Wine Weekend in Mudgee

We have done several wine weekends in Mudgee with various groups of friends now and they are always a hit.

You can see why Mudgee is called 'Nest of Hills'

Since we have moved to Orange, poor Mudgee has been a bit neglected so we decided to make our annual wine fest pilgrimage to Mudgee last weekend.

Sorting out the puppy and leaving him with friends, meant we left a bit late and didn’t arrive in Mudgee until 8pm at night. We now have a beautiful holiday which is high on a hill that overlooking Mudgee that we always book for our boozy weekends away as it is ideal for a group of 6/7 and has the most gorgeous views.

Logan Cellar Door

Mr L’Orange and I rustled up a rather amazing bbq dinner despite a complete lack of condiments (we just had salt, pepper, oil & garlic) and added lots of fresh salad and veg from our garden to the meal. Several bottles of wine later, we all headed to bed ready for an action packed next day.

Views from Logan

Saturday morning started off with an utterly gourmet breakfast by Ragan and Harry, we had poached eggs on toast with bacon, beans and fresh spinach – healthy and delicious! Everyone then jumped in the car and headed to the Logan cellar door on the Sydney Road (20 minutes outside of Mudgee).

This cellar door is a bit out of town but certainly worth the drive, Logan falls into the category of new and very trendy cellar door. It appears to have it all, friendly staff, breath taking views, log fire, cake & coffee, large range of wines and funky coasters (they even let me take some home).

We got to try sparkling, aromatic whites from Orange, hearty reds from Mudgee and everything else in between – the highlight for me was the Hannah Rose which the winemaker, Peter Logan, made for his wife for their wedding day. I must admit on previous occasions, I have found the wines to be more outstanding but this could simply have a lot to do with the current vintages & crap weather.

Next stop was a simple roll down the hill and over to Skimstone which is located directly opposite Logan. The tin shack cellar door stands in complete contrast to Logan, it has that down to earth, relaxed feel with truly outstanding wines.

Winemaker Josh Clementson, took us through his range of European influenced wines that had everyone licking their lips and mentally calculating how much could be added to the credit card.

The view from Skimstone Cellar Door

Stand outs for me were the Rose, Barbera and Tres Onde which means three ripples and includes Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Barbera (a modern take on the classic Italian 'Super Tuscan' blend).

To make things easy and quick we opted to visit the Di Lusso cellar door over lunch so we could enjoy some wood fired pizzas and do a tasting at the same time. We were really glad that we stopped in, the friendly and helpful staff set us up at a table outside and recommend the stuffed zucchini flowers as a starter. Whilst lunch was being prepared Pia took care of us in the cellar door and took us through the ever expanding range of wines. All the wines are ideally suited to food, as you would expect from their Italian grape origins. We got the chance to try lots of unusual grape varieties from aromatic whites through to heavy reds and then dessert wines and fortifiers.

Di Lusso Dog

The pizza arrived right at the end of our tasting (perfect timing) and the four that we ordered were outstanding and comfortably fed 8 people when accompanied by the zuchinni flowers as a starter. This cellar door clearly has a switched on person doing the marketing as they are offering a free pizza with every 6 pack purchased. Needless to say, we didn’t have to pay much for lunch! For those wanting an alternate diversion there is bocce on the lawn, a big friendly dog or pretty grounds to stroll around.

Next  stop was 1838, this cellar door offers wine and olive oil tasting, alas it didn’t get a big tick from us and I'm afraid, I can't think of any reasons for you to stop here.

We ended the wine tasting at Bunnamagoo, owned by the Paspaley family, made famous by their pearls. The cellar door is gorgeous, with plenty of tables set up for groups to do their tasting. Unfortunately, the cellar door staff all stayed behind the bar area which meant the whole space became a bit congested. Wines were ok but nothing special in my opinion and it was hard to find out much about how the wines were made was so many people vying for booze. Amongst our group there was a real love for the merlot and the sticky was also very good – however we did try about 10 wines before getting to these 2 winners. The cellar door and wine range certainly has lots of potential, just a matter of seeing how things improve.

We spent the majority of the evening at Roth’sWine Bar eating tapas, drinking yet more wine and listening to the live music. When we got back we lit a bonfire at the house (we doubled checked there wasn't a fire ban) and enjoyed Mudgee by night with yet more wine or water in my case. 

Before we knew it, the weekend was almost at a close - why does the time fly on a fun wine week and drag so much when there is diy to be done? On Sunday morning we tried to have breakfast at The Mudgee Brewing Company but it stopped serving at 11am – what the?!! We headed to the Butcher Shop Cafe instead, which offered quick service and mega hearty portions of good food plus all day breakfasts. I was loving their fresh veggie juice, which was helping to sort out my severely damaged liver.

As usual, we didn’t fit in all the dining and drink options we had intended, but oh well, it just justifies another trip to Mudgee next year. Everyone agreed, we had enjoyed a great weekend and Mudgee certainly has a lot to offer for a weekend break. To find out about the upcoming events and attractions happening in Mudgee, take a look at Visit Mudgee.

