SUMMER IN THE HUNTER VALLEY

If you love wine and food, you've come to the right place! It's Australia's premier wine region, where the pleasures of eating and drinking are celebrated daily. This beautiful region and renowned foodies' paradise has been built on more than 185 years of dedication to the craft of winemaking, resulting in the production of many world-class wines.

However, there is more to the Hunter Valley than wine, and with a choice of luxury accommodation, delicious dining options, stunning views and a seemingly endless selection of gourmet delights, the Hunter is the perfect short break and romantic getaway. For generations, people from all over Australia and the world have travelled to the Hunter Valley to experience the region's exceptional food and wine experiences - its greatest asset.

With a range and quality of produce that is second to none, combined with a rich history going back to the 1830s, the Hunter Valley has become not just Australia's oldest wine region but a leader in wine and food tourism. Combined with its relatively mild climate, the Hunter Valley's food and wine experiences lead us outside to enjoy some of the world's finest flavours against a backdrop of stunning beauty.

Stepping inside the restaurants, renowned for their exciting food, warm hospitality and magnificent locations, is a chance to experience the culinary creativity of some of the best chefs in the country, if not the world. Visiting a cellar door, too, is quite extraordinary, and you are likely to find yourself chatting to the winemaker and several family members, often second or third-generation vignerons.

UNLOCKING THE GEMS

An explosion of wineries, wine tours, tasting rooms, and restaurants specialising in wine country cuisine has added a jolt of grape-fuelled energy to the foothills of the Brokenback Mountains, where more than 150 wineries now produce a wide range of world-class wines from varietals that include Chardonnay, Semillon and Verdelho amongst the whites and Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot among the reds. Wine lovers will also be thrilled to find a fast-growing range of Mediterranean varieties, including Fiano, Viognier, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris, and the red varieties of Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Barbera, Tempranillo, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

Nestled amongst the breathtaking surrounds of the Brokenback Range, Mount View, with its winding roads and panoramic views, offers some of the most outstanding scenery available in the Hunter Valley. Visitors have their choice of a handful of impressive and highly acclaimed boutique accommodation and wineries that seem to appear out of nowhere - all providing a relaxed and idyllic wine-tasting experience and superbly welcoming hospitality.

The Deck Café and Gartelmann Wines, Lovedale

At the southern gateway to Wine Country is the region's Wollombi Valley – a small, picturesque, and historic village that has always been an important base for travellers along the Great North Road. Here you get to experience the influx of new mixed with the old, with the village continuing to retain its fine architectural heritage bolstered by cafes, wineries, comfortable guesthouses and, let's not forget, the famous Wollombi Tavern, which sits on the site of an earlier public house, originally built during the 1840s.

Often referred to as the ''Heart of the Hunter,'' Lovedale is located just east of Pokolbin and is renowned for its close-knit community, award-winning boutique wineries, family-owned and operated cellar doors, quality boutique accommodation, fine restaurants and unique galleries. It's also home to the famous annual Lovedale Long Lunch. With a vast selection of boutique and luxury accommodations to choose from and a wine and food trail consisting of 12 cellar doors and ten restaurants, Lovedale offers the perfect weekend away and the ideal opportunity to experience some of the best wine and food the Hunter has to offer.

The rural locality of Pokolbin sits in the shadow of the Brokenback Range. It is the ''hub'' of the Hunter Valley wine region and where the largest collection of wineries, guesthouses, hotels, restaurants, providores, shops and some of the best-known names in Australian wine can be found. This is where you get to sample vintages from old vines and new varietals at some of the country's oldest and most historic vineyards.

Pokolbin is internationally recognised for being Australia's oldest commercial wine-producing area, and the place viticulture in the Hunter Valley is believed to have first started when James Busby brought planted cuttings of European wines and established what is considered the first vineyard in the area in the 1830s. Some of the most well-respected names in Hunter Valley wine history today soon followed, establishing vineyards in the area in the 1850s. Some of these long-established names are still in existence today

With well over 50 cellar doors, an equal number of restaurants and cafés and a growing number of distilleries and breweries, visitors are spoilt for choice when it comes to things to do, see and taste.

If you want some time away from wine tasting, then explore the world-famous Hunter Valley Gardens or browse the shops at Hunter Valley Gardens Shopping Village.

Continuing your wine country travels and situated an easy 10-minute drive from Pokolbin, the village of Broke-Fordwich is home to a treasure trove of wineries, galleries, food offerings and experiences. It is most worthy of your next visit.

With a wide selection of unique wineries and world-class wines, wellness retreats, art galleries and sculpture walks, great coffee, degustation dining, gin distilleries, olive groves, farm produce, boutique accommodation, local markets, an annual Italian Festival and everything in between, there really is so much to love and experience in the Broke Fordwich wine region.