Food & Wine Tasting and Pairing Guide on a Hunter Valley Tour
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Importance of Matching the Correct Food to the Correct Wine
Hunter Valley is the paradise & the best destination for worldwide wine tasters. Hunter Valley food & wine tasting may certainly be an unforgettable experience that you’ve never enjoyed in your travelling life. However, a portion of great food & wine pairing will definitely add another taste & colour to your Hunter Valley private wine tour experience making it more awesome. Here you can test your own pairings. The only thing we do is proper guidance to make this combination more impressive & boosting your appetite.
A good combination always makes a balance between the items of the dish & the characteristics of the wine. Actually, it’s more interesting to taste an extended dish with wine, rather than just tasting a sole wine. It can stimulate your taste buds & banish your travel fatigue.
By & by when you get familiar with different wines, you will confidently make awesome pairings yourself. Normally it’s better if the wine is more acidic & sweeter than the food pairing. Also, it would be more impressive if the food has the same flavour intensity as the wine that you’ve chosen. At the same time, the bitter wine goes well with fatty dishes. Also, keep in mind to pair the wine with sauce rather than with meat. Here are the best tips to make a better food & wine pairing in your wine tasting picnic.
Popular wines that you can find in Hunter Valley
Hunter Valley is a prosperous region in NSW that gives birth to the most delicious grape varieties ever found in the world. But making wine from grapes is not an easy task at all. It requires much patience. You can find thousands of white, red, and sparkling wines as well as collections in Hunter Valley restaurants. All are made of freshly picked grape varieties of Hunter Valley. Some of the commonest white wines include Chardonnay, Verdelho Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chenin Blanc, & Semillon, etc. Red wine tasters are impressed by Merlot, Malbec, Shiraz & Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition to the aforementioned, there are thousands of wine collections in Hunter Valley wineries.
Hunter Valley food and wine tasting
Here are some of the tastiest wine types you can find in Hunter Valley that provide an exclusive cellar-door experience. Also, let’s suggest the best pairings to limitlessly delight your taste buds while getting good nutrition to your body.
Semillon wine & food tasting/pairing
Semillon is one of the most popular white wines having a full body the same as in Chardonnay & flavours just like in Pinot Gris & Sauvignon Blanc. Occupies the aromas of Saffron, Lanolin, Wax Lips, Honey & Ginger. Oaked Semillon additionally contains the flavours of Butter, Pie Crust, Cream Popcorn & Dill. It has medium acidity. However, it’s well known for its cheap price but an incomparably immense taste. Semillon wines occupy a fresh zippy flavour. Therefore they are ideal to taste together with a bit of spicy & aromatic dishes just like Indian spices, & Asian spices.
White meats such as Chicken, Ham, Turkey, Pork Chop, & Duck are ideal to pair & taste with Semillons. It’s better to add some raw fish to your dish including one or more of the species such as Trout, Arctic Char, Catfish, Red Snapper & Halibut.
As mentioned above, the dish must be somewhat spicy just like adding some Clove, Fennel, Turmeric, Saffron, Coriander, Chive & Shallot, or even brown woodsy spices such as Cinnamon or Star Anise. Add some creamy vibe to your wine banquet looking for some highly flavoured & nutty cheeses made of cow’s or sheep’s milk. For instance Cheddar, Gruyere & Compte.
According to the opinion of many wine connoisseurs, some spiced, stewed & roasted vegetables well fit the medium body of Semillon. Also, try some raw fish or pickled Ginger with Semillon.
Otherwise, you can retrieve some salads with citrus-based dressings & dried fruits & nuts. Hunter Valley Food & Semillon wine tasting includes vegetables such as Kabocha, Butternut Squash, Corn, Carrot, Bell Pepper, Green Onion, Potato, Yam, & Almond. Whenever you’ve been to Hunter Valley, you would get the unforgettable wine tasting experience of dessert Semillon such as DeBortoli Noble One with a classic dish such Seared Foie Gras Scallops and Black Pudding with a Caramel.
Food and Wine Tasting Hunter Valley – Chardonnay
Chardonnay is the winemaker’s best friend. Due to its neutrality, convenience to process & add winemaking techniques as well as high natural acidity, Chardonnay becomes a perfect grape to make different wines with different tastes. The following combinations make the Hunter Valley food & wine-tasting experience more vivid & colourful.
Light & bright appetizers like fresh tomatoes go well with Unoaked Chardonnay such as Vinden Estate Evie’s 2015. An oaked Chardonnay well matches with a cooked appetizer such as Pumpkin, Caramelized Onion, Ricotta, or Apple & Brie Flatbread.
Unoaked Chardonnay with a pale yellow appearance gives a mild taste when paired with goat cheese. Oaked Chardonnay works well with creamy cow & sheep milk cheeses. The long-aged, dark-coloured cheeses are well suited for such red wines. Seafood is also an excellent combination to try with Chardonnay. As a suggestion, Unoaked Chardonnay with shellfish like clams & mussels, sushi & flaky white fish & the oaked Chardonnay paired with pan-seared salmon. Its crunchy skin gives a satin-like smooth texture that soothes your tongue in the warm summer.
