The No.1 magazine for visitors to Hunter Valley Wine Country

B L A C K B O A R D

OCTOBER 2015 | ISSUE #104

THE

Alfresco

HunterValleyOnline.com.au

WINNERS ARE GRINNERSThe Hunter Valley Wine Show

EYES TO THE SKIESAnnual Balloon Fiesta

ENJOY THE GREAT OUTDOORS

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10TH OCTOBER - 15TH NOVEMBER | ROSE SPECTACULAR| Hunter Valley Gardens | Take the opportunity to see Hunter Valley Gardens blooming with over 2 million rose blooms throughout the annual Rose Spectacular. See 35,000 rose bushes in over 125 different varieties. The majority of the roses grown at Hunter Valley Gardens are of the fragrant variety. After all, a rose without perfume just isn’t a rose! If you’re a garden enthusiast, make sure you join the knowledgeable horticultural team at Hunter Valley Gardens for daily demonstrations and informative talks about growing and caring for your roses at home. For more information visit www.hvg.com.au

17TH AND 18TH OCTOBER | HUNTER VALLEY BALLOON FIESTA | Peterson House | Join the pilots and crew of Balloon Aloft for the 5th annual Hunter Valley Balloon Fiesta on the 17th and 18th of October! Enjoy a spectacular ballooning adventure, flying with around twenty colourful balloons, then indulge in a delicious champagne breakfast on the deck at Peterson’s Champagne House. This is a must-do event for both balloon enthusiasts and first-timers. For more information and to book tickets visit www.balloonaloft.com.au

SUNDAY 25TH OCTOBER | LOVE ON THE LAWN WEDDING FESTIVAL | Hope Estate | Love on the Lawn is not your average wedding expo. It is Australia’s original wedding festival, with the 2015 Hunter Valley event to be held at Hope Estate. The festival is a visual feast of colour and creativity with expert advice, live entertainment, wine tastings, food sampling, celebrity MC’s and fashion shows. Love On The Lawn is a personality filled festival (not an expo!) that everyone will wish to attend, not just those with upcoming nuptials. For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.loveonthelawn.com.au

SUNDAY 18TH OCTOBER | SPRING CRUIZ-IN | Hunter Valley Gardens The Spring Cruiz-in is back with a huge range of cars on display including vintage, veterans, classics, hot rods, kombis, bikes and more! Participants will meet at Bunnings, Wallsend at 7am before driving the scenic route to Hunter Valley Gardens Village, where you can enjoy 50's and 60's rock 'n' roll music and a variety of vehicle exhibits and craft stalls. This free event has face painting available for the kids, plus prizes on offer for raffle winners and for best selection of vehicles. Spring Cruiz-in participant entry donation is $5 per vehicle with all profits to be donated to the John Hunter Children’s Hospital. For more information visit www.hvg.com.au

SATURDAY 31ST OCTOBER | JAZZ IN THE VINES| Tyrrell's Vineyard Welcome to Australia’s biggest mosh pit – Jazz in the Vines! Enjoy the freedom, fresh air and sunshine in over 6 hectares of pristine Hunter Valley countryside – it’s your best day out, where slightly politically incorrect behaviour is encouraged! Jazz in the Vines is unlike any other jazz concert in Australia. Apart from being the longest running annual music festival in the Hunter Valley, Jazz in the Vines is more like a picnic with good friends, fantastic food and great Hunter Valley wines all wrapped up in the beautiful surroundings of the Brokenback Mountains. For more information about the event and featured artists visit www.jazzinthevines.com.au

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31ST OCTOBER - 29TH NOVEMBER | SCULPTURE IN THE VINEYARDS | Wollombi Valley | The 13th annual Sculpture in the Vineyards exhibition will kick off on 31st October 2015. Sculpture in the Vineyards is a celebration of art, food and wine where picturesque boutique vineyards and cellar doors are transformed into five temporary sculpture parks. Wollombi Valley, with its unrivalled hospitality and natural beauty, is the perfect venue for Sculpture in the Vineyards as it provides artists with the opportunity to share their work with the general public, and giving art and wine lovers the chance to experience something truly unique. For more information visit www.sculptureinthevineyards.com.au

FOR YOUR DIARYOctober

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Join us on Tuesday the 3rd of November to celebrate the crown in our countries Spring

racing carnival – Melbourne Cup.

