A trip is not a trip without a wine tour.....!

Well good morning from the middle of the night!! It is currently 2am faithful followers and I a wide awake!  After 30 mins of laying looking at the beautiful clear starry night sky through the back window of my van, I needed gave in to the urge of Mother Nature and went to the loo and now I am wide awake and blogging on.  It must be jet lag still, nothing to do with the shenanigans and copious alcohol consumed yesterday....ahem.

So, Where was I when we last spoke? Oh yes, reliving my embarrassment of the horn honking and waiting for Tex - he of Tex Tours, ready to show me some of what the Hunter Valley is famous for. After watching the sunrise and enjoying a little breakfast in the early morning sunshine I got myself ready for the day ahead.

And so 10am arrived and so did Tex - all 6ft 5 of him! 100% Aussie male with a cracking sense of humour and 2 other fellow wine tasters on the bus, Jackie and Nicky from good old Blighty. So on we went, chatting away an picking up more  unsuspecting victims on the way - Renne from Taiwan (we didn't pick her up from Taiwan obviously) followed by Rosemary and Manfred (from England and Germany respectively) and finished off my Little Mix (four lovely young girls from England, Scotland, America and Canada).  They were staying in a cabin in the woods that had all the makings of a slasher movie script and had come up from Sydney on a Groupon Deal!!  I'm looking out for Groupon deals for my next trip!!!

Now we all know how a wine tour works right?  You have an informative and witty host, visit several vineyards, taste as many of their wines as you possibly can, maybe eat some free nibbles, have a bit of lunch, do some more drinking, chat with and get to know your fellow travellers, savour the atmosphere, buy some wine that is well worth the money when you realise what goes into making it but leaves you short on your food and petrol budget for the next few days, get drunk, make a tit of yourself and get back to your van, pass out and wake up in the middle of the night with a mouth like a badgers arse and needing a wee a racehorse would be proud of....

No? Well that's how it went for me!! We started at the great little Pigs Peake, run by the equally splendid Robert (the wine maker himself) who showed us through his amazing selection of wine with names such as Sowvingnon Blanc, Sows Ear Semillion, Pinot Piggio, Pigs Blood, The Wolfie, House of Bricks and beautifully named Pork Sword to name but a few.  He was really informative and we actually learnt a lot about the wine we were drinking, even seeing the grapes for the Pinot Piggio ready to be crushed and also the deep deep red shiraz grapes all ready fermenting ready to make a wine that I really wished I could remember the name of but I can't as it appears I was so sloshed when I left the first place I left the piece of paper with all my notes on at the cellar door.I just wanted to dive head first into that big vat of red grape heaven.....I also vaguely remember the rather lovely Robert seducing us with chocolate to try with one of the wines but I discussed it with Jesus and the rest of the group and they were all fine with me breaking Lent and sampling some dark cocoa heaven....all in the name of wine tasting.  Sorry God.

We were there nearly 2 hours and after buying a Wolfie (second only in price to another one I cant remember but that the Queen has just ordered to serve at one of her next do's) and knowing my fellow travellers a little better, we headed off to our next stop, Constable Estate Vineyards and after only 2 hours of knowing each other, we were all getting along famously!

Constable was an altogether different affair where we sat and drank fewer wines, but were lovely none the less, but what did happen was that we all chatted and got to know each other better, Jackie and Nicky were fab, Jackie over from England visiting Nicky who had moved to Oz 18 months ago and they had met years ago backpacking in this very country and stayed in touch.  Little Mix were all working in Sydney and had met up when they all arrived and were now great friends and Rosemary and Manfred (the lucky man on the tour) were adorable and had been together for 30 odd years and now lived on the south coast of Oz.  And it turned out that Renne was not with her husband as first told by Tex, she was here with a fella she met last week and he invited her to come along with him while he attended a conference and they were getting on famously!!! It's amazing what you find out when the wine is flowing....!!

By this point we were all a little squiffy and in desperate need of food so we headed to Hunter Valley Village and had an amazing lunch at Oscars followed by a bit of shopping in the Christmas shop. Back on the bus and off to the next stop Lambloch Estate with a view to die for and the very informative James who taught us more about wine whilst very kindly ignoring the 'we are all a bit drunk and have just eaten a huge lunch' yawns emanating from some of the group! Then it was smelly cheese and Fudge (not together I must add) and onto our last stop which was Jackies favourite wine in the UK, McGuigans.  Although the setting was lovely, this was the biggest vineyard we'd been to and lacked the personal touch, and it showed in the wine.  Either that or we were just too pissed to care.....

It was at this point that we had to part company, the witty and congenial Tex taking me and Renne back first so goodbyes were made and blog address given out and if you are reading this Jackie and Nicky thanks for a great day and here's to more hapy travels!!  If you are not reading this then I obviously showed myself up and you were just being polite!!! No surprise there then.

So with plans to try the amazing Thai restaurant on site that comes highly recommended by several of the vineyards nearby despite looking like a rather dodgy looking establishment, I headed back to Winston to drop off my purchases and get ready.  At which point I obviously passed out and woke, as mentioned earlier, well past the point of dinner. I'm never drinking again....

And that is where I am now, me, Winston, the clear starry night, a few mozzies and the every calming sound of insects in trees making that noise I wish I could describe but you would know if you heard it.  I am moving on today, out to the coast and looking forward to some sea air.  Wifi has been a bit flaky and there are photos to accompany my posts as always, but I have to go stand by the managers office, balancing on one leg whilst singing the Aussie national anthem to get it to work so I may wait till later to try that.

Until my next ramblings faithful friends, TTFN xxx

Update for you....I am currently standing by the managers office on one leg doing a very poor rendition of the Australian Anthem and the wifi is still struggling with my pictures.....but fear not there will be pictures soon.....must be a Maccy D's round here somewhere!!!

Laters!