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The best things to do in the Hunter Valley fit into a slow weekend: two or three cellar doors, one long lunch, a sunrise among the vines, a walk, a gallery or a market, and time to do nothing much. Here is how we'd spend it.
The best things to do in the Hunter Valley fit into a slow weekend rather than a packed one: two or three cellar doors, one long lunch, a sunrise among the vines, a walk in the bush or the rows, an hour in a gallery or a market, and time to sit and look at the ridges. Pokolbin sits at the centre of it, about 2 hours 15 minutes from Sydney and 50 minutes from Newcastle. Stay a night and the valley is at its best early and late in the day, when most day-trippers have gone.
Here's how we'd spend a weekend, with Ember Hill as one stop among several.
Aim to arrive before dark. The last stretch into Pokolbin is on country roads, and it's easier to find your accommodation in the light. Most places to stay are cottages, guesthouses and small lodges among the vines, and many are close enough to cellar doors and restaurants to walk or take a short transfer.
If you can, book dinner for Friday night. At Lees, our restaurant, dinner runs Friday and Saturday, 6pm to 9pm. Then go to bed early. The best part of tomorrow happens before breakfast.
Get up for the light. In the first half hour after sunrise the valley is often still in mist, kangaroos graze along the edges of the rows, and the ridges turn gold. You don't need to go far: walk out from wherever you're staying, or stop at a quiet roadside with a view over the vines.
If you'd like to see it from above, hot-air balloon flights leave the valley at dawn on still mornings, weather permitting. Book well ahead, and expect a very early start.
Cellar doors open from around 10am. Rather than collecting tastings, pick one or two where you'll learn something.
At Ember Hill, the riddling room tour runs Friday to Sunday at 11am and 2pm, $65 for 75 minutes, for up to 10 people. It takes you down into the cellar dug into the hill, where the bottles rest on their lees, shows you the riddling racks, and lets you give a bottle a turn yourself before a tasting at the end. On Saturdays at 10am the disgorging masterclass goes further: two and a half hours with the winemaker, $185, and you take home a bottle you disgorged yourself. Both are for guests 18 and over.
If a shorter visit suits, the cellar door tasting is $20 for 45 minutes, daily on the hour from 10am to 4pm.
Lunch is the centre of a Hunter day. Book it, and leave the afternoon free for it. Lees serves lunch Thursday to Monday, noon to 3pm, with chef Tom Avery's three-course set menu at $95, or $135 with four cuvées matched. On weekends the oyster bar runs from noon to 4pm with Port Stephens oysters at $5 each. Our restaurant page has a sample menu.
After lunch the valley gets quieter. Good choices for an afternoon:
Then go back to your accommodation, rest, and walk out again for sunset. The ironstone ridge behind our cellar door glows ember-red in the last light, which is where our name comes from.
The Hunter has good walking within an easy drive: bush tracks in the ranges that frame the valley, quiet lanes between the vineyards, and village streets. Keep to marked tracks and public land, because the vineyards are working farms. If you're walking a dog, check the rules first, as most national parks in NSW don't allow them. Our post on dog friendly wineries in the Hunter Valley covers the rest.
Markets run on weekends across the region, some weekly and some monthly, with local produce, food stalls, plants and handmade goods. Check what's on before you go, and arrive early for the best of the produce.
Bubbles and cheese at Ember Hill is a gentle way to finish: $45 for an hour, daily from 11am to 3pm, four cuvées each matched with a Hunter cheese, on the terrace above the vines. Order anything you'd like to take home, and we'll deliver it so you don't carry bottles in a hot car. Delivery is free on 6 bottles or more to NSW, the ACT, Victoria and Queensland, and free anywhere in Australia on 12 or more.
Hunter weather can turn, especially with summer storms. A wet day changes the plan more than it spoils it. Swap the morning walk for a cellar tour: the cellar under our hill stays cool and dry whatever the sky is doing, and the riddling room tour runs rain or shine. Move the gallery visit to the morning, book a longer lunch, and keep an eye on the creeks and causeways on country roads after heavy rain. Never drive through water across a road. A rainy afternoon in the vines, watching the cloud sit on the ridges from under a verandah, is a fine way to spend a few hours.
Plan transport before you plan anything else. If anyone is tasting, the driver shouldn't be. The options:
Many visitors use a mix: a driver on Saturday and a short drive on Sunday morning after a night's sleep.
Each season changes what's worth doing.
Vintage. Fruit for sparkling wine is picked first, usually in January, before dawn. Days are hot and often in the thirties, so plan for mornings and evenings and rest in the middle of the day. Our post on the Hunter Valley vintage explains what's happening in the rows.
Harvest winds down and the vine leaves turn yellow and rust. Mild days make it one of the best times for walking and long lunches. Weekends book up early.
Cool, clear days and cold nights. The valley is quieter, especially midweek. It's the season for open fires, slow lunches and cellar tours, and for walking the rows while the vines are bare and being pruned.
Budburst, then bright new green across the slopes. Gardens are at their best and the days warm up. Like autumn, it's a busy and lovely time to come.
The cellar door is open daily, 10am to 5pm, and closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday. Our visit page has directions to Pokolbin, accessibility details and what to know about groups, children and dogs. If you'd like to see the four wines first, browse the cuvées.
Questions
Wine, first. The Hunter is one of Australia's oldest wine regions, with Pokolbin at its centre and more cellar doors than you could visit in a week. It's also known for long lunches, local cheese and produce, golf, hot-air balloon flights at dawn, and gardens, galleries and markets in the villages. Most visitors come for the wine and stay for the pace.
Two days and a night is the sweet spot. It lets you taste at two or three cellar doors without rushing, have a long lunch, eat dinner without a drive afterwards, and be among the vines at sunrise. A day trip from Sydney works if you keep it to one tasting and lunch. Three days or more suits slow walkers, keen cooks and anyone who'd rather not plan.
Plenty. Walk in the vines and the surrounding bush, take a balloon flight at dawn, play golf, visit galleries and the weekend markets, eat well, and stay somewhere quiet. At Ember Hill the riddling room tour is worth it for the cellar alone, though it ends in a tasting and is for guests 18 and over. Designated drivers are welcome at every tasting bench.
Autumn and spring are the most comfortable, with mild days for walking and tasting. Summer brings vintage, long evenings and heat, often in the thirties. Winter is cool and clear, quieter on weekdays, and a good time for open fires, slow lunches and a cellar tour. Every season has its draw, so choose by what you'd like to do as much as the weather.
Accommodation first, then anything with a fixed time: tastings, tours, lunch and dinner. Weekends in spring and autumn fill early. At Ember Hill the riddling room tour runs Friday to Sunday at 11am and 2pm, the disgorging masterclass on Saturdays at 10am, and Lees serves dinner only on Friday and Saturday nights, so book those first. Transfers and tours book out on busy weekends too.
Book a small-group wine tour, hire a private driver for the day, or arrange transfers between your accommodation, cellar doors and restaurants. Some places to stay are within a short walk or cycle of cellar doors, which makes an evening simple. If anyone in your group is tasting and driving, they shouldn't do both: choose a designated driver who skips the pours.
The cellar door is open every day from 10am. Walk in on a weekday, or book a tasting for the weekend.
