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
