Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Which Winery area is more interesting for touring?

I'll be in Australia in October, and I've got perhaps 1.5 days with one overnight to go wine touring. I am trying to decide between doing this outside Sydney, in the lower Hunter Valley, or outside Melbourne in the Yarra Valley.

Anyone have any recommendation as to which of these areas, or some other one that is easily accessible from either Sydney or Melbourne would be more interesting for someone who is seriously into wines, especially reds, (Shiraz or other Rhone varietals are among my favorites, and a definite preference for small, artisinal wineries, rather than large, nearly industrial operations).

I'd personally say go to Adelaide surrounds and Coonawarra (but that's my preference for style of wine). Also depends on the style of wine you want/like. They all differ. Not sure how damaged Yarra was by the firesearlier this year (a town I visited was nearly completely destroyed)

Pick up a copy of James Halliday's wine guide (his taste matches mine) at one of the book shops and check for which wineries to go to from there. There's always a good representation of small and good wineries.

Given my travel schedule, the wine region that I choose to tour needs to be in short driving range of either Sydney or Melbourne, and can be toured in some interesting manner in less than 2 full days from one of those two cities. I'm afraid that rules out Adelaide.

Yarra is a lot closer to Melbourne than Hunter Valley is to Sydney so I'd say Melbourne in that case. Might want to check with Yarra Yering they expect to have any more wine while you are there (they close for the season after they sell out). If you're in Melbourne on a weekend, there is or was a wine tasting put on by smaller wineries at the Queen Victoria market just north of the CBD. One of them a few years ago was offering a 94 pt cabernet-shiraz.

You can also go SW of Melbourne to Mornington where Pinot Noir is the wine of choice. There are a few interesting wineries to the NW of Melbourne too of which Candlebark/wyck Hill is one.

IIRC Hunter V is most noted for its shiraz (Hunter shirazes seem to be distinctly 'earthy', and age well) and its semillon.

Yarra V is most noted for Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (though it also produces good shiraz)

The Heathcote area (~90 mins north of MEL) is noted for its shiraz (Jasper Hill a prime example, Downing Estate also produces good shiraz). Craiglee Winery at Sunbury, just 15 mins from MEL airport produces a really good cool-climate, slightly peppery shiraz. Macedon Ranges sits approximately in between the two. Bendigo is slightly further away than Heathcote and is a warm to hot region producing a lot of shiraz.

I've never been to Hunter V (remiss of me, I know) so I'm not recommending one over the other. My own taste preference would be for Heathcote/Sunbury/Macedon Ranges/Bendigo Shiraz (of the ones mentioned above - I'd probably prefer McLaren Vale in SA but that's obviously not an option this time) but YMMV!

And Galli Estate is in the Sunbury area somewhere (maybe a little further west) and produced a shiraz that won some global 'award' recently. I've tried Galli shiraz (not the award winner) and loved it.

None of the above would be considered large wineries.

Sorry, this post has jumped all over the place, but hope it offers some ideas. Tourism Victoria used to produce big glossy free magazines on VIC wine regions, unsure if they still do but well worth grabbing a copy if available.

Of course, there's always the Mornington Peninsula Wineries ...

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.winediva.com.au%2Fregions%2Fm ornington-peninsula.asp
http://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/
http://www.mpva.com.au/main.php?mainID=4

I'll be in Australia in October, and I've got perhaps 1.5 days with one overnight to go wine touring. I am trying to decide between doing this outside Sydney, in the lower Hunter Valley, or outside Melbourne in the Yarra Valley.




CRITICAL question: What are your preferred varieties? This alone is enough to decide.

Shiraz, Semillon, Cabernet Franc, Verdelho - Hunter Valley. Aged Hunter Semillon (20+ years) is the Hunter's unique gift to the world, you haven't lived until you've sampled it.

Chardonnay - Yarra, but beware the combined impact of drought, smoke taint, fungus, and pretty much every other conceivable disaster on many Victorian producers. Poor buggers.

