I was picked up for my boutique Hunter Valley wine tour at 7.45am. 'Cos that's how I roll on a Monday morning! Our driver, Klaus, was wearing a headset mic and having ascertained that the seven Malaysians on board barely spoke any English, and that my housemates and I were locals, still proceeded to give us a history lesson on Sydney and the formation of sandstone etc. I am not a morning person and right then I was really wishing I had never got on that coach! We got some quiet time once we were over the Bridge though and got to enjoy the lovely drive through the Hawkesbury-Kuringai region with talk-back radio and classic rock for company. As we neared the Hunter Valley, Klaus put on a DVD about wine and particularly the grapes the Hunter is best known for (semillon and shiraz) which was much more the education I was after. As Klaus gave us our itinerary for the day his sense of humour started shining through with some classic Dad jokes and I really started to enjoy myself. We hit three cellar doors, with Klaus telling us a bit about each vineyard as we approached, and then got an hour and a half at lunch to do our own thing which was great. My slightly pissed posse headed over to the best shop in the world, the Smelly Cheese Shop, for a cheeky bottle of pinot and bread and cheese for lunch. Two more vineyards after lunch and the last one was the cherry on the cake- our presenter at the Audrey Wilkinson vineyard was hilarious and nutty, the view was spectacular and there was a touring opera company on another coach who treated us to spine-tingling impromptu arias which was just divine. Klaus put on a Russell Crowe film for the drive back which was somehow wine-related- utter bollocks but it the light entertainment was appreciated, and we got home at around 6pm having been entertained, inebriated and educated. Tops day. read more

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We went on the day tour to Hunter Valley with Jason from Boutique Wine Tours. As so many others have already written Jason is an excellent guide. He has the ability to make people feel at ease and comfortable. He is also very knowledgeable about wine, Sydney and Australia so we were lucky to go on this trip so early during our trip. The group was rather small (10 people) and Jason made us feel as we already knew each other so it as a great way to spend a day. We also could make requests if we wanted to visit a specific vineyard etc. The wine part of the tour was also very good, we had time to visit four vineyards which was really all I could handle. I really appreciated the fact that we went to smaller wineries were we often could meet the owner and get their views on wine making. All together a wonderful day and I can highly recommend it. read more

Fabulous Hunter Valley wine tour with Rohan. We had been in the area for two weeks but this was the first time we actually learned some specifics about the Australian history from Rohan who was awesome! We visited Iron Gate and Pepper Tree in the morning and then had a delicious gourmet lunch. On the ride back when everyone was woozy and exhausted he put on a dvd of the movie Bottle Shock. A great end to a great day. I highly recommend it! read more