Try a glass of Unoaked Chardonnay such as Tyrrell’s Hunter Valley Chardonnay with this menu item (Duck Breast, Duck Leg, Sweet Potato, Asparagus, Blackberries, Five Spice Popcorn) at the Cellar Restaurant if you happen to go on a Hunter Valley wine tours from Sydney.
A salad of baby vegetables including Corn, & Fregula, or Kabocha Squash with Pepitas & Rosemary Brown is ideal for oaked Chardonnay.
Several types of chicken well pair with both oaked & Unoaked Chardonnay. Fowl is suitable to taste with both of these wines. Unoaked Chardonnay is ideal to taste with steak.
Another item to be definitely added to your dish is some sauces. The reverberating acidity of tomato sauce suits well with Unoaked Chardonnay. In contrast, buttery & creamy sauces nicely work on oaked Chardonnay wines. A sip of dessert Chardonnay well pairs with a Creamy Pumpkin Pie with Spiced Pecans & Cinnamon Whipped Cream, a pudding of tropical fruits, or a clafouti.
Food and Wine Tasting Hunter Valley – Shiraz
Shiraz is one of the most popular red wines around the world. The wine is usually medium-bodied having some sort of savoury taste, less acidity & darker in colour. Syrah is also an extension of Shiraz, having a deeper colour, less fruit & more tannins & acid on the finish. It’s better to pair some lighter & fruitier dishes in your Hunter Valley food & Shiraz wine tasting rather than heavier meals or severely acidic dishes. In that case, you can use leaner red meat, stew & slightly spicy ethnic foods paired with Shiraz.
Shiraz nicely pairs the meats with low-fat contents. Beef brisket is a slightly spicy & shiny flavoured barbecue that is well suited with a glass of spicy Shiraz. If it is prepared yourself, cook it slowly with a mildly spicy rub instead of a quick grill. Otherwise, you can taste Shiraz with lean grilled lamb or grilled grass-fed beef.
Our favourite is the ‘Beef Tenderloin, Carrot & Miso with Dutch Carrots’ from CIRCA 1876 Hunter Valley with a glass of Bokenwood Graveyard Shiraz.
A nostalgic chicken fan can try a grilled London broil with a low-fat content that nicely matches with lighter tannins of Shiraz. Let a slow-cooked beef stew melt in your mouth, which makes more & more fantastic sensations paired with Shiraz. Chili Colorado is also a popular recipe among Hunter visitors. Although we’ve highly emphasized beef dishes, even Pork & Duck are also very tasty and cooked in highly flavoured sauces. A salmon-like fish would be a better seafood supplement for some soft Shiraz.
As the above-mentioned beef stew, this dish also does well with Shiraz or any other reds. This is a mildly spiced stew mainly containing dry New Mexican chilli or chilli powder & additionally some smoked paprika as the flavour.
Actually, cheese is not a great compliment to Shiraz wines. If you are crazy about that pairing, you can choose softer, creamy cheeses such as Gruyere, Camembert & smoked Cheddar that you can find from Hunter Valley Cheese Factory.
Verdelho & food pairing
Verdelho is a somewhat hard grape that occupies a thick skin & less juice. This is a popular white wine commonly used in the Hunter Valley food & wine tasting at cellar doors.
Unoaked Verdelho has a similar weight to Chardonnay & Roussanne. Verdelho contains primary flavours of gooseberry, pineapple, Brazil nut, red apple & ginger. Additionally, it includes certain herbs that make your sip spicier. It has an oily texture, tropical fruits &, lime & kaffir lime palate. 2018 Verdelho is one of the greatest vintages for Hunter Valley Verdelho. It carries the tropical aroma of pineapple & passion fruit with a well-balanced crisp & refreshing finish. It also contains the flavours of garlic, ginger & chilli flavours so you almost will require no snacks as a compliment. You can taste even solely.
However, some light snacks like Thai dishes or spicy Asian cuisine such as Vietnamese food paired with Verdelho is an energetic kick to a bright, tiresome summer day and our choice is Oishii Japanese and Thai Restaurant located at the Roche Estate. Verdelho is a versatile wine type that pairs well with several dishes & snacks. Especially freshly shucked oysters, chilli-infused garlic prawns, and traditional Yum Cha & Thai curries are the most common as well as fundamental supplements in a Verdelho cocktail. Its characters & fruity nature pair amazingly with white fish, white meat & tiger prawns with a little Chile & lime.
So, why are you still late to have this marvellous experience? Book a day trip from Sydney to Hunter Valley to taste the best of food and wine with a reputed tour company who are obliged to guide the best cellar doors and restaurants that offer a full experience of Hunter Valley. The decision is yours.
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