For Cabernet you need to hit South Australia or Western Australia to find the best of the best. Many rate Barossa Shiraz over Hunter Shiraz, but most doing so would be hard pressed to name a Barossa Shiraz of less than 98% alcohol content*.

* I may be prone to overstating this.

CRITICAL question: What are your preferred varieties? This alone is enough to decide.

Shiraz, Semillon, Cabernet Franc, Verdelho - Hunter Valley. Aged Hunter Semillon (20+ years) is the Hunter's unique gift to the world, you haven't lived until you've sampled it.

Chardonnay - Yarra, but beware the combined impact of drought, smoke taint, fungus, and pretty much every other conceivable disaster on many Victorian producers. Poor buggers.

For Cabernet you need to hit South Australia or Western Australia to find the best of the best. Many rate Barossa Shiraz over Hunter Shiraz, but most doing so would be hard pressed to name a Barossa Shiraz of less than 98% alcohol content*.

* I may be prone to overstating this.

My preferred varietals are red Rhone varietals such as Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre and blends of these, as well as Pinot Noir. I'm not particularly a fan of Cabernet or Merlot. I'm also not a fan of whites, other than late-harvest dessert style wines, which I very much enjoy.

That being the case - Hunter Valley over Yarra, also home to some of the best Bortrytis Semillon dessert wines in the country. You need to head much farther out for the best Pinot & Grenache (Tasmania & South Australia), and Mourvedre is a pretty marginal variety in Australia.

I'll side with the expert above ;) and recommend that you get along to the smaller wineries along Palmers Lane, e.g Littles Winery and Calais Estate

You can find a mix of larger and smaller wineries and the larger ones will serve both the Hunter product and their other lines.

shillard will be a much better guide but my own tastes and happiness with the wine tasting experience and atmosphere mean that I like to visit the following places for a taste of shiraz and vintage semillon (thanks to the expert above ^):

Broke Road:
Tower Estate (Len Evans is an industry legend; enough reason for me);

Brokenwood Wines (http://www.brokenwood.com.au/) - famous for its Hunter shiraz and it's always a highlight for tasting and buying [cellar door/map McDonalds Rd] (http://www.brokenwood.com.au/visitUs/location/);

Hermitage Road (& cnr of Deasys Rd):
Keith Tulloch Wines at Hunter Ridge, Hermitage Rd - a unique and beautiful cellar door experience, like you're at a friend's verandah, overlooking the wines, enjoying his wine. :p
A special place and the Kester Shiraz can be a great wine.
Kester Shiraz 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 (http://www.keithtullochwine.com.au/templates/kester-shiraz.aspx?edit=false&pageID=46)
The Kester Shiraz is more than “just” a Hunter Valley wine. My focus with Shiraz has been deeply influenced by a love of Rhone Valley Shiraz wines, in particular the great Hermitages of Jaboulet. I worked with Jaboulet in France for the 1996 Vintage, and have adapted my Shiraz winemaking in the Hunter Valley to gain more fruit power and greater overall wine personality.

The result is a profusion of powerful aromas and flavours: dense plum and currant fruits with savoury/spicy power, hints of earth and spice, and great lingering complex finish of ripe briar-berry and silky smooth tannin.
Keith Tulloch's a wine judge and on the panel of Wine Selectors (best to PM shillard if you're intrigued; you will see their stands at Aussie airports).

Palmers Lane:
Calais Estate (http://www.calaiswines.com.au/site/index.cfm) (just a nice, friendly cellar door; I recommend a visit to Palmers Lane wineries);
Littles Winery (http://www.littleswinery.com.au/)(v. good 2003 shiraz - we bought both 2002 and 2003; we finished a bottle last night, still good 3 days after opening);

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This is just a selection. For example, to learn and enjoy aged Semillons, you should try some really good ones from Tyrrels (they are famous also for a Heathcote Shiraz so you can try that after the Hunter shiraz).

It's best if you can arrange your own transport (there's a great 1956 Cadillac limo if that's interesting), to get the good mix of shiraz wineries on your list of stops. :)

I'm happy to pass on more info and I need to buy some more Keith Tulloch reds and visit the winery in the next month or two. :)