Hunter Valley winery visits

The Hunter Valley lies just over two hours north of Sydney. Its signature wines are Semillon and Shiraz, and its cellar doors cluster around Pokolbin, a district of vineyards laid out along a handful of roads. The four Hunter Valley winery visits compared here are all in Pokolbin, close together. A tasting costs 10 to 20 Australian dollars per adult, and one guided tour costs 75 dollars.

The cellar doors

Tamburlaine Organic Wines, at 358 McDonalds Road, has the lowest price: its Winemaker’s Discovery Tasting of organic red, white, rosé and sparkling wines costs 10 dollars per person. It also offers a guided tasting of non-alcoholic wines for 5 dollars, a thoughtful option for the designated driver, and the one guided tour on this page, Vines to Wines Tour & Taste, which walks through the vineyard and winery before a curated tasting, for 75 dollars.

Iron Gate Estate, at 178 Oakey Creek Road, pours six wines in 45 minutes for 20 dollars, for groups of one to ten.

Ben Ean, at 119 McDonalds Road, offers seated tastings for 20 dollars per person, every day from 10 am to 5 pm.

Peterson House, at the corner of Broke Road and Wine Country Drive, specialises in sparkling wine: you choose five from its list for 15 dollars per person.

The table below sets out each offer.

Seated, standing or guided?

Ben Ean’s format is seated, Iron Gate gives a set time of 45 minutes, and Tamburlaine’s Discovery Tasting is the cheapest. The Vines to Wines tour is the one way on this list to see the vineyard with a guide. Choose it if you want to understand how the wine is made, and the tastings if you want to compare styles across wineries.

Planning the day

McDonalds Road links Tamburlaine and Ben Ean, and Broke Road and Oakey Creek Road are close by, so the four cellar doors are close enough to visit in a day. A day with the four tastings costs 65 dollars per adult. With Tamburlaine’s tour instead of its Discovery Tasting, 130 dollars. Lunch at one of the winery restaurants breaks up the day.

There is no train to Pokolbin. Drive up from Sydney, with one person who skips the tastings, or book a tour with transport. The legal drinking age in Australia is 18.

Hunter Valley winery visits: when to go

The Hunter has one of Australia’s earliest harvests, usually from January to March. Weekends and school holidays bring crowds from Sydney.

Where to stay

Pokolbin itself has guesthouses, cottages and resorts among the vineyards, which spares you the drive at the end of the day. Cessnock, to the south, has more budget options.