Question: What's red and white and sparkling, vital to work and play, and grows almost as you watch it?

Answer: the wine industry in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

If you could package the best from the major wine-growing regions of the world, then drop it just a couple of hours' drive from Sydney, you would have the Hunter Valley. Lindeman's (above) founded in 1843, was one of the region's pioneers. Today, there are scores of vineyards and dozens of cellar doors in the area. 

The Aboriginal people, generally known as Kooris in this part of NSW, are believed to have inhabited parts of the Hunter from at least 20,000 years ago. European history of the Hunter Valley began early, originally a coal mining and farming area with the port city of Newcastle founded in 1797. The Great North Road eventually linked Sydney Cove with the Hunter. 

Lovedale is the venue for the annual Lovedale Long Lunch each May, during which visitors enjoy tasting wines and local food at the many participating wineries in this part of the Hunter.

And it's an appropriate name, too, as there is so much to love about this road rich with places to visit and bordered by vineyards. It has now become a useful shortcut to the wine region from the newly-opened Hunter Expressway, bypassing a stretch of the north-heading New England Highway.

WATCH THIS VIDEO to see just some of the things to enjoy in the Hunter Valley.

It had been too long since our last visit, so recently we decided to spend a weekend at the Adina Vineyard on Lovedale Road.

There are three self-contained cottages, comfortably furnished and private, overlooking the vineyards and olive groves of the property.

Emerson's, the vineyard's cafe-restaurant, was packed and very busy in the morning, as it's obviously a popular spot, but we'd already fixed our own breakfast in our cottage's well-appointed kitchen.

Part of the main building houses the cellar door and sales room and immediately we could see that those olive groves are being put to good use. There's verjuice too, and of course the vineyard's full range of wines which have won over forty awards in the past three years.

Further along the road, we stop at magpie-themed multi award-winning Gartelmann Wines.

Birdsong and sunshine. What more could you want? Coffee!

The Deck Cafe has become popular, not just for the dam which it overlooks, but for its relaxed vibe, good coffee......

.......and just the sort of food you want to enjoy before a day of wine-tasting.

The Hunter delivers on so many fronts: antiques, boutique shopping, galleries, fine restaurants, ballooning, and from time to time, wine shows, jazz concerts and opera recitals in the vineyards.

Appropriately, for two reasons - the name of the location, and also that the Hunter is an ideal honeymoon spot - here is a place to be married. The grounds of Hunter Valley Gardens also has a chapel.

Wilderness Road runs off Lovedale Road with a wine-list of places to visit, so pace yourself.

Along the way there are places to take a break and recalibrate your tastebuds.

'Wine, cheese, beer and chocolate,' someone explained, when describing the taste-attractions of the Hunter.

Chocolate seems to turn up everywhere from menu inclusions to this, the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company.

Inside there's a cosy corner to enjoy your purchases, and outside a sunny deck.

While Lovedale Road is, well...lovely, we still felt we needed to see more.

An ideal way to get around, especially if wine-tasting, is one of these buses. Leave the car at your accommodation, as there are several tour operators in the area who can keep your consciences (if not your heads!) clear as you enjoy the cellar doors.

Almost any time of year is a good time to visit the Hunter Valley. Even in winter the starkness of the pruned vines is a sign that soon they will change and bear the fruit that will make next seasons's wine.

Summer, when the fruit hangs heavy.....

....autumn when the vines turn golden....

...and spring as the new leaves powder the vines with green again.

But the Hunter Valley would be nothing without the winemakers. Look for their signs everywhere, or better still, pick up directions from the Information Centre next to the airport on Wine Country Drive at the entrance to the wine region.

Hungerford Hill's standout architecture is only topped by the excellence of its wines, and Chef Troy Rhoades-Brown's food in his multi award-winning Muse Restaurant.

Wine goes well with celebrations, so it's inevitable that wine growing regions are great party places. Concerts, fairs and festivals fill the Hunter's calendar of events and are as welcomed by the locals as visitors.  

While you could be forgiven for thinking you had slipped across to one of Europe's premier wine regions, there are many reminders that this is still Australia. Here, on the corner of a road heading towards a world-class hotel, is this signature of many rural places throughout the country.

Nearer to the highway, in fact beside a sign announcing a soon-to-be retirement village on one side, and a new village (Huntlee) being developed on the other, we find this. No, it's not a zoo, just a convention of kangaroos, voting for the best pasture around. See if you can count how many there are here. Unusually, these twilight-loving creatures have chosen the middle of the day to have a feast.

And while it would also be easy to think this area is all about wine, we remember what we had been told earlier. The Hunter Valley flood plain's rich alluvial soil makes ideal fodder for the dairy herds which were so important early in the area's history. 

