A few weeks ago we spent a weekend in the Hunter Valley to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary (my, doesn’t three years fly). Instead of visiting the same old wineries, we decided to branch out and explore the wineries near the town of Broke. Even though these towns was only 20-odd kilometres, they were worlds apart.

Broke was a sleepy backwater compared to the tourist hub of Pokolbin with nary a car in sight – perhaps how Pokolbin was before it became a wine mecca. The wineries we visited in Broke were the kind that we liked – small places producing great drops, with the cellar door being manned by the winemakers themselves. They were always happy to explain away their wines and methods. Mount Broke Wines let cattle graze among the vines in the winter months to keep the weeds down.