Hunter Valley, wine country

Steeped with the passing of the years, it has a mellow, subdued quality that is delightfully elegant and sweet. A deep golden hue greets your eye, seemingly reflecting the colors of the setting sun. Thanks to its unique terroir, it has a strong character that lingers on, leaving a pleasant and lasting impression..."

A bottle of semillon? Nope. A glass of chardonnay then? Definitely not. Actually, it’s Hunter Valley at dusk. Pardon me for waxing poetic but I couldn’t help but compare one of Australia’s premier wine regions with the intricate qualities of wine when we arrived late afternoon after a two-hour trip from Sydney. Our group – composed of representatives of the Hunter Valley Wine Society-Philippines, members of the media, chefs and other wine enthusiasts – was on a five-day mission: to learn as much as we could about Australian wines at the least possible time. Our itinerary included trips to several wineries as well as rounds of wine tasting activities and, of course, sightseeing tours.

After a scenic drive past quaint, charming houses in Sydney’s suburbs, along New South Wales’ national highway and a brief stop at the Hunter Valley Wine Society’s headquarters in Newcastle, our shuttle finally turned left from Wollombi Road into Mt. View Road leading towards the famed wine region.

Located 130 kilometers north of Sydney, the whole Hunter Region covers more than 31,000 sq.km. and is divided into two – the Lower Hunter and Upper Hunter. According to Australian Wine Society’s Graeme Bashford, there are about a dozen vineyards in the Upper Hunter, which is 100 kilometers further up north of Lower Hunter. The Lower Hunter, our destination, has about a hundred vineyards including some of the pioneering ones in the whole region.

A major tourist destination, Hunter Valley is blessed with rolling golden hills planted to rows upon rows of grape vines and dotted by structures of houses, cellars and barns. Scattered along the wide expanse are clusters of gum trees, said to be indigenous to Australia, and manmade ponds used for irrigation. A closer look would reveal a rose bush growing at the end of each row of vines. This, we were told, is to protect the grapes from disease. That is, since roses are very sensitive and are the first ones to manifest plant diseases, vineyard owners can detect early on the approach of such pestilence and do whatever’s necessary to protect their beloved vineyard. By the way, don’t be surprised to see dwarf kalamansi trees growing in some vineyards; we saw a couple of them and we instantly felt at home.

Since our visit was still too early for harvest season – the vines were just starting to grow new leaves – there would be no grape picking for us. Instead, we were ushered to our first wine cellar, the Briar Ridge Vineyard, where everyone took part in an impromptu wine tasting session complete with forms where we wrote down our impressions on Briar Ridge’s very own wines – a 2002 Briar Ridge Pinot Chardonnay Methode Champenoise, 2003 Briar Ridge Karl Stockhausen Signature Semillon, 2003 Briar Ridge Steve Dodd Chardonnay, 2002 Briar Ridge Karl Stockhausen Signature Shiraz and 2002 Briar Ridge Cold Soaked Cabernet Sauvignon. With the guidance of our Briar Ridge hosts Cameron McAlpine and winemakers Steve Dodd and Karl Stockhausen (regarded as the living legend in wine-making for his 45 years of wine experience), we tried to rate the wines’ color, aroma, and how it caressed our parched palates. A spittoon (where one spits the wine during wine tasting events) and a pitcher of water (to wash the glasses with to prepare for another set of wines) sat in the middle of the table but nobody paid much attention to them. Most of the wines poured on the glasses ended up down our throats; yes, the wines were that good. In-between sips of wine and photo sessions with our hosts, we learned that Briar Ridge is well-known for its "Distinctively Hunter" style of wines given a "rich, red, fertile and limestone-based soil, with a warm and humid microclimate yet protected from hot westerlies and cooler nights, as well as a marginally higher rainfall than the rest of the Hunter." Semillon, verdelho, chardonnay , viognier, shiraz and merlot are the grape varieties known to flourish in this part of the region. We also learned that this particular vineyard has been operating since 1972, but has only been known for its present name in 1989 with a change of ownership. Surrounded by 20 acres of vineyards (plus 70 acres on nearby Tallavera Grove and 50 acres on the valley floor), Briar Ridge is said to be the "largest holder of vineyards in the Mount View region", crushing an average of 350 tons of grapes per harvest. This amount produces about 30,000 cases of wine.