This shop-cafe at Hunter Valley Gardens reminds visitors of this, humorously offering 'Food Like No Udder'!

So it's no surprise that milk, and its pasteurised, aged and cultured version, cheese, features often. It is the ideal go-with for wine, of course and the Hunter is lucky it can produce both, seemingly with equal ease and finesse.

The Smelly Cheese Shop's Cheese Room is just that. Here in its cheese room there are varieties from all over the world, as well as locally, and the ideal place to pick up a selection of them, plus some crackers to go with the bottle of wine or two that you will pick up in your travels. After that, you'll find your lunch is sorted as you relax on a picnic rug in the sun overlooking some vineyard or another.

One of the great things about the Hunter - apart from the views that go on forever across folding hills striped with vines, and those wines - is that the rich area produces so much else as well. Beef, cheeses, duck, game, smoked meats, olives, stone fruits and honey are made good use of by local restaurants, as they realize that this is what diners are craving - a real taste of the Hunter. 

 

The Hunter Valley Cheese Company shop at this winery has everything you could need for lunch or even to take home with you. There is a tasting cheese-board too, with samples from the many cheeses made here, right on the premises.

(The Australian Alpaca Barn)

At Pokolbin's Hunter Valley Gardens, an immense project, based on the Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island, Canada, offers gardens to rival any in the world, created on a 20 hectare site. A chapel  surrounded by pink and white petunias and a range of deliciously-scented plants and shrubs including gardenias, is part of the resort complex and has become hugely popular for weddings, especially given the garden photo-opportunities nearby.

And of course there is a full range of cafes and restaurants and shopping, making it a family-friendly spot.

But wait ...there's more! Boutique cheesemaker Simon Gough produces a range or delicious creamy soft cheeses using locally sourced cow and goat milk at this dairy.

Every day has to have some breaks, and we chose this place: The Brokenback Bar with its view across the vineyards to the Brokenback Range.

Although the bar specialises in tapas and light meals, we can vouch for their pizzas as well.

The bar's deck is the ideal place to linger as the day closes.

The Hunter is spoiled for choice as far as accommodation goes. Hotels, resorts, and bed and breakfasts such as Berenbell Vineyard Retreat (above) make choosing a place to stay difficult - but also give a good excuse for more visits!

Full marks for good signposts such as these. It's like driving through a fine restaurant's wine list. 

A town with a name like this has to be worth visiting!

If you come for no other reason, it should be to visit this premier family wine estate just outside of the town.

The  uncompromising standards of Margan's wines, and the restaurant, have seen a slew of awards come its way. The kitchen prides itself on sourcing almost everything locally, or growing it onsite.

Small towns have a lot of personality, but Broke seems to have more than some. No one could tell us who created this island installation, nor why.

Right across the road, there was this, with its tongue-in-cheek sign.....

.... and more surprising still, inside was filled with the fragrance of lavender and sandalwood, from the mini-soap factory.

Gourmet condiments, olives, olive oil and jams from the nearby River Flats Estate lined a wall in the front of this converted petrol station.

++++

If you arrived at the Hunter Valley via the motorway, do yourself a favour and return to Sydney the other way. 

Cessnock, settled in the 1820s is at the southern end of Wine Country Drive, and worth seeing. Once known as a centre for the coal mining industry, in recent years it has become a gracious host, a gateway for visitors to the wine region. 

This hotel, built in 1922, would have seen much in its days, but few might have expected the rise to prominence of its restaurant.

Across the road, is another quintessential Aussie pub. We had asked a couple of locals for a good inexpensive place to eat, and both said Peden's. That was good enough for us.

In fact Chef John Leadbetter's food was more than good enough. You're looking at the best salt and pepper calamari I have ever had.  

The town was established in the 1820, so if you look up as you walk the long, long main street, you'll see these heritage remnants.

And who can argue with stopping for a bite of something retro too?

Although this cafe, Polina's, has style as well.

And a great coconut slice to go with a coffee. It seemed the ideal way, actually, to wrap up a trip to the Hunter Valley. After all, here in this valley where life has not always been easy; where hard work and a vision has kept generations going; and which has won its wealth and success - one way or another - from the soil, there's an honesty and a purpose that should serve it well in the decades ahead. 

These vineyards will survive hail and heat, good seasons and bad, and more and more visitors will come here and be captivated. That's the magic of this place.

So next time you find a Hunter Valley wine on your restaurant winelist - wherever you are in the world - be proud of this rich region of food and flowers, grapes and generosity.

More information.....

Text and images: Sally Hammond

Video: Gordon Hammond

Sally and Gordon Hammond travelled to the Hunter Valley independently, and stayed courtesy of Adina Vineyard.