Hunter Valley Wine Tour

Last Friday I went on a tour with Linny to the Hunter Valley, NSW's wine country. It was only a few days ago yet it feels like weeks have gone by since I hugged her goodbye at Broadmeadow station (in fact, she's probably on her way back to Perth as I type!). Time goes by fast indeed.

The first vineyard we visited was Drayton's. That was my first time tasting Verdelho. I can't remember what I thought about it but apparently I seem to have scribbled "not bad!" next to it on the list of wines provided. Then they served a white wine named "Lily" which I thought was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. Sweet, like the Botrytis Semillons, but without that heavy sticky syrupy consistency. At 24$ a bottle, I kinda regretted not picking it up. Boo.

Next stop was McLeish Estate. It had an emblem with a cat(i think? or an ugly lion) on it, and an odd motto "Touch.Not.The.Cat.Bot.A.Glove". Beats me what it means. The wines were ok-ok only, but one thing that stood out was their Shiraz. I hate drinking Shiraz, at Drayton's I thought it tasted salty and spicy and hard to drink (excuse me if thats totally different to what Shiraz is supposed to taste like, I was sick so all aromas were lost on me. I could only taste sweet, salty, sour and bitter. :/) But the one served at McLeish was very drinkable.

At this point my head is hammering. Helloooo hangover. Apparently I'm not even red yet. The next stop we make is at the Smelly Cheese Factory. Sampled some cheese. Everyone else bought gelato while I make a date with the toilet bowl *hurl*. Caught my reflection in the mirror. Not a hint of red except my eyes, and my face was pale with a green tinge to it. Yikes. 

The third vineyard was Kevin Sobel's. I sat out at this one. Just spent more time in the toilet, emptying my stomach of all alcoholic contents and wishing my head would stop throbbing. I asked Linny how the wines were. She says there was one interesting red wine which tasted like a white wine and was sweet.

Next stop: Lunch, followed by McGuigan's. This time I felt much better after hurling so much, plus now there is some food in my stomach. So I decided to take only 2 small sips per sample (no matter how tasty Botrytis wines are!) and toss the rest. All was quite so-so. I bought a bottle of 2008 Noon Harvest Merlot for less than 18$, because it was nice and sweet and surprisingly refreshing served cold. And cheap too, lol. 

The last stop we made was the Golden Grape Estate. They served only liquers and port. Which was a dead shame coz i tossed most of it away. A little sakit hati to toss them especially when some of them were like 10 years old. And one 25 year old one, older than me ok! The finale waswhen all of us had to down a shot of Dragon's Breath together. Dragon's Breath is butterscotch schnapps with rosemary and a chili padi (bird's eye chilli) in the bottle. OMG liquid fire. All us ladies shouted out the pain when we were done. But me and Linny held our cool while the Swedish and Norwegian chicks were clamouring for the iced water.

Then we headed back to Newy. The end. Lol, I am only posting this so I can remember which wines to buy when I go back to the Valley for my placements. Plenty of time to buy.