We spend a wonderful day tasting a variety of different wines in the Hunter Valley in June 2008 with Boutique Wine Tours. Our very entertaining and knowledgeable driver, Steve, provided some wonderful commentary on our scenic drive from Sydney to the Hunter Valley. As mentioned in an earlier review, we visited three wineries - Ernest Hill, Iron Gate, and Audrey Wilkinson. We tasted 5-7 various wines at each winery and learned what it takes to make an award winning Hunter Valley wine. I especially enjoyed our intimate tasting with one of the owners at Ernest Hill. The Ernest Hill 2008 Semillion was one of our favorites during our 2 week stay in Australia. We ate at Oscars during our lunch stop and the food was just OK, not great. There are several little shops to check out when you stop for lunch. There is a wonderful little candy store and a fudge stop just around the corner from Oscars. Overall, we throughly enjoyed our wine tour in the Hunter Valley with Boutique Wine Tours and would definitely do it again if we go back.

We had a great time on our wine tour. The tour bus only 12 max, so the group size is manageable and not overwhelming. Bus was very comfortable. Our tour guide, Steve, was great. Very knowledgeable about the area and the wine. We went to several wineries, large and small. I'd recommend to anyone.

We did a day tour from Sydney to the Hunter Valley in April 2008 with Boutique Wine Tours. The mini-bus picked us up from our hotel right on time at 8.55am. The bus was comfortable, and the driver’s commentary was quite entertaining and informative. We visited three wineries - Ernest Hill, Iron Gate, and Audrey Wilkinson. Each gave us a good selection of wines to taste and winery staff provided interesting information about the wines and the winery. These three wineries were all very different in their size and approach – so it was a good selection to visit. At lunch time, we stopped at the Hunter Valley gardens where we were able to visit another three cellar doors (Tempus Two, McGuigan, Brokenwood) and a cheesery, at our leisure. This is probably one of the most enjoyable day trips we have taken. Perhaps our only concern was that the 14-seater bus was full, and one of the passengers had to sit in the front seat with the driver – this probably wouldn’t phase most people – but wouldn’t have been to our liking. It’s also worth noting that the ‘gourmet lunch’ option isn’t available on Sundays as the restaurant doesn’t open.