Biking Through Wine Country

One of the many aspects of living in the Bay Area that we absolutely loved was its proximity to Napa and Sonoma. We took many day trips to wine country, but were never able to make it for an overnight trip or biking trip, which we had really wanted to do. So we were really excited about the opportunity to do just that in Australia.

I found a wonderful company that allowed us to rent bikes for 24 hours and they would drop off the bikes in the morning and pick them up the next day right from our hotel room! So that morning, Mark from Hunter Valley Cycling brought by two wonderful bikes for us. Will's even had saddle bags so he wouldn't have to wear his backpack, which was great because temps today got into the 90s! The next two days saw temps of over 100, so we were happy we "lucked out" with the 90s.

Here is a map of the region we visited. I'll make mention of where we traveled.

What's a day in wine country without a bubbly breakfast? Well, it just isn't, that's what. We started our day at the Peterson Champagne House with breakfast and bubbles.

Yikes! Thanks for the reminder!

After breakfast our first winery stop was just across the street! Hungerford Hill Winery looked like a spaceship! And its wine was out-of-this-world (wah wah). But really, there were people there buying it by the cases full. We picked up a bottle of Semillon, a golden-skinned grape that is widely grown in the region. It isn't too sweet and it's very light. It can be aged up to 20 years and will develop a creamy, honey flavor - yum!

We road our bikes from Broke Road, down De Beyers Road (toward McDonalds Road). There weren't any wineries for a little ways, but we enjoyed the scenes of the country.

The next winery we visited was the McLeish Winery. There we sampled some tasty wines and really enjoyed their rose. Not too sweet, not too dry.

The bike I was riding was made by a company in Melbourne!

We continued our ride through the country, turned north on McDonalds Road and finally came to our next stop, the Tamburlaine Organic Vineyard. This was the only winery we found that had Malbec, though they were all out of it! The guy let us taste a little of the reserve, which was yummy, but only for wine club members. What we did enjoy though was the Verdelho. Another variety we hadn't had before. It was a white wine with hints of passion fruit and apricot. Yum!

Beauty abounds in The Hunter and we couldn't get enough of it.

Will and I went West down Broke Road to Harrigan's Irish Pub for a change of scenery for lunch. We were pleasantly surprised by the quick service which allowed us to get back to the wineries quickly! But first we made a pit stop back home to drop off the bottles of wine we picked up at the wineries. (Our hotel was at the corner of Broke Road and McDonalds Road. So convenient!) We were surprised at the affordability of the wines, and most wineries didn't charge a tasting fee, so it was appropriate to make a purchase after the tasting. 

For the second part of our day we headed North on McDonalds Road. I had read that in this part of the region it is common to see kangaroos!

Will we see any?

Remember, it's straight country out here!

We turned East on Palmer's Lane, where there is a dedicated trail for biking. The first winery was closed so we continued down the path. Along the way I spotted a roo! Will went towards it a bit but it stood up and looked very big and muscular so we went back on our way.

When we got to the next (and final) winery, Calais, the property overlooked a beautiful valley. And what was down there? Kangaroos! While in the winery, which quickly became our favorite, we talked story for quite a while with the ladies there. They said there can be 90 - 100 kangaroos on their property at a given time. Fortunately for the winery they don't like to eat the grapes, just the clover on the ground between the vines. Though the winery's dog did get attacked when it accidentally startled a kangaroo. The dog is ok, but had a big gash around its stomach, poor thing.

Anyway, there were so many kangaroos! Will went down for a closer look.

Can you see it jumping here?!

After our tasting and chatting with the ladies we got a couple bottles of wine, a chardonnay and a chambourcin. As we were leaving, this is what we saw in the vineyard right by the tasting room.

We sat down on the benches and took in our surroundings and watched these guys meander around the vineyard.

There was a huge hill to go up beyond Calais Winery (the whole region was pretty hilly, I got in my workout for sure!), so we turned back around. It was 5pm anyway and most wineries close at that time. On our way up McDonalds Road we had seen a sandwich board advertising a winery that was open until 6, so we thought we'd go check that one out. Upon getting there we realized that it was closed for the holidays. A couple other cars showed up in the area too. One that had been stuck in traffic getting out of Sydney (everyone was on their way to the country for holiday) and another who stopped to ask Will for directions to Harrigan's Irish Pub. The couple was pleasantly surprised that Will knew where it was and was able to provide very specific directions!

Even though it was only about 5pm, we wanted do an early dinner. We stopped by Il Cacciatore and lucked out; we got the last table available as the rest were all booked through reservations! We had amazing cheese and crackers and a local catch of fish.

We ended the night back at the hotel to enjoy the pool with a beautiful view of the lake, mountains, and setting sun. These long summer days are so nice! It was a great relaxing evening after 13 miles of biking through wine country.