Hunter Valley wine tour from Sydney
Tyrrell’s famous vineyard, Hunter Valley, New South Wales - source: Winekeller
Join us on our wine tour from Sydney to the Hunter Valley to discover the best Hunter Valley wines and wineries!
Hunter Valley in New South Wales is Australia’s oldest wine region and certainly one of its most famous - and as such should probably be on every wine lover’s list of regions to visit! We took a couple of days out to travel here from Sydney to visit a few of the best wineries in Hunter Valley and to soak up one of the world's most famous wine regions and best wine destinations.
The stunning vineyards at Margan Wines, Broke, Hunter Valley - source: Winekeller
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About the Hunter Valley, NSW
The Hunter Valley in New South Wales is Australia’s oldest wine region and probably most iconic, with a rich wine history dating back to the 1800s. The Hunter Valley lies along the Hunter River, at the foothills of the Brokenback Range, part of the Great Dividing Range and its rolling, green pastures are home to many farms and wineries and are bordered by UNESCO World Heritage National Parks.
There are about 80 cellar doors and 150 wine producers in the Hunter Valley but you can also enjoy the food and wine scene in the many excellent restaurants and hotels.
How far is the Hunter Valley from Sydney?
The Hunter Valley region is 2-3 hours drive north of Sydney - about 170 kms - and can be easily reached from here by car, bus, train and plane. The main regions in the valley are Pokolbin, Broke-Fordwich and Lovedale, where the greatest concentration of Hunter Valley wineries are located. The largest town in the valley is Cessnock, which also provides a great base for exploring Australia’s oldest and most famous wine region.
Hunter Valley map
The Hunter Valley wine region, New South Wales
What is special about the Hunter Valley?
Exploring the Hunter Valley it is instantly obvious that you are in a prime food and wine destination and in a place where you can combine natural scenic beauty with spectacular and relaxing experiences and hospitality. This is the perfect definition of a relaxing weekend retreat! It oozes beauty, charm, nature, luxury and the ‘good life’!
We noticed driving into Hunter Valley that there was a lot of coal mining going on and talking to the locals there was a real concern that the land - and the historic vineyards - must be protected at all cost to avoid this beautiful area being spoiled. Hopefully this will be sensitively managed and controlled into the future, because the Hunter Valley is not only a beautiful part of Australia it is a really important tourist destination for the country.
Hunter Valley wine
The soils in the Hunter Valley are rich in minerals, being the site of an ancient seabed and the climate here is more Mediterranean, with warm days and cold autumn and winter nights. The humidity here is also quite high, reflecting its proximity to the Pacific - and all of these factors combined help produce some very elegant wines, which are somewhat closer in style to European wines than to South Australia wines, with more acidity and less alcohol.
Hunter Valley isn’t a huge area in terms of production, but it’s known for its top quality wines, especially for wines made from the white Semillon grape variety and the red Shiraz grape variety. Another significant grape variety is Chardonnay.
The flagship white wine, Semillon, is fresh and fruity when young, but it has the potential to age extremely well. The typical Hunter Valley style is unoaked.
The region’s flagship red wine, Shiraz, is not as powerful as Shiraz wines from other parts of Australia and is quite fruity and savoury and excellent paired with food.
The Hunter Valley is very committed to sustainable farming and winemaking, as well as organic and biodynamic processes.
See here for more information about Hunter Valley wine styles.
The world-famous Brokenwood ‘Graveyard’ Shiraz vineyards - source: Winekeller
Hunter Valley winemakers
The Hunter Valley may be famed for its iconic, pioneer winemakers and its legends but it also attracts innovative, trailblazing winemakers who are rewriting its future as one of the world’s most exciting wine regions. This is why it is often referred to as the ‘birthplace’ of Australian wine as well as the ‘future’ of Australian wine.
