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TRAVEL: Red, red wine goes to the head on a tasting tour of Mudgee. By Bianca Nogrady
THERE’S a guilty pleasure involved in drinking good-quality wine while the sun still shines high in the sky. But in the vineyards of Mudgee, NSW, such pleasurable behaviour is one of the delights of a visit to this wine-growing region.
Mudgee is particularly famous for its red wines, which it has been turning out since German vignerons settled the area in 1858. The scenery around Mudgee is typical of drought-ridden Australia— barren, sunburned hills dotted with the skeletal remains of gum trees. But when you arrive at the well-watered vineyards, the colour of the landscape changes to the rich green and gold of rows and rows of grape vines.
We have booked a half-day tour of eight wineries, which provides a good overview of the region’s offerings. Cellar door styles vary from the modern, airy Blue Wren winery, which incorporates a quality caféand restaurant, to the dark, wonderfully musty-smelling Pieter van Gent winery, where the impassive oak faces of giant barrels stare down at you and the dirt floor looks rich enough to stew. Another favourite is Frog Rock, which along with some amazing reds, offers a selection of buttery macadamia nut oils for tasting.
Our companions, who are just about to become new home owners, start the tour with thrift in their hearts and lust in their eyes, but it isn’t long before the lust wins out. To their credit, they manage to restrain themselves for the first two wineries while my partner and I abandon ourselves, citing the dubious justification that we are “establishing a cellar”. Truth be told, most of our purchases are unlikely to last us a few weeks, let alone a few years.
The fundamental trap with winery tours — and one I’m sure vignerons and tour operators are well aware of — is that your ability to be a discerning and sensible buyer evaporates after about the third tasting. After the sixth, I just throw my credit card behind the bar and pull up a stool.
It doesn’t take long before our mini-bus is groaning on its suspension and we are all forced to sit with our legs propped on boxes of wine. By 5pm we are relieved to pull into our last winery, and the place we will spend the night.
Our accommodation is in the heart of the Pieter van Gent vineyard. The two-bedroom, fully equipped self-catering lodge — once home to one of the van Gent vignerons — is surrounded by vines, and a perfect place for us to gently sink into slumber, after a bottle of wine with dinner, of course.
FACTFILE
Getting there: Mudgee is about four hours west of Sydney by road. Regional Express Airlines flies from Sydney from $217 return.
Further information: www.visitmudgeeregion.com.au
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