Turning two at Hunter Valley

Hoorah! A mini weekend getaway to celebrate the office’s second birthday.
Friday 11.30am, last week, we all hopped on a coach to Hunter Valley. Two and a bit hours later, we wined and dined at Pepper Tree Vineyards, Tamburlaine, Petersonhouse, Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, Harrigan’s Irish Pub and Oishii Restaurant! Talk about an action-packed weekend.
So… at the first wine tasting, I bought a lush dessert wine… it was sweet as honey: 2005 Boytrytis Semillon. I must admit though -I’m not at all a wine expert. After a while, they all taste the same. Here’s what we swirled, sniffed, gargled and sipped…

At Pepper Tree Wines:
Whites
2006 Limited Release Hunter Semillon
2004 Reserve Wrattonbully Chardonnay
Reds
2005 Limited Release Hunter Shiraz
2002 Coonawarra Classics
Fortified
2005 Limted Release Botrytis Semillon
2004 Limited Release Wrattonbully Liqueur Merlot
Next was Tamburlaine Organic Vineyards. Ooh, so do organic wines give you less of a hangover? Apparently so, if drunk in moderation… because of its low sulphur dioxide content.

Along with the wines, we had the pleasure of nibbling on some organic cheeses and chutney. Wine tastes so much better with food.

Tamburlaine, growing organically…
All throughout Hunter Valley were cute gardens and cosy cottages. Outside Petersonhouse were these adorable lanterns and garden chairs…

Cheers! [L - R] Xiaohan, May, Karen, me, Adam & Hazim
Inbetween the wine tasting, I craved something solid and starchy… so at Harrigan’s Pub, we ordered 2 giant servings of wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce and another 2 giant bowls of fries with tomato sauce. The wedges weren’t anything fancy… but they definately were cut the perfect size. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce (Harrigan’s Pub)

Chocolates at the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company

And more chocolates on display…
A full day of vineyard hopping left me exhausted. Here’s the view from our room at Harrigan’s Pub. You never get to see this much of the sky in Sydney.

Dinner was at 8. Oishii Restaurant sits within Tempus Two’s ultra-modern landscape. However, the food was average… so I didn’t bother with any notes. Photos are below if you’re still interested.

Oishii Japanese & Thai Restaurant

Sally makes a toast
And then Ben, Hazim, Adam and Mat decided to see what gravity could do to their face…

Pepper Tree Wines
Halls Road, Pokolbin
Phone: (02) 4998 7539
Web: www.peppertreewines.com.au
Tamburlaine Vineyard
358 McDonalds Road Pokolbin
Phone:: (02) 4998 7570
Web: www.tamburlaine.com.au
Peterson Sparkling Wine House
Corner of Broke Road & Wine Country Drive, Pokolbin
Phone: (02) 4998 7881
Web: www.petersonhouse.com.au
Hunter Valley Chocolate Company
Corner of Broke Road & Wine Country Drive, Pokolbin
Phone: (02) 4998 7221
Harrigan’s Pub
Broke Road, Pokolbin
Web: www.hvg.com.au/harrigans_pub.asp
Oishii Japanese & Thai Restaurant
Tempest Two Winery, Pokolbin
Web: www.tempustwo.com.au
More pics & bits on Hunter Valley below.

Mat, Ben & Dani @ Pepper Tree Wines private tasting

Haha, Adam posing with his gummi fries

Mat, Xiaohan, Ben, Dani, Vinny & Jayne @ Tamburlaine Wines private tasting

inside Harrigan’s bistro

the night sky

sparkling wine at Peterson House

Hazim & Xiaohan

pink flamingo ganache

duc l’orange

penguins marching… mango ganache

chilli ganache

passionfruit rock

my bag of chocolate goodness

the pool

chicken stir fry with cashew nut & chilli jam

Jayne & Nitin

fried ice-cream with caramel sauce

on the bus… Tim, Dani, Ben & Nat

pint sized gummi fries

Tamburlaine’s organic stuff

chocolate display

golf balls

honey and orange Koala ganache

chilli truffles

chocs and more

coffee beans with 90% cocoa

macadamia crunch

Botrytis Semillon

the evening sky

curry puff

tempura prawn sushi

garlic prawns

green curry

teriyaki salmon

here’s half of us…

me, Adam and Hazim acting cool

Sally, Kate and Ash