Today I went on a school sponsored trip to the Hunter Valley to tour three wines and one brewery. Hunter Valley is the oldest commercial grape-growing area in the country. We started early in the morning and took a two hour bus ride to Hunter Valley. We stopped at the McDonald's for breakfast which everyone was grateful for - no one wants to taste wine on an empty stomach!! Our tour guide was a very good looking young Australian man named Bob, and since the majority of our group was American girls, Bob certainly got a lot of attention!
Our first stop was Drayton family wines. We went into a decorated room and got small wine glasses to do our wine tasting. Two young guys were explaining the wines as they came around and poured each one into our glasses. We tried white wine, red wine, dessert wine... I had never tried dessert wine before but it was very sweet! After we were done tasting wine there, the girls and I took a lot of photos on the property. It was beautiful with a fountain, vineyards, and the beautiful valley in the background. It was here that our tour guide Bob had prepared a sausage BBQ sizzle for all of us.
The next stop was Bluetongue Brewery. For $12, we received a "taster's paddle" which held six mini glasses of each kind of beer they offered. After trying them all and returning the paddle, we each got our own glass of our favorite beer. It was a great set up with a lot of outdoor seating and live music playing. I quickly stopped in the winery located there before the bus left. My favorite wine there was a white fruity wine called "six degrees." I probably would have bought a bottle if the bus wasn't leaving right then!
The following stop was another winery - McGuigan. This was my favorite stop of the day! We walked into the winery and saw tons of large barrels and bottles of wine in true winery setting. The group sat around large rectangular counters while our wine experts Steven and Emma explained and poured each wine for us. Again, we had white wine, red wine, and dessert wine. I like the sparking shiraz the best! Delicious. It was a fun atmosphere, and everyone seemed to have a great time! Next door was the cheese shop. It was a bit unorganized, but we sat at tables and tried 5 different types of cheese with crackers. I tried all of them, some were very strong! My favorite one was some sort of "fromage" and it had tomatoes and some oil it in. Very flavorful without being too sharp. Once again it was time to get in the bus!!
The last stop was quick, but the scenery was gorgeous. It was called Golden Grape Estate, and we were able to see the valley and the beautiful sky! Olivia, Jackie, Heather, Mary and I sat at a table. We had one more space so I called good ol' Bob over to sit with us. We had a good time tasting 6 different drinks - the last one was "chili schnapps." It's called Dragon's Breath, and with good reason - there was two chili peppers in the bottle, and it was pretty hot! I didn't think it was too bad. After the tasting, we took some pictures in front of the beautiful fields before hopping back on the bus for the ride home.
Overall it was a great day to learn about Australian culture and try a lot of different wine! My dad is a semi wine expert, and after spending today at the wineries, I'd like to learn more! On a different note, I only have three weeks left here. It's surreal, and my friends and I can't go a day without talking about how much we are going to miss this place and each other. It's strange to think about going home, but it's not necessarily a bad thing - I miss my parents and friends so much! Bittersweet is the way to describe these feelings the best.
More soon, as always! Cheers. (PS - yes that is Bob with Olivia and me in the last photo!)
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