The Hunter Valley Wine Region

I just returned this evening from the Hunter Valley, which is one of the most famous wine regions in Eastern Australia! It was my first time actually leaving Sydney, and it was so much fun to get away from the busy, crowded city streets to some peaceful, vineyard-covered countryside. We visited 6 different wineries over 2 days- trying around 5-10 different varieties at each winery. So...lots of wine. No, I wasn't crawling back to the bus after each tasting... thanks to generous helpings of crackers and water at each sitting.

I loved visiting each winery- each had their own specialty and history, and each experience was different. Eventually the wines began to blend into each other, although I had my favorites. I've found that I much prefer the taste of a spicy Shiraz with hints of cloves and blackcurrant to a Merlot, and while white wines are growing on me, I'm not a fan of Chardonnay. I also discovered that I like sparkling wines- preferably Sparkling Blush- and dessert wines are amazing! I've learned that dessert wines are often made when Botrytis mold infects a vine. This mold makes the grapes look grayish and defective, however, it really just dries out the grape. Normally you think that a dried out grape wouldn't be a reason for a winemaker to be happy, however, when a grape is dried out, it means that water is removed, leaving only the natural sugars and making the resulting concoction a thicker, super sweet tasting wine.

Walking the vineyard rows was very peaceful, and the area was a great place to relax- an especially great destination for weddings or honeymooners. We were able to pick grapes to eat straight off of the vine, and saw a lot of winemaking in process. The wineries which we were able to tour showed us warehouses with tens of thousands of gallons of wine in storage. Sometimes the wineries would have us sit in small or large groups in back rooms in their "Cellar Doors", which is kind of like their gift shop/wine shop of the establishment, but we actually tasted wines in their storage units a few times.

We stayed the weekend at a 5 star resort called the Mercure. My roommate Sam and I bunked in a room, and the hotel was absolutely beautiful. It's really actually going to make my sleep here tonight a little bit boring in comparison. Sam and I had huge, lush queen sized beds with 5 pillows each (I like tons of pillows :D ). Our 15 foot high ceiling sloped down to a glass door leading to a small terrace next to the heated pool (which I used for laps to work off the wine). Finally, our lovely bathroom had his and hers sinks (in this case hers and hers), and the shower could have easily fit 5 people. The food was amazing at the hotel as well. Everyone got dressed up for dinner on Sunday night, which we had after a champagne happy hour- because we all obviously needed more alcohol, since we hadn't been to a winery in about 2 hours. We had gourmet flatbread pizza, arugala salad, chicken alfreudo, and gnocci in tomato basil sauce- YUM. Dessert was fruit salad, chocolate mousse, or tiramisu. I had a great time, and I can't wait to share my next trip with everyone!

This week I actually have work to do! Sometimes I forget that I'm actually here for school- which I'm sure is hard for you to believe :) . I have a group presentation on Thursday which needs to be 15-20 min long on the lives of Aboriginal Women, and on Saturday I have a 7 page paper due on an influential person or organization to the lives of Aboriginals- I haven't chosen a topic yet! Once I've finished that, however, I'll be off to Melbourne on the 13th-16th! While there, I've signed up for a Sunset Penguin Tour! Yes, Meghan, that is correct- I will be going on a tour around Melbourne which ends at the beach where Fairy Penguins emerge from the surf at sunset to find shelter in the rock inlets on the beach. I promise I have been thinking about how to lure one into my backpack for you.

Love you all!

As a side note, before the trip to the Hunter Valley, I went on a long walk and saw a Pelican (i'd never seen one so that's kind of a big deal to me) and saw the movie TRON in 3D with my friend Caroline in Darling Harbour- at the IMAX theatre which boasts "the World's Biggest Screen"!