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Dog friendly at a Hunter Valley winery usually means outside, on a lead, and not in the tasting room or restaurant. At Ember Hill your dog is welcome on the lawn. Here is how to plan a day around a dog: heat, water, shade and what to check first.
Dog friendly wineries in the Hunter Valley are usually dog friendly outside, not inside: your dog is welcome on a lawn or in an outdoor area, on a lead, while the tasting room, the cellar and the restaurant stay dog free. At Ember Hill in Pokolbin that means your dog can join you on the lawn, but not in the cellar door, the cellar under the hill or Lees, our restaurant. Assistance animals are welcome everywhere guests can go. With a little planning around heat, water and who minds the lead, a day in the vines with a dog is easy.
This is how to plan it.
Wineries are food businesses and working farms at the same time. Wine is made, poured and served with food, so most cellar doors keep animals out of the indoor spaces, and many have a lawn, a garden or an outdoor area where dogs are welcome instead.
So when a Hunter winery calls itself dog friendly, read it as:
Policies differ from place to place and can change around events, weddings or busy weekends. The single most useful thing you can do is check before you go.
Before you load the car, ring or check the website of each cellar door on your list and ask:
The answers decide how the day goes. A cellar door that welcomes dogs only in the car park isn't a good fit for a dog on a hot day.
Here is our policy, plainly.
Please keep your dog on its lead the whole time you're here, pick up after it, and keep it out of the vine rows. The vineyard is a working farm, and there may be machinery or sprays in use.
Our visit page has the opening hours, directions and the rest of what to know before you come.
This is the part most people forget. If your dog can't come inside, someone has to stay out with it.
For two people, the easy answer is back-to-back bookings. Our cellar door tasting runs daily on the hour, 10am to 4pm, and takes 45 minutes for $20. One person tastes at 11am while the other walks the dog on the lawn, then you swap at noon. Both of you get the full four cuvées and the glass of base wine from tank.
In a group, one person sits out with the dog and the others rotate. If you're a group of 9 to 20, book a group tasting ahead at $35 a person and tell us you'll have a dog with you, so we can suggest a time when the lawn is quieter.
If someone in your group is the designated driver, they're often happy to be the one on the lawn too. Never leave a dog alone in a car, even with the windows down and even for a few minutes.
The Hunter can be hard on dogs in summer. Pokolbin regularly reaches the thirties from December to February, and the heat on paths and gravel builds through the day.
Arrive close to 10am, when the cellar door opens and the grass is still cool. Book your tasting for the first hour or two and leave by early afternoon.
Press the back of your hand on a path for a few seconds. If it's too hot for your hand, it's too hot for paws. Keep to grass and shade.
Bring a collapsible bowl and more water than you think you'll need. A dog lying in the sun on a warm lawn drinks a lot.
Heavy panting, drooling, slowing down or looking for shade are signs a dog has had enough. Head for a cool car, with the air conditioning on, and call it a day.
Spring and autumn are the easy seasons for a dog in the vines. Winter is cool and often crisp, and a good time for a long walk followed by a tasting.
Lees, our restaurant, is indoors and dog free. It serves lunch Thursday to Monday, noon to 3pm, with a three-course set menu at $95, or $135 with four cuvées matched. If you'd like lunch here with a dog in the group, the simplest plan is for the dog to spend lunch at home or with someone who's minding it for the day. Our restaurant page has the menu and bookings.
If your dog is coming everywhere with you, look for places with outdoor seating and ask before you book whether dogs can sit with you there.
There's plenty of room to walk a dog in the Hunter, with a few limits. Most national parks in NSW don't allow dogs, so check before you head for the hills. Quiet country roads have little room on the verge, so keep the lead short. And vineyards are private working farms: walk only where the owner says you can.
At Ember Hill, keep to the lawn and the paths around it. You'll see the slope run up to the ironstone ridge that gives us our name, and if you stay until late afternoon, you'll see why it glows.
Pokolbin is about 50 minutes from Newcastle and about 2 hours 15 minutes from Sydney. Plan a stop on the way if your dog needs one. If you're tasting, travel with a designated driver, a tour that accepts dogs, or a transfer. Our post on a Hunter Valley day trip from Sydney covers the drive and timing in detail.
Questions
Yes, on the lawn, on a lead. Dogs aren't allowed inside the cellar door, in the cellar under the hill, or in Lees, our restaurant, because food and wine are served and made there. Assistance animals are welcome everywhere guests can go. Plan for someone in your group to stay outside with the dog while others taste, or take turns at the bench.
Assistance animals have legal rights of access in Australia, so they can go into cellar doors and restaurants where pet dogs can't. At Ember Hill an assistance animal is welcome in the cellar door, at Lees and on the riddling room tour. Let us know when you book a tour, so we can plan the route down into the cellar and make sure it suits you both.
Usually that dogs are welcome outdoors, on a lead, in a set area such as a lawn, garden or outdoor seating. It rarely means inside the tasting room or restaurant, because of food safety rules. Policies differ between cellar doors and can change with the season or an event, so ring or check the website of each place on your list before you set out.
It can be. Summer days in Pokolbin often reach the thirties, and dark gravel and paths get hot enough to burn paws. If you're bringing a dog between November and March, visit in the morning, keep to grass and shade, carry plenty of water and a bowl, and go home earlier if your dog starts to struggle. Never leave a dog in a parked car.
Not inside. Our cellar door tasting is poured at the bench indoors, with the riddling racks behind you, so dogs wait outside on the lawn with someone from your group. It's $20 for 45 minutes, daily on the hour from 10am to 4pm, for guests 18 and over. A group of two can book back-to-back times and take turns.
Yes, with care. Many quiet roads and some public reserves allow dogs on a lead, but most national parks in NSW don't allow dogs at all, so check before you go. Vineyards are working farms with machinery and sprays, so walk only where the owner says you can. At Ember Hill, stay on the lawn and the paths around it rather than in the rows.
The cellar door is open every day from 10am. Walk in on a weekday, or book a tasting for the weekend.
