Pokolbin
Wine Country · Relaxed · Good for couples and groups
Pokolbin is where the Hunter Valley's wine story began, and it's still the heart of it, about two hours' drive north of Sydney. There's no main street here. Instead, you'll find a spread of vineyards and small villages, with more wineries than anywhere else in the valley. That makes it the easiest place to base yourself: stay among the vines, and the cellar doors are minutes away. The old wine families are still pouring here too. At Tyrrell's, you can see some of the oldest still-producing vines in the world and taste their well-known semillon. The wineries are spread out, so book a tour or pick a designated driver, and enjoy the restaurants and cafés between tastings.
A weekend here might look like
- Morning: Hunter Valley Gardens - Fourteen hectares on Broke Road laid out as ten separate gardens, from a rose garden and Italian grotto to a storybook garden aimed at children, with a shopping village and cafes alongside.
- Lunch: Muse Restaurant - The Hunter's benchmark, and the region's go-to for a special occasion since 2009. Troy Rhoades-Brown has held two chef's hats here for a dozen years running, cooking contemporary Australian that leans on his own garden and growers he knows, with technique and restraint rather than trickery. The room is all glass walls, high ceilings and a fireplace, with the kitchen visible from the tables and a sommelier to walk you through the wine, including plenty from Hungerford Hill next door. Book well ahead.
- Afternoon: Brokenwood Wines - A cellar door on McDonalds Road best known for the Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz, with tastings around pods or a seated flight matched with canapes.
More to explore
- Audrey Wilkinson, Hunter Valley - The oldest vineyard site in Pokolbin, first planted in 1866, with a cellar door on a hill crest looking out across the vines to the Brokenback Range. The old winery next door houses a small museum of the family's history and its original cement fermenting vats.
- Hunter Valley Cheese Factory & Tasting Rooms Co PL - A small cheesemaker inside the McGuigan cellars on McDonalds Road, making cow and goat milk cheeses from fromage blanc and feta through to washed rind and blue. Cheesemaking talks are given at the factory windows.
- Tyrrell's - The Hunter's most storied name, fifth-generation family-owned, at the top of a long driveway with views to the Brokenback Range. The cellar door is deliberately old-fashioned, all rustic timber and original character rather than polished concrete, and the wines are the point: Vat 1 Semillon and Vat 47 Chardonnay are Australian benchmarks. Tastings are unhurried and the staff know their stuff without being pushy. There's a daily tour of the working winery and the founder's preserved cabin, picnic tables on the grounds, and no food service, so bring your own. Worth booking ahead for a premium tasting or a weekend visit.
- Bistro Molines - French country cooking in the hills above the Hunter, with a deck looking out over terraced vines and rolling valley below. Robert and Sally Molines have been feeding this region for decades, and the kitchen is unapologetically classic: coq au vin, duck, beef cheeks, tarts and a baked cheesecake people come back for, built on local produce. Country-chic rooms with antiques and buckets of flowers, a courtyard under the trees, and a wine list worth the time. It gets very busy on weekends, so book ahead.
- EXP. Restaurant - The Hunter on a plate, in a dark, moody room at Pokolbin Village. Frank Fawkner grew up in the valley and cooks it back: Red Gate Farm duck, Binnie Beef wagyu, locally foraged natives, even the furniture, art and knives made nearby. The menu is multi-course and seasonal, fire-driven, playful without theatre for its own sake.
- Pokolbin Chocolate Co. - A chocolate and preserves shop on Broke Road, next door to the Smelly Cheese Shop. The range is the appeal: hand-painted Belgian chocolates, fudge made on site, truffles, rocky road, chocolate-dipped fruit and nuts, alongside jams, chutneys, relishes and sauces, plus a range of flavoured teas. Tastings are usually offered, and there's a small café counter for a hot chocolate. An easy gift stop on the way out of the valley.
- Cafe Enzo - A country cottage café in the stone-and-timber Peppers Creek Village, going since 1996 and still one of Pokolbin's most reliable meals. Breakfast is the strength, from a big fry-up to poached eggs and a fruit and muesli bowl, with pasta, salads and share boards through lunch, plus scones the size of your fist. Serves are generous enough to share. Sit inside by the fire or out in the courtyard by the fountain, then wander the village for cellar door tastings and local produce. Plenty of parking, and good with kids.
- Sabor Dessert Bar - A dessert bar on Broke Road with a wall of windows over the vines, and the Hunter's biggest cabinet of cakes and pastries. The display is the drawcard: petit gateaux that look like green apples, cheesecakes, panna cotta, tarts and waffle creations, plus a kitchen menu for things like flaming brownies. Order a tasting plate if you can't choose. Good coffee, big windows, plenty of parking and easy with kids. Go in the morning, because the cabinet thins out by late afternoon and the queue builds on weekends.