An adjoining structure at the Briar Ridge driveway has Karl Stockhausen’s cellar filled with barrels of his signature wines and vintage photos of this famed winemaker who is known for creating Hunter Valley classics.

"The Hunter Valley Region has very dry conditions and is not usually an area where you get full-bodied red wines. When you look at southern Australia for instance, it’s invariably warm there. The shiraz grapes there become very big, often very rich and ripe. In the Hunter Valley, we make the same variety into a much more elegant, light and yet flavorsome red wine," says Karl, who once worked for one of the top wineries in Australia, the Lindeman winehouse.

Before anybody could get really tipsy, we were all herded to one of Hunter Valley’s most popular resorts, Cypress Lakes, where we were to stay for a day or two. A few hours of rest and we were off to Robert’s, a cozy restaurant that reminded us of Little House on the Prairie complete with an adjoining house that exuded warmth with its comfy sofas, teddy bears on a rocking chair, foot rugs, paintings on the wall... you get the idea. It was there, after a sumptuous dinner where we had more wines, that our group was inducted as the founding members of the Hunter Valley Wine Society (Philippines).

A joint venture of HBLM (Asia) and the Hunter Valley Wine Society of Australia, the HVWS club in the Philippines aims to generate awareness among local wine lovers about Australian wines, Hunter Valley wines in particular. Several months ago, representatives of the HVWS (Australia) went to the Philippines to conduct a survey on over a hundred Pinoys’ wine preferences. For over a week and a half, the group held focus groups and found out that for white wine, Filipinos prefer sweeter, fruitier wines over drier, tarty or citrusy wines. Ninety percent of Filipinos prefer reds over whites, while more than 30 percent drink both. For reds, they found out that most prefer the full-flavored ones such as shiraz and cabernet sauvignon (pinot noir and other subtler reds are not popular), as well as those with a smooth mouth feel like merlot.

"Our challenge is to change the awareness of the Asian market when it comes to wine drinking from mere enjoyment to a way of life. There is definitely a health benefit from drinking wine and we’d like to create that awareness and interest by education," says Australian Wine Selectors CEO Greg Wells.

At the moment, membership to the HVWS (Philippines) is by invitation. Members of Philippine Airlines Mabuhay Miles Club, BPI Gold MasterCard or Citigold Account holders have been sent brochures and information about the membership. By becoming members, one has access to fine Australian wines packed in Australia and stored and distributed by HBLM (Asia). A member can choose from a 6-pack or a 3-pack of either all reds, all whites or a mix of both (from various wine regions in Australia) via telephone, fax or e-mail (call Dyana Domingo at 687-9295 or e-mail huntervalleyws@mail.com for more information). Within seven days, the wines are delivered to the member’s doorstep. The member is also invited to wine-tasting events, which could really be addicting and oh so fun. Don’t worry if you’re not a wine connoisseur; every pack of wine you order has wine educational notes and other pointers on food matching and cellaring.

An early morning hot balloon trip the following day, which would give us a bird’s eye view of the whole Hunter Region, however, didn’t push through. No, it wasn’t because all of us ended up drunk that night. The culprit was the wind which suddenly picked up while we were all sleeping peacefully in our assigned villas at Cypress Lakes Resort. And to think that everyone was looking forward to the champagne breakfast after the ballooning trip.

Our slight disappointment over the aborted balloon ride was quickly forgotten, however, when we stepped foot on Tyrrell’s Vineyards, thanks to the highly informative lecture of manager Murray Flanagan about wine-making.

