Event: Australia

Hunter Valley

When:	Daily
Where:	Hunter Valley
Costs:	Some tastings are free, others charge a nominal fee
Opening Hours:	Most open daily 10am-4pm

Hunter Valley is New South Wales' premier wine-making country, 150km north of Sydney. Home to Rosemount and Lindemans, two of Australia's most successful wineries, it's great fun to spend a few days stopping off for cellar tastings at these and the 70 other wineries scattered along the New England Highway.

Divided into the Lower Hunter Valley and the Upper Hunter Valley, the wine country consists of rolling hills north-west of Cessnock. The heart of the Lower Hunter Valley is Pokolbin, where wineries date back to the 1860s, including Lindemans, whose excellent Chardonnay has been happily quaffed in Europe for a decade or more. Another hot tip is Tinkler's Volcanic Ash dessert wine, grown nearby. Sip it at your leisure beneath 100-year old trees in the vineyard garden.

Upper Hunter Valley's wineries are far more spread out and visitors are fewer. This means the welcome at the cellar door is often even friendlier, with wine-makers keen to transmit their enthusiasm for their complicated craft. Rosemount is found up here, 8km from Denman. The nearby James Estate is an independent winery which produces a Reserve Shiraz, consistently a winner of medals worldwide.