A trip to some Australian wineries

We visited the Hunter Valley Wine region two Saturdays ago.  I very much enjoy different types of wine.  I particularly like planning a meal to prepare and then pairing it with the right wine.  Living in the Finger Lakes I’m surrounded by opportunities of different wines to experience.  Also, I’ve sampled wines from Australia from liquor stores in Rochester and Ithaca and I liked some of those.  But there are wines that don’t get exported because they are only produced in small quantities or someone thinks they won’t be popular in the United States.  It was those “local” wines that we were most interested in trying.  We did some reading before we left Sydney and also found that there were some wineries that also had their own olive trees and press olive oil for sale. The Hunter Valley is a drive of about 2 ½ hours from Sydney.  It is different from the Finger Lakes wine country for many reasons.  The climate is warmer and there aren’t the familiar lakes around which our wineries are clustered.  As we were driving from winery to winery the terrain seemed too flat for vineyards (based on my expectations from the Finger Lakes) but Mary and I decided it was more like the Napa Valley in California which we visited about twenty years ago.  Anyone who has wanted to visit a winery on Seneca and then another winery on the far side of Cayuga can identify with the pleasure it was not to have to go around lakes!  Australian wineries call their tasting rooms cellar doors.  But, as in the Finger Lakes, those that pour the wine are friendly and knowledgeable.  There are two white grape varieties that are characteristic of the Hunter Valley Semillion and Verdelho.  I’ve had Semillion Chardonnay blends from Australia at home and once tried a Vedelho.  So I was particularly intrigued with tasting a wider selection of these at the wineries.  We visited several wineries and tasted many wines that were either 100% Semillion or Verhdelho or blends.  I must say that in some cases I couldn’t distinguish between the two.  They both taste citrusy – lemony or limey, not sweet but, to my palate without much character.      In general I didn’t find a white that I liked more that a Finger Lakes Dry Riesling or, my very favorite, Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough in New Zealand.   Many regions of Australia, including Hunter Valley are known for the red wine grape Shiraz.  Shiraz has many enthusiasts and I like to try new things.  But, I have not been very impressed by the ones available in US liquor stores, too fruity for me.  I like dry peppery reds, particularly Cabernet Franc which grows well in the Finger Lakes.   I liked the local Hunter Valley Shiraz more than those that are marketed in the US but I liked Shiraz best when blended with other grapes. We decided we would buy some wine in the Hunter.  Just enough to consume here since it is quite a process (and quite expensive) to ship it home.  We did have one Verdelho (at Hungerford Hills) that we liked enough to buy.  The best white, to my palate, that we tasted was a blend of Chardonnay, Semillion and Vedelho (at Bimbagen).  It was very good with the pumpkin and bean soup that we made in our flat.  We also bought some Merlot (again from Hungerford Hills) which we enjoyed with lamb chops, brown rice and a green salad with blue cheese.   So even while in Australia I got the chance to select wines from our mini-cellar for meals I cooked.  What fun!  Oh and we bought some great olive oil that we will be bringing home!