Cellar doors Hunter Valley
As mentioned before there are about 150 wineries and 80 cellar doors that offer a range of wine tasting and vineyard tour opportunities, as well as in many cases, dining and accommodation options. The standard and the range of Hunter Valley wine tourism opportunities is most impressive. See here for wineries and cellar doors to visit.
Our Hunter Valley wine tour
We visited 3 of the best wineries in Hunter Valley over 2 days before returning to our base in Sydney.
We headed to the heart of the Hunter Valley, firstly to Pokolbin which has been the centre of the Hunter Valley wine region from the beginning. Some of the wine industry’s most famous families – like Tyrrell, Tulloch, Drayton, Wilkinson and Lindeman - established their vineyards here and it still has the highest concentration of wineries of anywhere in the Hunter Valley, as well as a great selection of hotels, restaurants and cafes. Here we visited legendary winery, Tyrrell’s and award-winning Brokenwood.
We then went on to the Broke-Fordwich area, known for having some of the best boutique and sustainable wineries in the area, as well as some great fine dining establishments. Here we visited the wonderful Margan Wines.
Luxury accommodation in the Hunter Valley
Beautiful Spicers Guesthouse, Hunter Valley - source: Winekeller
There is no shortage of fabulous places to stay in the Hunter Valley. Our advice is to experience the typical Hunter Valley ‘wine accommodation’, which offer some of the best places to stay in the Hunter Valley. Here you can sample the best wines in the Hunter Valley, as well as food of course, in super accommodation set amongst the vineyards.
We enjoyed a superb overnight stay at Spicers Guesthouse in Pokolbin, set in beautiful grounds and countryside in the heart of Hunter Valley wine country. We couldn’t fault the comfort of our room, the dining and the wines, as well as the facilities, the setting and the very warm welcome. We can highly recommend it.
See here for other suggestions for more Hunter Valley wine accommodation options.
Our visit to Tyrrell’s
The Tyrrells are the oldest continuous family wine business in the Hunter Valley and have been very much part of the fabric of the Hunter Valley and Australian wine sectors since founder, English-immigrant Edward Tyrrell, first planted vines here during the mid-19th century.
About Tyrrells and Tyrrells wines
Today Tyrrell’s is a 5th generation family business, now headed up by Chris Tyrrell, famous for its outstanding, top-end, highly collectible wines, made from grapes from old vines.
The family farms 350 acres of vineyards in the Hunter Valley - mainly Semillon - 11 of which are over 100 years old and the oldest vine dates back to 1867 (the oldest vine in Australia dates back to 1842 in the Barossa Valley).
Tyrrell’s produces a classic ‘Hunter Valley’ style wine - 60% of production is white wine and of this, 60% is made from Semillon grapes and 40% from Chardonnay. They have a very special range of wines called ‘Selective Sites’ where each wine is made from grapes over 100 years old.
The iconic Tyrrell’s vineyards Source: Winekeller
Tyrrell practises sustainable farming and they are working towards accreditation, but they aren’t classified as ‘organic’ due to the challenges imposed by the high humidity here and the constant high risk of grape disease.
Tyrrell’s wine tourism
Tyrrell’s offer a cellar door and a range of top-end tasting experiences, focused around their different wine ranges.
Tyrrell’s welcomes about 40,000 visitors per year and on a weekend day can welcome up to 350 people - such is the influence of this wine family and brand in the Hunter Valley - and Australia. In fact the Tyrell family was actually the first winery in Australia to introduce the concept of ‘cellar door’ many years ago - inviting people in to sample their wines.
Why visit Tyrrell’s?
Visiting Tyrrell’s is a must if you want to experience the history, traditions and some of the most iconic, collectible wines of the Hunter Valley. Simply put, Tyrrell’s is an Australian wine icon.
Visiting the winery and cellars is a unique experience - you really feel like you are tasting a part of wine history. We really enjoyed our Tyrrell’s tour and tasting some of these spectacular, famous Tyrrells wines.
