You'll be enchanted by the laid-back vibe at Krinklewood Biodynamic Winery. Photo / MJK Creative
If you’ve visited the Hunter Valley’s big-list attractions already, alternative wine varietals, a slower pace and a rustic setting await you in Broke, writes Renata Gortan
NSW’s Hunter Valley is one of Australia’s oldest and best-known wine regions. It’s also a mecca for busloads of day-trippers looking to sample the semillon and shiraz drops the region is known for.
Whereas the high-profile cellar doors are centred around Pokolbin, just 15 minutes away you can have a completely different experience of the valley – one that’s slower, more charming and a lot more interesting.
If Pokolbin is polished, Broke is rustic. And that’s not a bad thing. The cellar doors are intimate, the experiences are personalised and there’s a high chance the winemaker will be pouring your drinks.
That’s what happens at Winmark Wines, where owner and vigneron Karin Addcock takes us through her range of chardonnay done four ways.
Focusing on one varietal is risky, especially one that goes in and out of fashion, but it’s working. Winmark recently won Hunter Valley Cellar Door of the Year and was shortlisted by James Halliday Wine Companion for Best New Winery 2024.
“We want to open people’s eyes to the fact that chardonnay is so much more than just the traditional style,” she says.
The wines range from the easygoing Winmark Expression, aged in a steel tank with a little bit of oak, that you’d struggle to pick as a traditional chardonnay, to the Icon, made from only 18 rows of vines planted in 1972. It’s big, bold and what you expect a chardy to be.
Winmark’s win is also due to the property itself, there a four guesthouses on the property and a stunning sculpture walk among the vines.
We’re staying at the family-friendly Rock View, just a stone’s throw from the cellar door and dinner is delivered courtesy of Motty’s Farm Cuisine. Melissa O’Toole offers private catering for groups staying at local holiday guesthouses, she comes in, sets up, cooks and cleans, but she also does delivery for smaller groups.
A self-confessed cook rather than a chef, her homestyle menu includes sizzling garlic prawns, meaty lamb shanks and a decadent sticky date pudding. It’s comfort food at its cosiest and a whole lot tastier than UberEats.
The cooking gene passed on to her son, Ryan, who runs Magoony’s Coffee House & Antiques. The space is a delightful wonderland of mismatched furniture, knick-knacks and curios that opened in September 2022, just after the region’s once-in-100-year floods. The coffee is good, but the drawcard is the cake fridge, which could include delights such as French lemon tart with torched Italian meringue or salted caramel cheesecake, and points to Ryan’s pastry chef training at Margan.
While you’re there, pick up a bottle of local wines, beers and spirits. The Little Wine Company, a local cellar door, is opening a boutique bottle shop on the premises. It’ll be in operation from March, just in time for the Little Bit of Broke food and wine festival, March 15-17.
After breakfast, it’s time to explore the Broke Wine Trail. While the focus is on the booze, there’s also Hunter Lavender Farm, Starline Alpaca Farm and handmade beauty products at Bare Natures’ Kin.
Start at the far end of Milbrodale Rd and work your way down.
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Kawal Rock Distillery opened 18 months ago. When Maria Schuler and Louise Foster bought the property full of muscat vines, they Googled, “What do you make with muscat?” Brandy. But it needs to age two years to count as brandy, so they made a mean gin in the meantime.
Louise is the distiller and as she isn’t a fan of tonic, she created a gin to be drunk with soda, which is why the Itchy Wombat is a fragrant mix of myrtle, strawberry gum and pepperberry.
The brandy is also now ready. Made from smoke-tainted grapes in 2019, Hunter Brandy is aromatic and packs a punch.
Stop in for an early, light lunch at Talit’s Estate, with charcuterie platters of local olives and cheese overlooking the pond. The lawn games are also a fun touch. The signature wine here may be chardonnay, but they also grow the not-very-trendy merlot that is used in rosé and blends. It was an exceptionally good vintage five years ago and the 2018 Single Estate Merlot will challenge your assumptions about this grape. Travel down the road to Whispering Brook, where you’ll find Portuguese varietals touriga nacional and arinto. When co-owner Susan Frazier did a winemaking trip through Portugal in 2007, she realised the climate was similar to the Hunter, so grafted shiraz vines to Touriga Nacional.
She was the first in the region to do it and while others followed suit, Whispering Brook is the only winery doing a straight Touriga.
At the end of Wollombi Road, Greenway Wines is charm personified. Step inside the red cottage and pull up a stool at the kitchen counter. It feels like sipping wine at a friend’s house, only the booze is better.
Fiano is the big thing here, a cross between chardonnay and sauvignon blanc it has lemon, biscuity, buttery flavours. The Hunter’s only sparkling Fiano is an off-dry situation with a fruity bouquet and a gewurztraminer/fiano blend is floral, with notes of rose petals and stone fruit.
It’s a Friday night, so dinner is at Mount Broke, another vineyard working with alternative varietals including barbera, pecorino and albarino. Woodfired pizzas are on the menu on Friday evenings, while Saturday and Sunday lunches have a French bistro offering, with tartare, confit duck and cote du boef.
Broke’s big drawcard is Margan and you want the Ultimate Experience. Turn up hungry, and thirsty.
The day starts at 10.30am, but it’s midday somewhere so your glass is never empty as you tour the vineyards and the organic 1ha organic kitchen garden where you can make friends with the chooks, including Hennifer Lopez, sip on wines straight from the barrel and then settle in for a five-course lunch.
Head chef Joey Ingram works with the gardeners to plan out the seasonal menu, so he knows what he has to work with. Rapini are used to make a pesto for potato gnocchi, radicchio is teamed with roasted duck and garden crudites are matched with aioli made from eggs supplied by Hennifer Lopez and co.
Round out the weekend at Krinklewood Wines.
The pitch may be the organic, biodynamic drops but you’ll also be enchanted by the peacocks roaming the property and the laid-back vibe. You can pull up a stool at the cellar door for a guided tasting or there’s the DIY version.
The Taste at Your Pace package, which needs to be pre-booked, sees a collection of five little bottles and a booklet of tasting notes delivered to your table, so you can take your time savouring them.
The innovative offering is emblematic of what Broke provides - a relaxed perspective on a celebrated wine region.
GETTING THERE
Air NZ, Qantas and Jetstar all fly direct from Auckland to Sydney International Airport. From Sydney, it’s a two-hour, 20-minute drive north to Broke.
DETAILS
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