This weekend we took had an excursion to the Hunter Valley to visit two wineries. The bus ride was roughly two hours long and we briefly stopped halfway for a bathroom break and some food. We got to the first winery, Brokenwood Wines, and were immediately greeted by a cold glass of wine on a very hot sunny day. After taking about 15 minutes to enjoy the wine and decompress from the bus ride, we started the tour run by the chief winemaker, Stuart Hordern. The facility was beautiful and I found the general schedule and process of wine making to be very interesting. Brokenwood Wines had purchased a half a million dollar grape pressing machine that they only utilize for 1/4 of the year. (3 months) This is because of the brief grape picking season. Our tour guide discussed how the grape picking season fluctuates due to the weather, and even disclosed that the quality of his wine is 90% up to the weather and is mostly out of his control. He disclosed that Brokenwood Wines is unlike any other wine as they tap into a niche market due to its unique location. The number of bottles produced is limited and the price tag is upwards of $300 AUD. ($197 USD) We were able to look into their barreling room. Stuart discussed how all of the Broeknwood wines are put into French Oak barrels and not US Oak barrels for a minimum of 3 months. They do this to add a little more spice from the wood into their wine but notice that longer than 3 months that taste takes over the wine. There were also these big vats where the crushed grapes would separate into the juice and the skin over time. In this facility with the barrels Stuart disclosed how important energy is to Brokenwood in particular ac to cool the facility they make the wine in. He explained how energy consuming the wine industry is and how Brokenwood has pledged to lessen their footprint. They have moved to solar panels for electricity to power their AC for the room.
Scarborough Wine Co was the second winery we visited. Scarborough has a deep history and has been a vineyard since the early 60’s. We got to hear the story of their family and deep winemaking history and also got to take a tour of their facility. The inside of their facility reminded me of Broken wood but had smaller barrels. The tour guide (who owns the vineyard and carry the Scarborough name) told us that the bottles were in a different price bracket than the ones at Brokenwood. Scarborough produces a higher quantity of bottles and offers their wine at a cheaper price point than Brokenwood. They disclosed that the number one threat to their grapes besides weather was actually kangaroos that damage the grapes and dig up the soil as they hop around. Overall the tour was awesome and I earned a greater appreciation for wine and the winemaking process.