Please note that Tyrrell’s only accepts small groups, no larger than 6, for cellar door visits and it’s very much advised to book in advance!
Also note you can visit Tyrrell’s along with Audrey Wilkinson and Brokenwood Wines as part of the ‘Icons of the Hunter Valley’ wine tour.
Our visit to Brokenwood Winery, Hunter Valley
Brokenwood was established in 1970 by 3 Sydney-based solicitors, one of whom, James Halliday, went on to become a leading wine critic for Australian wine. Today Brokenwood is known for its excellent range of wine tastings and wine tourism experiences, as well as its award-winning wines!
Our visit to Brokenwood, Hunter Valley - Source: Winekeller
About Brokenwood and Brokenwood wines
Brokenwood farms 20 hectares of vineyards here, but they also have vineyards in Victoria and source grapes from other Australian wine regions, including McLaren Vale, Margaret River, Orange and the Yarra Valley. All of the wines are made at the winery in the Hunter Valley and the main focus is on Semillon, Chardonnay and Shiraz, fruit driven wines, with minimal oak. Brokenwood is certified as a ‘sustainable’ wine producer.
Brokenwood owns and farms some very well-known vineyard sites, including the ‘Cricket Pitch’, their first vineyard, so named because the site was originally intended to be a cricket pitch! The flagship Brokenwood site however is the ‘Graveyard Vineyard’, a site which was originally planned as a site for a cemetery, purchased in 1978 and now planted with mostly Shiraz vines. The Graveyard vineyard Shiraz is consistently rated as the best single site Shiraz in New South Wales and in 2018 it won ‘Wine of the Year’.
Brokenwood wine tourism
At Brokenwood, the focus is on wine tourism and ensuring every visitor walks away having learned about Australian wines, Hunter Valley wines and Brokenwood.
Brokenwood appeals to everyone, from the wine connoisseur to the wine enthusiast to the wine novice. You are encouraged to linger at Brokenwood - to perhaps enjoy a wine tasting or just a glass of wine and snacks from the Terrace bar - or a meal in ‘The Wood’ restaurant, which offers a fabulous dining experience!
The whole site is beautifully designed - the cellar door, relaxed bar area and terrace and ‘The Wood’ restaurant were all built in 2018 and then in 2019, Brokenwood won the award for ‘best cellar door in the Hunter Valley’.
Brokenwood cellar door and wine tastings:
The Brokenwood wine tastings take the visitor on a wine journey of different Australian wine regions and wines, tailored to each person. There is a self-guided tasting as well as a range of guided tastings, some with paired canapés. The ‘Brokenwood Journey’ tasting combines premium wines with canapés and a visit to the ‘Barrel Hall’ to learn all about the winemaking process and to taste wines directly from the barrel. Then there is a ‘Soil to Cellar’ experience - the ultimate Brokenwood cellar door experience!
Why visit Brokenwood?
Brokenwood’s motto is ‘Enjoy Great Wine and have Fun’ and from our experience here, they really deliver this. We had a superb experience and found the staff to be exceptionally welcoming and professional.
After our tasting and tour round the famous Graveyard Vineyard and ‘Barrel Hall, we stayed on for some lunch on the terrace and enjoyed a Hunter Valley Semillon with some oysters - a perfect match - and a cheese board paired with a glass of Chardonnay - again just perfect!
Note that you should book wine tastings in advance and you can visit Brokenwood Wines, along with Tyrrell Wines and Audrey Wilkinson on the ‘Icons of Hunter Valley’ wine tour.
Our visit to Margan wines and Restaurant
Margan Wines is known for its top-quality, authentic wines and its authentic, superb, local, food experience. It is one of the Hunter Valley's most famous and well-visited wineries and home to sustainably-farmed vineyards, a superb cellar door, an extensive kitchen garden and orchard, and the excellent Margan Restaurant.
