Heading to the Hunter Valley for the weekend is always a popular weekend destination. But especially in the first half of January, when the grapes are not yet harvested, and after the harvest, when autumn is about to give way to the warm Australian winter. After all, it’s in autumn that local winemakers offer new wines to try.
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Weekend trips Hunter Valley in May
Hunter Valley, or Hunter Valley, is Australia’s oldest wine region, located two hours from Sydney. It is famous for varieties such as Semillon and Shiraz and is home to many wineries. Some are more favoured, some less so, depending on personal taste, and tourists often visit some as they are on the must-see list. This time, we will visit two already known to my regular readers and one boutique winery, which I wrote about only in passing.
And so our journey began with breakfast at Saddles, a restaurant half an hour north of Sydney with a quiet family atmosphere. It starts at 8 am, and we booked our visit just before opening.
A 10-hectare estate set on Mount White, with a name inspired by the craftsmanship of local artisans who work on saddles for the nearby Strawberry Hills Stud, they have also designed unique saddle chairs for the dining room by the brass bar in the lounge.
Central Coast Cooking School – Kitchen & Events owners own the diner and bakery. Highlights on the lunch menu include a selection of homemade meats, savoury pastries, salads (inspired by a local garden), Little Hill Farms fried chicken and local seafood. Various desserts are presented daily, including chocolate mousse cake, rhubarb pies, custard tarts and honey cream scones. Vegetarian and gluten-free dishes are claimed to be on the menu.
Lake's Folly
Next, we drove to Lake’s Folly, which was the main reason for the trip Lake’s Folly winery had been closed (for a long time, mainly as the wine was sold out), or you had to book a visit far in advance. But now the harvest is i,n and the wine from the year before is ripe, so we went May but … only caught the 2019 cabernet. Mind you, this is a boutique (boutique) winery and only produces 2-3 varieties of wine in limited quantities.
‘‘The most famous and collectible Australian cabernet is the Lake’s Follywinery’ss from the Hunter Valley. Even young cabernet from this winery has soft,’‘ silk’’ tannins that immediately make it drinkable, not to mention long-term storage. This wine is usually produced in small batches of 250 dozen and sells out very quickly, despite the very high price for a bottle of young wine.’’
Australia’s first boutique winery Lake’s Folly, was founded by Dr Max Lake and his family in 1963. The family-owned it for over 55 years, and then Peter and Lee Fogarty bought it. When Max Lake decided to plant his vineyards, the place was called Chicks Hill, and no grapes had ever been planted there before. The land was bought from the Tyrrell family for £42 an acre.
The story of Lake’s Folly began when the winery’s founder, Sydney surgeon Dr Max Lake, planted the first vines in 1963. Cabernet Sauvignon was the world’s most famous red grape variety, whose serious potential had been ignored by other winemakers in the Hunter Valley. While the berries were ripening, Max built a small white cabin with a pointed roof, the image of which later became the winery’s logo. The first Lake’s Folly Cabernet was released in 1966. Soon, Max Lake planted an equally famous white Chardonnay grape variety and got Lake’s Folly Chardonnay.
By this point, new plantings had all but stopped. The owner of Lake’s Folly emphasised not quantity but quality and improved the quality of the drink. While other wineries were busy producing harsh fortified wines, Max Lake defended his principles and tried to create dignified and elegant flavours not inferior to French Bordeaux and Burgundy. He was called crazy but stayed true to his idea and was right. Even after over half a century, Lake’s Folly continues to adhere to the principles laid down by Max Lake and does not pursue large production volumes. And connoisseurs of outstanding wines never stop hunting for rare and valuable examples of this winery.
It must be said that in Bradley’s “Australia Small Winery“, Lake’s Folly is named as one of the most important vineyards in the world, and in Jeremy Oliver’s book “Thirst Foreknowledge” Lake’s Folly is among the top four, Australia cabernets. In 1979, RobinBradley’s Australian Wine Guide already recognised Lake’s Folly winery with five stars for both Chardonnay and Cabernet. In 2013, Lake’s Folly participated in its first wine show and won the Best Chardonnay trophy in the New World at the Six Nations Wine Challenge.
If you’re far from Australia, try to find Chardonnay or Cabernet at the world’s leading restaurants with three Michelin stars.
Tyrrell’s Wines
There, the main goal was fulfilled, and now you can choose a winery with a wide selection of wines, and we decided to revisit Tyrrell’s Wines. If you’ve seen the 2020 mini-series The Queen’s Gambit (TheQueen’s Move), you’ll see Tyrrell’s Wines on the main character’s table.
That said, Tyrrell’s Wines have some tremendous exclusive wines that are ripe and bottled and should be appreciated Just a reminder, Tyrrell’s family vineyards are the oldest in Australia.
I want to point out that that Tyrrell’s Vat 47 and and Lake’s Folly Chardonnay were planted at the same time (1969), but over time, have evolved into two very different, quite distinctive, but classic chardonnays of the region. While they share their remarkable longevity, the Folly is denser and more expressive of rich, juicy honey melon and citrus fruit against the long, fine, tightly integrated, savoury and restrained Vat 47.
This time, we were told about the structure of the land that is suitable for a particular grape variety to produce the most exciting flavours in the wine. Of course, many parameters are needed to create a high-quality product – land, weather conditions, climate, and winemaker’s experience, and … you should evaluate the wines yourself because there are personal preferences besides the evaluation of wines in the annual rating. We made our choice.
All the guidebooks make sure to emphasise that for most crops, the sub-tropical climate of the Hunter Valley region during the growing season means hot days followed by warm nights, which speeds up the ripening process and results in wines that are light to medium-bodied, low in alcohol and capable of ageing for decades.
Brokenwood
It’s lunchtime, so we opted for the restaurant kitchen at Brokenwood Wines. We usually only test wines there, but for members of their wine club, you can have lunch or dinner without reservation. Our short outing of interest and enjoyment ends, and we head back to Sydney.
How do I get to the town of Cessnock on my own?
1 – By car – From Sydney city centre, take the M1 (Pacific Mwy) and the B82 (Leggets Dr) for about 160km. – 2 hours
2 – By public transport – Train from Sydney (4:48 Central -> 7:47 Newcastle, AUD 6.20*) to Newcastle Interchange station, then you can take the #160 bus (8:20 Newcastle -> 9:35 Cessnock AUD 3.36*) – total journey time 4:40 hrs
– OR TRAIN from Sydney (5:48 Central -> 7:58 Morisset, $6.20*) to Morisset station and then take bus #163 (8:20 Morisset -> 9:20 Cessnock AUD 4.80*) – total journey time 3:30 hrs.
– ADDITIONAL – from Cessnock to the wineries, you can take a taxi (12 km/ 10 min/ AUD$40) – Taxi Servicing Cessnock, Pokolbin, Hunter Valley – RADIO CABS or TAXICO.
If you wish, you can return the same day (timetable time here is Saturday) – – 16:15 Cessnock (bus 163) -> 17:20 Morisset 17:32 -> 19:33 Central.
* one-way price per adult person
Related Tours
Join us on a Sydney Hunter Valley tour and explore Australia’s oldest wine region. Taste world-class wines, indulge in gourmet food, and enjoy breathtaking views along the way.