Tyrrell’s Vineyard is said to be the oldest vineyard in Hunter Valley, being established in 1858. The oldest vine – a shiraz vine – in Tyrrell was planted in 1879. "Nil Magnum. Nisi Bonum (Nothing is great unless it is good)," says the Tyrrell’s coat of arms. Borne by Avery Tyrrell, the son of Walter Tyrrel of Berkshire, England, the coat of arms is prominently displayed at the entrance of the cellar, which lends an ancient feel to the whole place. The whole trip to Tyrrell’s was like a crash course in wine-making. Pressed for time, Flanagan minced no words in explaining the process from the moment the grapes are picked from the vines until the bottling process. Then, it was on to a spacious room where three sets of wine glasses were lined up for the guests. It was wine-tasting time again! Bottles of reds and whites whizzed past our eyes and tastebuds until everything became a blur. As we couldn’t finish all the glasses, we had to throw away the good stuff on the ground right there inside the room, the already wine-fortified soil quickly absorbing more of the same.

As an aside, Flanagan showed us what looked like a flat purple rock with minute crystals sticking out. Called tartaric acid, it’s said to be the sediments that come from the fermented wine, and which contains all the wine’s bitterness and impurities. It’s a beautiful wine byproduct but pretty much useless that Flanagan was only too willing to give away to whoever asked. I did, plus two corks for souvenirs.

Next stop was Rothbury Estate, which is being managed by Neil McGuigan whose family has a 50-year-old wine-making business. An expert wine spitter (yes, that’s a compliment), McGuigan gave us a glimpse of his spitting skills by having a volunteer stand a yard away with legs spread wide. The aim is to spit wine on the ground between the legs without soiling any of the volunteer’s pants. The man could spit alright, gracefully at that with the spit forming a clean arch from source to target.

With helmets as SOP gear and wine glasses in hand, we followed McGuigan to the wine warehouse where we had more wine-tastings directly from oak barrels (but not before passing a large room filled with oak barrels and where two huge paelleras are found, as well as tables and chairs supposedly for regular dinners and parties). McGuigan, who worked for seven years at Briar Ridge as a winemaker before joining Rothbury’s, explained how Rothbury’s crush about 300,000 pounds of grapes using hi-tech equipment which he kiddingly calls "just a little plaything."

"We put a lot of tanks in here which are all insulated and run by computers to ensure that we have total control of fermentation," he says, adding that some of the bigger tanks could hold 22,000 liters of wine. They do experiment with wine flavors by "pushing the boundaries of quality and make the wines more interesting," thanks to technological advances in the wine-making industry.

From the fruity sauvignon blanc to a creamy and oakey chardonnay to "a new and exciting variety of white" (our group was one of the first to taste this, he says) that has a honeysuckle scent which turned out to be viognier, we smelled, tasted, spit and toasted each other to near tipsiness. And here’s one interesting fact in the Rothbury Estate: They mix milk with whites and fresh egg whites with the reds to soften the wine and clean the color a bit.

By the time we tried six glasses of reds and whites at the Bimbadgen Estate Restaurant, everyone had an easy time identifying which glass was a merlot, a pinot noir, a chardonnay or a cabernet sauvignon. No sweat. Pity, we didn’t have enough time to visit all the other vineyards including a catchy, yet kind of creepy one called Graveyard Vineyard. According to our hosts, that vineyard we passed by late afternoon on our last day at the Valley used to be a graveyard. Hmm, makes you wonder how rich the soil is in there and, consequently, how big the grapes are in that vineyard.

All in all, the whole trip was a great learning experience for us non-wine connoisseurs. Now, at least, we would be a little confident about ordering wines and which type to pair with certain foods. We are also quite aware that it will take a lot more practice if we want to be experts in this field.

But definitely, the Hunter Valley wines left quite an impression and until now, we could still taste the vanilla creaminess of chardonnay, the zesty tang of semillon, and the peppery, spicy aroma of shiraz.

Yes, we’re referring to wines this time.