In January 2024 I was lucky enough to visit New South Wales, thanks to a bursary provided by the Vintners’ Company (see previous post). The main purpose of my trip was to learn more about the unique style of Semillon made in the Hunter Valley, which I had learnt about when studying for my Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 4 Diploma. En route from Sydney to the Hunter Valley I called in on Orange and Mudgee, two other wine producing regions.
Orange, which is about four hours drive from Sydney (half of it through the stunningly beautiful Blue Mountains), was first planted to wine grapes in the 1980s. It is one of the coolest (climatically) wine growing regions in Australia, thanks to altitudes of up to 1,000m, and it is particularly well known for Burgundian varieties Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, some of which are made into fizz.|The town of Orange is rather lovely with a mix of colonial and modern buildings, and plenty of wine bars and restaurants. I took advice at the very helpful i-site (tourist information) and various wine shops, and in the few hours I had there visited a couple of wineries, and was hugely impressed with the quality of the wines I tasted
Rikard, which is on the slopes of Mount Canoblas, has the highest vineyard in Orange, at 1,150m. They grow Pinot and Chardonnay and Syrah on a somewhat lower altitude site.
Philip Shaw, one of the iconic names of Australian wine making, was the first to plant vines in Orange. His eponymous winery is now run by his sons, while Philip himself has a new venture called Hoosegg, for reasons I need to explore. I was familiar with a number of their wines which are available in the UK, but was very taken with the Arneis (a variety I had been enjoying in Piedmont the previous Autumn).
A couple of hours north of Orange is the town of Mudgee. Warmer than Orange, being at lower altitude, there is a particular focus on Spanish and Italian varietals, though as soon as one tries to make a generalisation, an exception appears – the Stein family from Germany are particularly well known for their Riesling! I had a brilliant tasting at Vinifera with Sam, whose father planted grapes in 1994, and was luckily dissuaded from planting Pinot Noir. Their organically farmed vines include Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano, and it was lovely to taste these wines in a new home, following the Rioja visits we took last year. The Tempranillo was netted, presumably because it is early ripening it appeals to birds earlier than other varieties. I also visited Logan Wines, whose tasting room is to die for, First Ridge, who have planted Italian varietals, and Lowe, who have taken experiential tasting to another level!
While I would have loved to spend more times in both these regions, I had to get to the Hunter Valley, as I had a number of visits arranged, and that Semillon was beckoning….