Mark's Blog: Masters of the Mini Break

We arrived in Mudgee on a bitterly cold night at around 10:30pm on Friday, having completed the 300km trip in around 5 hours. Mudgee lies around 800km above sea level in the NSW Central Ranges, so cold and fog is not unusual.

"I remember when all this used to be fields" [credit: E.D. Mann]

Our cabin....

Only joking. This was where we stayed - a converted dairy:

Once the fog lifted, it turned in to a beautifully sunny winter's day in Mudgee....

St Mary's Catholic Church

St Mary's Presbytery

After breakfast we began our self-driven tour of the vineyards.....

Pieter van Gent's Wines

A beautiful winery, PvG is the altar of cellars doors; as you enter you are greeted by a dimly lit aisle lined by giant oak barrels with regal pews. The customer service, though, doesn't quite live up to the ambience. Whites and port are the speciality here, its reds are average; a shame, as on this trip it was reds that we were mainly tasting. 6.5/10

Di Lusso's Wines

As close as being to a Tuscan vineyard without being in Tuscany. Outstanding customer service - even though they were crazily busy we were still given highly personal service. Italian style wines that are designed to have with food. Light and refined. Great reds; Il Palio, Barbera, Sangiovese and beautiful desert wines... All in all, a flawless experience. 10/10

Andrew and I tasted wine here at Robert Oakley's on our trip in December; this is a well known winery whose broad range is available throughout NSW. Oatley is a bit of an entrepreneur who has also branched in to sailing, amongst other areas; 'Wild Oats' is one of the most successful boats ever in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Gill and I visited their newly re-opened restaurant for lunch; great value and fresh, yummy food.

Burrundulla Wines

Friendly service, simple but pretty cellar door but nothing special; easily passable on the Sydney Road, its vineyards are on open plains south of Mudgee. One of their reds was very drinkable; otherwise fair but nothing to write home about. 5.5/10

Mongrel Wines

A hobby farm, previously this vineyard donated their grapes to other local wineries, but now they how have their own range designed by local winemakers; hence the 'Mongrel' brandname. Mainly producing red wines, their barbera tempranillo shiraz voignier is their signature blend. A tiny cellar door and about 5 km from the highway on a dirt track, it's not the easiest place to get to without a sturdy four wheel drive (a bit of a trek in a Toyota Echo!). 6.5/10

Market St Cafe for breakfast

Pancakes!

Gill does her 'skim flat white al fresco' pose (last seen in Adelaide, circa 2011)

Thistle Hill Wines

Mudgee's top rated organic winery, Thistle Hill has a good vibe at the cellar door - friendly service despite being very busy (vineyard dogs help!). We dropped in here as it is next to Blacklea - famous for its award winning oils; we couldn't resist the chilli & chocolate, amongst others. Thistle Hill's wines were all good - light and well made throughout the whole range and more refined than many of the wines we had tried elsewhere. Great to be able to get good quality preservative free wines, too. 9/10

Skimstone Wines

A remarkable cellar door. Basically, it's a very small shed. Panoramic, formerly french windows, juxtapose corrugated iron walls. Simple, stylish and unique on the wine trail. The vineyard was bought in a rundown state in 2007 and rehabilitated, with its first vintage in 2009. As they are on the side of a hill the heavy rains of last summer were able to run off, unlike some of the flatter vineyards elsewhere in Mudgee. A young winery and a juvenile sibling to Di Lusso, I predict it will be producing amazing wines in a few years. The winemaker learned his trade from Peter Logan, whose winery is opposite. Italian style, easy drinking reds, plus a suprisingly good easy drinking un-oaked Chardonnay. 8/10

Logan Wines

The cellar door alone gets 10 out of 10, with possibly the most amazing view in Mudgee across the nearby valley from the modern, glass building and viewing platform. They had sold out of several of their premium wines - a good sign - but with the view, a bottle of Shiraz and live music, it was the perfect place to while await the afternoon. Just as well it was only 200m from where we were staying... 8/10

beef ragout

A late lunch on the veradah at Logan's

Back at the 'Dairy' we polished off some cheese and (more) wine, and played a game of 'Squatter' - the Australian equivalent of Monopoly. Instead of houses you build sheep pens on pasture you can upgrade - the aim being to have five irrigated pastures. Sheep can be bought and sold, drought needs to be avoided and regular rain needed. Instead of train stations you can buy rams. Passing 'Go' means collecting the profits from your annual wool sale. It's thrilling stuff.