June 6th, 2019
After another cup of noodle and PB & J for breakfast, we headed out to do some wine tasting in Hunter Valley. We were super thrilled to see our first kangaroo on the drive! There were actually many of them, and we later learned that you literally see them everywhere. It was delightful seeing them in real life and watching them hop. One even had a baby in its pouch.
Our first stop was Tyrrells Winery which was established in 1858. We did a 10am tour and had the wine tasting at the end. We walked through some of their vines which were 140 years old and still producing.
Our second stop was Usher Tinklers, and we did a tasting there. They are known for pairing their wines with salumi and cheese boards but they started at $60 AUD ($42 usd) so unfortunately we had to pass on that one.
We ended at Tullochs and bought our only bottle there. There were hundreds of vineyards one could spend weeks exploring, but we thought three in a day was good. It was a sunshine-filled, beautiful day, and I was ready for a nap after all the wine and sunshine. This region produces an iconic white wine called Semillion. They also produce a lot of Shiraz. I thought their tastings were totally reasonable at $5 AUD ($3.50 usd) each and they would usually pour 6+ tastes. The tasting at the last winery we went to was free. That’s where we bought the bottle of wine. Even though we don’t have jobs at the moment and are trying to backpack the world on a strict budget, I haven’t reached the point where I could walk in and enjoy a free tasting and not buy anything… I would feel too bad.
Since we liked Wollombi so much, we decided to camp there for a second night.
You can only scrimp on so many things! If you are eating cup o noodles for breakfast (lunch and dinner…) you should have a few duckets saved up for things like wine and tavern stops – glad you recognize a priority when you see one (sorry B had to miss the salami pairing tho)
They have Semillion wine at Trader Joe’s and I was going to buy it for MaMa. I will have to buy it now while we are missing you all.
Ya, it was pretty good!