My husband and I were about to have three days away from the kids but had zero desire to set foot in an aeroplane and the weather was too cold to head for the beach. We needed somewhere that was only a hop, skip and a jump up the freeway from Sydney while being a perfect antidote to the city. The answer? The Hunter Valley.
With boutique hotels, wine-tasting, award-winning restaurants and a multitude of activities to keep your days occupied, Australia's oldest wine region still has it all for the perfect posh weekend away.
Stay
Abandoning the idea of self-catering (too much like hard work) and repelled by the soulless charms of the Hunter's chain hotels, we found ourselves at The Vineyards Estate on Hermitage Road in Pokolbin.
Now, officially, the Vineyards Estate is a chain hotel, having recently joined luxury hotel group, the Spicers Group. However, with only eight guest suites, the focus is on intimacy rather than utilitarian accommodation and it feels a little bit like rocking up to someone's small country estate for the weekend rather than a hotel.
When we arrived a fire was already lit in the grate, a mildly cheesy "welcome CD" was playing on surround sound and a complimentary minibar was on tap to wash away the tensions of Sydney's rush-hour traffic. It was a shame therefore, that more thought had not been put in to the room décor.
Save for one picture, the walls were completely bare. Instead, various ornamental words were strewn about on the furniture telling us to "Relax" and "Dream". I'd have relaxed into a dream state quicker if it hadn't been quite so cell-like. Still, the bed was huge and soft, the bath could fit a rugby league team in it and the minibar was working its magic.
On pulling back the curtains the following morning we discovered beautiful views across to the Brokenback Ranges, interspersed with gnarled and bare winter vines. A quick walk around the estate led us to a swimming pool shaded by gumtrees — no doubt a relief in the height of summer but a bit shiver-inducing in winter — and on to a tennis court.
We looked around for the "golf course" and eventually discovered an inconspicuous nine-hole pitch and putt behind some bushes. However, as they say, it's not how big it is but what you can do with it — and the course provided a competitive diversion to our romantic weekend away.
Drink
Wine tasting in the Hunter is of course the latest big thing, and if you hunt (apologies) around for them, you can find some classic semillon and shiraz. If you go near any of the big cellar doors such as Brokenwood or Tyrells, you're sure to encounter coachloads of daytrippers from the city. Though, admittedly, these days they're brought by horse and cart for a more romantic experience.
But wine-tasting is also about being impulsive and diving off the road when you see a cellar door that looks intimate and interesting and doesn't come with the sign "Buses by appointment".
Eat
Almost eclipsing the wine, however, are the restaurants. You could spend the entire weekend lurching from one enormous meal to the next and that's virtually what we did. The Vineyards Estate has on site the award-winning Restaurant Botanica where we dined our first night.
Crisp soft-shell crab, caramelised pork and peanuts, chilli and green paw paw followed by slow-cooked chicken filled with ricotta, sultanas and herbs, on a spiced cinnamon, cumin, pumpkin and sweet potato galette with sesame dressing. It must have taken them forever to type up the menus. However, delicious it was, with excellent and attentive service.
The wine list read like even more of a novel than the menu and off to the side of the restaurant you can peek through glass to the enormous and tempting cellar, lined with everything from local semillon to burgundy.
The next day, while my husband decided to burn some kilojoules off on the golf course (proper one, not the mini version on site), I decided to enlist the help of an in-room massage to rub mine away. An hour later I was so pulverised I could barely walk but managed nonetheless to stagger off for another wine-tasting and long lunch — this time at Tatler Wines, where we sampled plates of tapas such as mini fillet mignons and garlic and chilli king prawns, followed by indulgent sticky date pudding with ice-cream.Do
We could have sat all afternoon looking out towards the mountains and sipping rosé, but we remembered a sunset horseride we'd booked with Hunter Valley Horse Riding. Hastily racing off in the car (via the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company for extra sustenance), we soon arrived at a barn in the Molly Morgan Range, where a pair of riding instructors in their seventies — but as sprightly as teenagers — saddled up some horses and off we set.
No time of day could be more magical for riding and the clear weather gave us views across to the Great Dividing Range as the sun dipped behind the mountains. Birdsong echoed around us and kangaroos hopped away slowly, joeys bouncing in the pouch. Later, saddle-sore and weary, we fell in to a hot bath back at the hotel and then slumped in front of a DVD.
And finally
It wouldn't be wine-tasting if you didn't include some bubbles. So for one last hurrah we headed to Peterson House, a cellar door specialising in sparkling wine. As we sat on the terrace overlooking the vines, a cold glass of fizz in our hands and a plate of oysters and antipasti before us, it felt good to be alive. Now, what did we do with those kids?
The Vineyards Estate
Ph: (02) 6574 7229
Tatler Wines
Ph: (02) 4930 9139
Peterson House
Ph: (02) 4998 7881
Hunter Valley Horse Riding
Ph: (02) 4930 7111
Check our unbiased Insider's Guide to the Hunter Valley for more luxurious tips!