Hosted at our acclaimed restaurant Circa 1876 you will be treated to a whimsical garden setting and a

feast of farm fresh cuisine fit for racing royalty.

Price? $110 per person including a three course set menu lunch and a glass of bubbly on arrival.

Perks? Kitchen garden tour with our Chefs (please indicate your interest at time of booking),

DJ, and prizes for best dressed.

Bookings essential: Ph 02 4998 4999 | convent@peppers.com.au

64 Halls Road, Pokolbin NSW 2320www.theconventhuntervalley.com

The Hunter Valley’s Premier

MELBOURNE CUP LUNCH

H U N T E R V A L L E Y

With the exception of the occasional cold snap (the one that reminds us not to put our winter clothes away just yet), Spring is well and truly upon us and it’s a great time of the year to get outside for a meal. There’s something about sipping wine and enjoying beautiful food in the great outdoors that makes it extra special. Perhaps it’s the spring fragrances that fill the air? Or is it the stunning backdrop of budding vines and mountain ranges that makes the Hunter Valley the very best Al Fresco dining experience in Australia (well we think so anyway!) Find out for yourself this month.

Al Fresco dining isn’t the only hot thing to do in Wine Country in October. It’s time to look to the skies for the annual Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. There really is something almost magical about a sea of brightly coloured hot air balloons floating through the sky at dawn, whether you’re viewing it from below or on board a balloon as part of the spectacular. I was lucky enough to grab a seat on a flight for the Fiesta a while back and couldn’t recommend it highly enough as one to add (and then cross off) your bucket list. There are still some seats available – contact Balloon Aloft today!

With another explosion of colour (this time on the ground), we welcome the

annual Rose Spectacular at Hunter Valley Gardens. Visitors can delight in hundreds of thousands of budding blooms and learn a bit more about how to grow and care for their own roses.

“Pop-Up” dining experiences have been popular in the capital cities for some time and this month sees the arrival of the Hunter Valleys first “Pop-Up @ Harkham” at Harkham Wines in Pokolbin. Serving up lashings of flavour, fresh food and live music alongside preservative-free, hand-picked wines says that this could be the start of something big.

Winners are grinners in October – especially the winners at the recent Hunter Valley Wine Show. Chief Judge PJ Charteris commented on the winning entries, saying the wines “included lots of brightness, fine acidity and fruit lift that has produced classic Hunter White styles. The Shiraz classes of entry have set a new benchmark for the Hunter.” Check out the Grinners (sorry Winners!) from page 24.

Finally, this is our annual Al Fresco Issue – so it’s compulsory that you find yourself a sunny spot, put your feet up and read it outdoors!

Enjoy!

FROM THE EDITORS

ContentsUP, UP AND AWAYWhether flying in a balloon or watching from the ground, this year’s Balloon Fiesta promises to fill the sky with a beautiful display of colour…

ALFRESCO DININGSoak up the sun with the vineyards as a backdrop, and add an extra dimension to your dining experience in the Hunter Valley by going al fresco!

HUNTER BLACKBOARD MAP The Hunter Blackboards handy guide to finding your way around Wine Country…

SEAFOOD AND WINEWith the warmer weather here, it is the perfect time to enjoy fresh seafood! However, you can only truly appreciate good quality seafood with the right style of wine…

WINNERS ARE GRINNERSWe take a look at a few of the award-winning wines from the recent 2015 Hunter Valley Wine Show…

ONE GRAPE, TWO PERSONALITIESPinot Gris and Pinot Grigio, despite being the same grape variety, have over time, become known as two very different styles of wine…

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