Wine Weekends

Dearest readers, hold on to your hats, I’m adding a new 'Special Features' section to the LALO blog.

This section will cover weekends away from Orange that Mr L’Orange and I have been enjoying this year. South Australia will feature later this week, here is a couple of pictures to whet your appetite.

Wine Weekend in South Australia

As a wedding present we were given a wine trip to South Australia, something we had been wanting to do since we first met. Early one Friday morning In June we set off for the airport, as usual our timing mysteriously went awry and we were the last people on to the plane. ‘Perfect,’ I thought, ‘Terrible,’ according to Mr L’Orange.

After arriving at Adelaide we grabbed our hire car and headed to Hahndorf, a pretty little town heavily influenced by the early German settlers. We had a wander up the quaint main street and then devoured the best bacon and egg roll I’ve ever eaten. The toasted German style roll was filled with double smoked bacon, 2 eggs and a spicy tomato relish – simply divine.

Alas we missed out on visiting Petaluma and some of the other wineries in the area as we weren’t in the mood for tasting at 10am, especially after the early morning start. Instead we drove to Port Willunga to get all our bags dropped off and explore the area. Our holiday house was well equipped, light and airy and better still, just a 2 minute walk from a huge sandy beach.

We visited The Victory Hotel for a spot of lunch and a beer, the place was packed with local winemakers enjoying a long boozy lunch! The food was excellent, the outside covered area was nice and warm and we were keen to come back for more.

In the evening our friends Dave & Chloe arrived and we went for dinner at Fino in Willunga. Every course was beautifully presented and tasted amazing, plus the service was superb – this was certainly a meal to remember. We had a couple of glasses of lip smackingly good fino to start with and then drank a lovely Battle of Bosworth Chardonnay with the entree and a juicy Cascabel Tempranillo with the main course.

We got up early on Saturday to retrieve the car and check out the local farmer’s markets, where we filled up on goodies for the house and enjoyed yet another ‘out of this world’ bacon and egg roll. I could easily move to South Australia for the food alone! Next we focused on what we were here for and piled into our trusty Toyota Yaris and began driving around the vineyards of McLaren Vale. Our trip coincided with the Sea and Vines festival (by mistake) so everywhere was busy – however the cellar door staff simply took it in their stride and still managed to give us lots of attention.

Gorgeous garden

Chloe with McLaren Vale vines in the background

Our first stop was Coriole which had a good range of wines and even better cheese we could buy to go with them. We were a fan of the Sangiovese and bought some for dinner that night along with cheese and (very handily) crackers.

Next we dropped into the interesting cellar door of Samuel's Gorge, it was jam packed with intriguing old objects and was a real pleasure to visit.

The gardens and views across the hills were also stunning, we realised McLaren Vale rates very highly on the ‘pretty and rustic wine region’ scale.

We did a quick stop at Hugh Hamilton’s the Black Sheep, which offered 360 degree views of McLaren Vale from the cellar door which was impressive. Alas the cellar door was packed so it was hard to get served and we were in a bit of a rush to get to lunch.

The view from Hugh Hamilton's

Our lunch spot

Lunch was at the newly taken over Star of Greece, which offers jaw dropping views over the ocean and beach below. The wine list was excellent and the food was superb, service was a bit slow but I think the restaurant had only been open a few weeks so probably just teething issues. Chloe & Dave voted this lunch, the best meal they’d had for the last year – worthy praise from our foodie friends. After lunch we hit the beach to walk off some of the calories we’d consumed over the last 24 hours.

The view during lunch

Post lunch walking location

Sunday we spent driving around the Barossa Valley wine tasting, this is a bit of a trek from McLaren Vale so we wouldn’t recommend combing the two unless you are based in Adelaide or have more time to spare. The wineries we visited were Bethany – great shiraz and port you can buy by the keg (I’ve never seen this anywhere else) and self serve! Rusden was a gorgeous little vineyard with very good red wines, the Shiraz Cabernet was our favourite – definitely pay them a visit if you are in the Barossa.

Moody view across the Seppeltsfield vineyard

The last few leaves on the vines

Our Barossa Bus Driven By Sam

We spent the remainder of our afternoon at Seppeltsfield, an inspiring label that pretty much built its own village complete with chapel, palm tree lined streets, huge gravity fed winery, large barrel room and cellar door. I have never been particularly into fortifieds but a visit to Seppelts has changed all that, the tasting we enjoyed was interesting and personal and most importantly super delicious. Tasting the different styles of port and vintages was educational and enjoyable all at the same time. We also got the impression that the entire place was a true national treasure and a definite ‘must visit’ location if you go to the Barossa. Feeling warm and merry we headed back home to enjoy some wood fired pizzas and yet more red wine of course! 

Seppeltsfield chapel after several wines

The barrelroom at Sepps

We loved our long weekend so much, we have decided to go back for a week next time so we can fit in more wineries and of course breakfast, lunches and dinners.