This weekend our Bucknell group traveled up to Hunter’s Valley for a weekend of Wine tasting which was all thanks to a very generous alumni. Our trip started very early Saturday morning and unfortunately for me, I couldn’t block out the noise and sleep during the beginning of the ride. Earlier this week, I lost one earbud and haven’t had the opportunity to replace them, so I’ve been surviving with only one. However, despite this small hiccup, I made the most of my time by studying for an exam for Monday.
At noon, we stopped in this small resting area called Wollombi for lunch. After finishing our food, we had some time to explore the small old timey vibe shops. Most were small local business that sold many different items. It was difficult not giving into buying many of the little trinkets I saw, especially the jewelry. I later found out were hand made by the owner or other local artisans.
That first day, we visited two wineries that gave different touches to my wine-tasting experience. The first winery we visited was called Brokenwood, a large famous winery that had a terrace showing the wonderful view of its grape vine field. We tasted 3 red and 3 white wines (7 total) from different years to during our session. It was really nice to get a taste of how the years impact the flavor of the wine. At the end they gave us a sweet dessert wine that was honey flavored. I personally didn’t really like it, but my taste is a bit biased since I don’t really like honey. There was a small corner where we were able to learn about the history of the winery. There were pictures of every stage of the curation process, so it was very interesting to see how the wine got to our table.
The second winery we visited was more of a small family-owned winery called Ernest Hill. We tasted about 8 different wines in total ranging from white, red, sweet, and dessert wine. This tasting session was much more delicious for me. Each wine had a distinctive taste from one another which was really surprising because I didn’t think there would be much difference especially since some had similar names. My favorite ones were the sweet ones because they were very fruity.
After two stops, we finally headed back to the hotel where we had the rest of the afternoon to explore. My friends and I were hungry, so we went to go eat at a small Italian restaurant. After our early dinner, we rested a bit before heading out for our late-night adventure. Like always, our night ended exploring the nearest beach and this time, it’s tide pools. I loved this late-night beach trip because I was able to see so many more stars than the amount I usually see in Sydney.
On Sunday, we visited one more winery called Margan before heading back to Sydney. This last winery was very beautiful and was surrounded by so many grape vine fields. The wine tasting was a bit short, but still enjoyable. One wine that stood out to me was the Rose wine because it tasted sweeter than the other Roes we tried on the trip. Our wine specialist let us know that it was because it had less alcohol, so it had a less of a strong taste to it. I found that really incredible how less alcohol would make the wine not only more digestible but also sweeter.
It was really fun trying the different types of wines from different wineries. Even if some wines were given in all wineries, you could taste how the production process of each winery influenced the different flavors that appeared in the wines. It also helped me to identify which one’s match with my taste and which ones don’t. I am really glad this was on our itinerary because it weekend was really a once in a lifetime experience for me. While there isn’t anything planned for us next weekend, I look forward to making plans to continue the adventures.