Margan Wines, Hunter Valley - Source: Winekeller
About Margan Wines
Margan Wines is a family business, started some 30 years ago by Andrew Margan who is joined by his wife Lisa and daughter and son. In total they farm some 100 hectares of top vineyards - all single vineyards - across different plots in the Broke-Fordwich wine region - and more vineyards are planned. The family manages 2 different farms in the area, with about 15 hectares in the Home Farm location in Broke and the remainder in Fordwich. Margan is accredited ‘sustainable’.
The core grape varieties are Shiraz, Semillon and Chardonnay, with some other varieties including Barbera and Alvarinho. Margan focuses on producing top quality, exciting wines, which aren’t perhaps really known or understood outside of Australia, because they are different to the standard perception of Australian wines! Their wines are packed with fruit flavours and well balanced and reflect the unique microclimate here. With the Pacific just 80km away, the climate features a lot of humidity, with warm days and cool nights - and frosts can be common in the Winter months. The Fordwich vineyards are surrounded and protected by the Brokenback mountain range and lots of national forest land and the soils are volcanic - very different to the soils around Pokolbin.
Andrew trained with iconic Hunter Valley wine producer Tyrrells for some 20 years before he established his own business and was awarded the accolade, ‘Winemaker of the Year 2021’. He is a well-known and respected Hunter Valley winemaker.
Margan wine tourism
Margan is traditionally and ultimately a farming business, but it has diversified to incorporate other wine tourism offers, including the Margan restaurant and an events business (where events can be held in a stunning purpose-built events room).
The winery was built in 1997 and attention was turned on the wine tourism offer from 2007.
The cellar door is open 7 days a week for tastings and you can enjoy a food platter during your tasting too.
Margan Restaurant
The Margan Restaurant seats 75 diners and is open each weekend, offering seasonal food and a degustation - tasting menu with 3-5 courses and wine pairings. They also offer the ‘100 metres meal’, where everything is sourced within 100m from the restaurant.
All of the food is grown on site and the restaurant has achieved several accolades and has the local equivalent of a Michelin star. There is a range of dining experiences to choose from.
Why visit Margan Wines and Restaurant
The focus at Margan is on authenticity and integrity, applied to all aspects, including farming, winemaking and the food. This shines through when you visit Margan.
We enjoyed a fabulous wine tasting, which was made great fun and interesting by our host, Wensley. We didn’t get the opportunity to dine at Margan, but talking to Andrew and the team and walking round the farm gardens gave us every indication that a meal here would be a superb dining experience!
Make sure you book a wine tasting experience and dining experience in advance.
Planning a trip to the Hunter Valley
For everything you need to know about planning a fabulous trip to Hunter Valley - see here. Just a couple of tips:
When is the best time to visit Hunter Valley?
Take a look here at what it’s like to visit Hunter Valley at different times of the year.
Things to do in the Hunter Valley
As we said earlier, there’s lots to do and appreciate in the Hunter Valley - it’s not all about wine - but it is about relaxation!
How about a wine and food trail?
And if you fancy something other than wine, what about visiting a boutique brewery/distillery?
Or for a special occasion, how does the idea of booking a hot air balloon in Hunter Valley grab you?
We can also highly recommend Hunter Valley chocolate tasting and Hunter Valley cheese tasting!
A Hunter Valley wine tour:
For more inspiration here’s some ideas for planning a weekend in Hunter Valley and here’s some great examples of local tour companies who offer wonderful Hunter Valley tours.
We can also help you plan your perfect Hunter Valley wine tour and itinerary, contact us now and we can discuss your ideas and requirements!
Beautiful Hunter Valley landscapes - Source: Winekeller
Conclusion - our personal highlights
Hunter Valley in Australia is one of the world’s best wine tourism destinations - and we can highly recommend visiting it and experiencing the incredible cellar doors, restaurants and hotels. It has an old world charm and it’s a wonderful place to relax, decompress and enjoy some of the best things in life! We loved our winery and cellar door visits too - we tasted some top wines and experienced a slice of Australian wine history.
