Wine tour, Hunter Valley

So we spent Wednesday on a wine tour of the Hunter Valley, which took us to four boutique wineries, including one that produces about 800 cases a year and is run out of a corrugated tin shed and whose symbol is a dog.

I'm informed by those who know more about these things than I do (i.e., the Internet) that the Hunter Valley "is Australia's oldest and one of its most well-known wine regions." Beautiful region. When it comes to wine-growing regions, Natasha and I are most familiar with the Oakanagan, and this is definitely much lusher.

The Hunter Valley is known for its Shiraz (Shirazes? Shirazi?), but we found them to be a bit harsher than we're used to. Apparently only the bland stuff gets exported, while the "good stuff" stays in Australia. So we ended up picking up mostly Semillion (a white wine) and some sweeter dessert wines, which are a lot like Canadian ice wines, but less syurpy.

We don't usually do these tours, but this one (Boutique Wine Tours) worked out very well. The group was small (13 people, plus Jason, the tour guide), the tastings were fun (though I still can't tell the difference between anything more subtle than a red and a white), and we got enough wine to keep us happy. We got to four wineries on the tour and one on our own during lunch. At lunch we also sampled a number of local cheeses and bought a cheddar.

Our only complaint: I don't feel the need to see Sideways (which we watched on the way back) ever again. It may be the quintissential wine movie, but like over-analysis of wine, it gets old really quickly.

(Photos: The Hunter Valley as seen fromAudrey Wilkinson Vineyard; Blayne with cheese at McGuigan Wines; and impressed with vats at Iron Gate Estate.)