One of our favourite wineries on our Cheers wine tour. They served tastings in Riedel glasses and…read morethe woman in charge of our private tasting was awesome. Didn't catch her name but she had long dark hair with purple highlights. She made our experience a wonderful one. Didn't feel rushed through the tasting and also didn't feel pressured to buy (but of course we did). The 2012 sparkling Verdelho was our favourite. Even got a tour discount which some of the other wineries did not offer. Overall great experience and beautiful location.

I cannot possible recommend this cellar door more! Their Sweet Mandala is great and easy to drink,…read moretheir cab sav is just awesome and smooth! Uses more traditional method to make wine, with the owner being a chemist himself basically constantly trying new mixes, you just constantly get new surprises from them! Honestly, know you won't believe me just by reading. Go try it yourself! Love it that they will walk through all wine when you go for the free tasting/sampling at their estate!

I visited a total of three wineries on my day trip to Hunter Valley, and this one was probably my…read morefavorite. The space is beautiful, with an open and airy tasting room overlooking the vast vineyard (one of the few wineries in the area that grows its own grapes). There's a little something different about the wines here--the flavors are something of their own. I brought back a bottle of their oaked semillon, which was light and refreshing and stored in California Oak barrels (I'd get the same thing back here in CA if I could, but you certainly don't see a lot of semillon around here), as well as a bottle of their shiraz, which had a peppery kick to it. The lady who led us through the tastings (we had come with a tour group) was very sweet and seemed to love her job. We ended our visit with a tour of the wine cellar and the lovely outdoor area of the building, which reminded me of being in Tuscany but is apparently modeled after Southern Spain. I loved all the little details of the decor. Definitely worth stopping at!

They have adorable dog welcoming guests. Although the winery is not very big and the road to it a…read morebit rough, it is worth a visit. Allandale white wines are beautiful. I really liked their $20 Chardonnay. Nice and dry and not acid. Didn't feel love with their reds though :) bought desert wine as indulgence and verdelho to compliment Asian dishes.

Amazing wine with workers who know their stuff! I came here with Kangarrific tours on a Hunter…read moreValley wine tour and this was one of 2 winery stops, and I'm so glad we came here! Neville handled our wine tasting, and he was knowledgable in the wines and was a great conversationalist. He even allowed us to try some wines that weren't on the wine tasting menu! The menu had a wide variety of whites and reds, and even some dessert wines, which I am personally more partial to. The wines, views, staff, and atmosphere were all equally amazing!

The wine was really quite good. I came here on a Hunter Valley wine tour. It's a very nice…read morefamily-owned winery. Out front there was some interesting sculptures that interested my 18 month old niece. We were seated around wine barrels used as tables andgot to try a good number of their wines. Particularly notable was their "Shareholder" Shiraz, which I picked up a bottle of. Others were very impressed with their "Moondance" dessert Gewurztraminer. All of their dessert wines have a "moon" theme. I liked it, but not enough to pick up a bottle. One interesting fact was that many of the wines are named after deceased members of the family that owns the winery. The "Shareholder" will someday be renamed after one of the family members that was serving another group. Hopefully it'll stay the "Shareholder" for a long time.

If you want to know what is wrong with the Hunter Valley wines, that is: mass intoxication of of…read morehen's parties, birthday parties and romantic getaway couples! A quick introduction to how to make champagne that wasn't even correct, a noisy environment, no time to focus on what you are drinking, too much wines to taste with an order form in front of you to push you to buy: what are they trying to sell exactly? The satisfaction of the customer is obviously secondary. There is no regard whatsoever for patrons like us who are seeking enlightenment in wine matters, not darkness in alcohol contents. We were ushered out as soon as the last glass was done and thank God this wasn't the last winery of the day, or the aftertaste of it would have been as flat and bitter as the last Shiraz that got pushed down my throat!! I'm almost upset I have to put a star against it, but the wine presenter did bring out some different samples to a woman in the group who wanted sweeter stuff: one star is recognition enough for it.

Fantastic wine tasting, very extensive (though we did opt for the VIP tasting) and very…read moreknowledgeable server. Followed this with a styled picnic which ordinarily would have been amongst the vines, but given the weather they seated us upstairs in the restaurant. More than enough food for three people, and we had a bottle from our tasting - a perk of the VIP tasting! Would return to Calais Estate anytime, lovely staff and always ready to go above and beyond and assist where needed. Thank you for a great visit!

Went on a road trip from Sydney to the "Napa Valley" of New South Wales Australia. This winery was…read moreour first stop. Tasting was only 10$ per person and we went through a wide selection of whites, reds and sweeter wine. I realized that the experience could have been a bit better had we arrived there before the day was almost ending. The tasting felt a bit rushed but our sommelier was nice and helpful nonetheless. I liked the sparkling Shiraz and ended up picking up a bottle to go back home.

We had a perfect wine tasting experience here! And let me tell you, they have some great wines,…read moreespecially reds. Our guy was super friendly and accomodating and explained so much about every wine and what made it unique and special... we each bought 1 - 3 bottles (we were party of 5). I would put this on your "must-visit" list of wineries on any Hunter trip for sure.

Spectacular property, beautiful restaurant, lovely staff... lacklustre breakfast. Truly…read more The presentation is amazing. When your plate arrives, your breakfast looks like everything you could ever want for breakfast. The eggs were perfectly poached. The bacon was bland, the sausage was a Bunnings sausage sizzle sausage and... we ordered a side of mushrooms. Big mistake. They were completely tasteless, like chewy, spongey cardboard. I'm pretty certain they came out of a can. Coffee was good (thank God!). So yeah, over all... high expectations and lots of polish, but pretty "meh".

Great chocolate selection. Something for everyone get. Chili chocolate gets my vote.read more

One of the more spacious tasting rooms in the region, with a fairly extensive list to try,…read moreincluding liqueurs and dessert wines. In an adjoining room, there is a good selection of premium wines (not for tasting) as well as a warehouse of cases of low-end sister brands like Sacred Hill, etc. Not a particularly atmospheric cellar door, but the range is good. Occasionally they have cleanskins for sale: I picked up a case of excellent lemony Riesling for a song.