While the concept of Curious Wines was a mere twinkle in Michael’s eye, I was fortunate to be traveling around the world with my mad girlfriend. Visiting some of the most famous wine regions, I was without the knowledge that just over a year later I’d be sitting at the front line of the industry.

After the most incredible few months traveling through South East Asia, and south down Australia’s eastern coast, we arrived in Newcastle, just north of Sydney. This is where Australia’s enthusiasm for food and wine really became noticable and with Hunter Valley being only an hours drive away, it didn’t take us long to decide what we were going to spend one of our days doing.

Our expectations were only heightened by the beauty of the region, and we weren’t let down by our first stop at Lindemans, where we enjoyed our first taste of Hunter wines, before heading to Sobels, where, as well as being overwhelmed by their range and St. Bernard puppy (pictured), I was impressed with their 100% Semillon. This grape variety possesses prominent citrus flavours, which you’ll notice also comes to the fore when blended with its usual partner, Chardonnay.

We all love small, homely boutique wineries, and Hanging Tree has to be one of my favourites, alongside Huia of New Zealand, visited a few months later. The grounds, the interior and the wines were tantalising, the sparkling Shiraz being my pick. Keith Tulloch was next on the list, with no idea that Michael would select them for our list! I was delighted when I heard, because like some of the wineries before, you could really tell that the Tulloch family were steeped in the proud tradition of creating handcrafted, characterful wines focusing on quality as opposed to quantity. Despite reaching as far as Ireland, they still maintained that family-owned, boutique feeling.

I won’t mention their name, but the last winery visited was a little disappointing. It was one that you would know, a big international brand sold in nearly every supermarket in the country. I wouldn’t say the wines were disappointing, they just didn’t stand out. It was over-crowded, impersonal and more like a trip to Disneyland than a quality-focused, proud and humble producer. Saying that, it was part of the experience and didn’t stop us having a brilliant day.

I’ve heard of wine snobs who say that Hunter Valley is now more of a tourist attraction than a world-class producer of wine. All I can say is as long as there are those smaller producers, such as Sobels and Keith Tulloch, Hunter Valley is in no danger of becoming just another tourist attraction.

Click here for our range from Keith Tulloch, and if you would like to see an earlier post on my time in Marlborough, New Zealand, click here.