NOTHING COMPARES TO THE feeling of driving down a tree-lined avenue in wine country. There’s a special heart lift from the sight of vines marching away either side and, in the distance, hills rising to meet the sky.
You know all about the Hunter Valley, of course: elegant shiraz, world-beating semillon, weddings. If that’s all you know, though, it’s time to look again. Because even the wine has more to it than you might think.
The grapevines’ roots reach deep: records show they’d already been planted by 1823. Originally home to the Wonnarua people, the Hunter is one of the country’s first commercial wine regions: in 1835 George Wyndham was selling wine from his Dalwood vineyard (now owned by Penfolds). Tulloch Wines, Audrey Wilkinson, Tyrrell’s and Drayton’s all boast more than a century of winemaking here. History is tangible: the cottage that houses Circa 1876 Restaurant dates (surprise!) from the 19th century; the ironbark hut Edward Tyrrell built as his home in 1858
