t taste as good as I remembered however some of that might have been due to the amount I’d drank the night before so we bought a couple of bottles just to be on the safe side.

167. Margan Wines
This, our second stop of the day, is where things began to loosen up and people were getting right into their tasting – some more than others. Steven got me tasting the dessert wines (or “sticky wines” as they are nicknamed) and it wasn’t long till I was hooked. Fraser – who would become my partner in crime over the course of the day – realised that the dessert wines would provide us with easily drinkable liquid refreshment between vineyards so we stocked up and got drinking.

It was a bit of a shame for Nessa (Fraser’s wife) as we divided ourselves into “the Boys Car” and “the Girls Car” and since she was pregnant and therefore not tasting she ended up having to drive the lads around and ergo put up with all our antics and general bad behaviour. I’m told the girls car was a lot more civilised.

So we polished off a full bottle of sticky wine on the way to the next vineyard. Fraser however had a cold sore so he wasn’t allowed to drink out of the bottle and had to steal his own “plague glass” from one of the tastings so that he didn’t contaminate the wine.

168. Blue Tongue Brewery
I was so happy when we got to stop here to taste some beers since the last time we were in the Hunter we had to leave our wine tour early in order to get the bus back to Newcastle and therefore missed this brewery. This place was set up to get people drunk. $10 got you a paddle of 6 different beers and when you returned the paddle you were given a free glass of a beer of your choice. I opted for the ginger beer which has been a favourite of mine for the last few months.

Once we’d sunk a few beers people were beginning to get hungry so we made a move to another vineyard whom we knew would let us eat our packed lunch there before doing another tasting.

169. Terrance Vale Wines
The manageress of the Mulla Villa had prepared us 2 huge hampers which contained breads, meats, cheeses, pates, salads and fruits. There was far too much food but everyone did their best to make a dent in the supplies but soon we gave up and went into Terrance Vale to taste some more wines.

I don’t think many of us were impressed with the wine from here but since they’d let us eat our lunch outside we felt obliged to by a few. Thankfully a few of the others picked up some bottles so I didn’t have to.

170. Brokenwood Wines
This was our last stop of the day and by this point everyone was looking a bit worse for wear. That didn’t stop us buying some more sticky from this place (which unfortunately came in a 750ml bottle instead of the usual 250 – 350ml) and then playing the board game “Pass Out” in the car on the way home. It only took a few minutes for the bottle to disappear and the “Plague Glass” so more than its fair share of refills.

All this left Fraser as a dribbling idiot and when we stopped in at a pub in a town called Woolombi to watch the All Blacks play the Wallabies, things just went from bad to worse. We only managed about 3 pints during the whole match but that was sufficient to take the drunkenness to the next level. I’ll not go into details but suffice it to say there was much profanities and general ungentlemanly conduct especially since both Fraser and Michelle are Kiwis and New Zealand won the game.

We got back to the Villa shortly after the game finished and by the time we had finished dinner Fraser had to be put to bed. The rest of us managed to stay up till the wee hours and gossiped in front of the open fire before calling it a night.

171. Stonehurst / Cedar Creek Wines
There were a few sorry looking people when we started Sunday’s tasting at this place. It was a tiny little cellar door and apparently the whole place had been underwater during the recent floods and were selling water damaged bottles at half price. I couldn’t stomach anything and just had a soft drink instead but I’m told the wines were quite good.

172. Pooles Rock Wines
The penultimate stop for the day and I had a new experience here – late harvest wine. This is grapes that have been left on the vine slightly longer and picked late. It makes the wine slightly sweeter and a bit stronger but not a sticky as the dessert wines. I had to by a couple of bottles and I’m looking forward to supping on those at a later date.

173. Audrey Wilkinson Wines
This was the last vineyard on our second tour of the Hunter Valley and it was great. The views were spectacular as it was located on top of a hill with an unobscured 360 degree vista. The wines were pretty good to and it’s the only place where I’ve seen the Zinfandel grape since leaving the UK. We ended up with a couple of those and the Cab / Malbec which was astounding.

After Audrey’s we went for lunch back at the Blue Tongue and then left the Hunter for the second time. Everyone had a fantastic weekend and it was definitely memorable one. We brought home 18 bottle of brilliant wines and at the Blue Tongue my card was rejected as I’d exceeded my daily transaction allowance so I’m not looking forward to checking my bank balance. Hopefully there will be some money left for our travels to Queensland this week!