Aussie Wine Country
 

Has anyone been there? Any suggestions on where to stay? Is it like the Napa/Sonoma wine country in the States with B&Bs to choose from? I plan to be in Sydney in mid to late September...any suggestions well appreciated.

Which area are you asking about?
We have the Hunter Valley in NSW, Mudgee in NSW ( other places are well) Then there are about 4 seperate areas in Victoria, 3 in Tasmania, 3 or 4 in South Australia 2 in West Australia and several in Queensland.

Hi Cathriona,

The easiest wine region to get to that is near Sydney is the Hunter Valley a bit like the Nappa Valley region.

There are loads of B&B's and resorts in the Hunter wine area I have given you a link to check a couple out yourself:

http://www.babs.com.au/nsw.htm#huntervalley

Cheers

Paul_S

Hi Cathriona, as Janese says there are many wine districts in Australia and because of the different growing conditions specialise in different types of wine.

If you particularly like white wines or very light reds the Yarra Valley in Victoria (Domain Chandon operate here also for sparkling wines - part of Moet Chandon) or the Margaret River in WA are very good areas. If you like bolder reds (and the stronger whites) Barossa (South Australia), Coonawarra (South Australia), Rutherglen (Victoria) and Hunter Valley (NSW) areas are excellent. If you like fortifieds (Port, Muscat, Tokay etc) Rutherglen produces very fine ones.
There are many wine growing regions (Mudgee, Mornington Peninsula, Queensland's Granite Belt etc) and it would take way too long to include them all.
However, as it appears you will only be in Sydney, your best bet will be the Hunter Valley (about 2.5 hours drive from Sydney). There are many good, established and respected wineries in this area (and a few young boutique wineries) that will give you a very good appreciation for our wonderful wine industry.

For accommodation try Peppers Convent at Peppertree Winery (itself an excellent winery). It's really lovely. www.peppers.com.au

If you want Aussie wine you must go to Tasmania. Lots of small and very nice vinyards. High Quality and great views.

The top state for wine is definitely South Australia. To list its regions: Barossa, Clare Valley, Langhorne Creek, McClaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, Coonawarra, Padthaway, Mt Benson, Riverland and a couple of wineries at Mt Gambier. Of course, plenty of wineries spread elsewhere. The Barossa Valley is the number one region in Australia. The first five I listed are day-trip distance from Adelaide (although Clare is stretching it), Riverland is just the touristy name for the Murray River, the rest are in the South-East. Wine Regions (as anywhere I'm sure) tend to the slightly more well-to-do travellers, swish B&Bs, guesthouses and restaurants, not hostels. So be prepared to shell out a bit of cash if you plan on staying in any of those regions.

We were there last September. There are some great places to stay in Tanunda in Barossa Valley. We loved it there--a B&B that turned out to be a complete house for US$75/nt. www.bnbbookings.com Today, the US$ drop will make that quite a bit more, but still worth the trip. Lots of great winerys very much like our Napa and Sonoma. We also stayed in Adelaide which was a fine city and stayed at Myoora, a B&B.