Hunter Valley Wine Tour - Self-Guided GPS Audio Guide
- 4–9 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- 2 languages
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
Drive the Hunter Valley yourself, with a GPS audio guide that plays automatically as you go. Your booking unlocks Australia's oldest wine region in the free Wine Trails app: pick your date and starting point — Cessnock, Pokolbin, Broke or Lovedale — choose the cellar doors you want, and the app builds your personal route with turn-by-turn narration. 84 narrated stories cover 62 cellar doors and the people behind them: as you roll into Pokolbin you'll hear how James Busby stepped ashore in the 1820s carrying vine cuttings gathered across France and Spain, and how every Australian wine region that followed traces its genetics back to that single act. No group, no schedule, no guide — pause for a long cellar-door lunch, replay anything, and the audio keeps working when the signal drops on the back roads toward Broke. You'll need a car and a designated driver; tastings are booked and paid directly with the wineries.
Inclusions
What's included
- Cellar-door narration for Tyrrell's, Brokenwood, Audrey Wilkinson and Tulloch
- Email and in-app chat support
- Complete offline download - audio, maps and route stored on your phone
- GPS audio tour of the Hunter Valley with stories playing automatically at each stop
- Buy once, no expiry, with free content and audio updates for life
- In-app map with every winery, village and lookout pinned
- Trip planner to build and reorder your own route
- One purchase covers everyone in the vehicle
- Regional chapters on James Busby, Hunter Semillon and the founding family dynasties
What's not
- Wine tastings and cellar-door tasting fees (paid directly at each winery)
- Food, meals and snacks
- Transport - you drive your own car or rental vehicle
- Fuel, parking and road tolls
- Mobile data or wifi to download the tour before you set out
Itinerary
The gateway town to the Lower Hunter and the default starting point for the drive.
The heart of the Lower Hunter - a plateau of deep red volcanic basalt sheltered by the Brokenback Range, and Shiraz country.
Edward Tyrrell bought this Broke Road block in 1858; his great-grandson Murray made Australia's first great varietal Chardonnay, Vat 47, here.
Founded on McDonalds Road in 1970 by wine writer James Halliday and a group of Sydney friends, and home of the Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz.
De Beyers Road cellar door and one of the benchmark labels named for long-term Hunter Semillon cellaring.
One of the Hunter's founding family dynasties, still pouring on Oakey Creek Road in Pokolbin.
Another of the Hunter's enduring family names, on De Beyers Road in Pokolbin.
Hermitage Road producer whose Semillon is among the labels to seek out for cellaring.
Zinc-clad, angular cellar door founded in 1998 by Lisa McGuigan as a deliberately modern take on Hunter wine.
Forty hectares of eight themed gardens in Pokolbin, created by Bob and Sally Oatley in the 1990s.
Milbrodale Road estate in Broke, where lighter alluvial soils give Semillon of exceptional finesse.
Quiet transition-zone country north of Pokolbin, producing elegant Semillon and Chardonnay and home of the May Lovedale Long Lunch.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Know before you go
- Meeting point
- These are self-guided wine tours, so these are just where a user can drive in from. The user can start from wherever they are at.
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Operated by
- Wine Trails
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- By giving your phone number you agree to receive up to 2 texts from Wine Trails about this booking (your tour link and a tour-day reminder)
- Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency: max 2 texts per booking. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help
- Before you travel: download the free Wine Trails app (iOS or Android) and create your account while you are on wifi
- Unlock your region in the app: tap Redeem a booking or code, choose Booked online, then enter your Viator booking reference (starts with BR-) and the last name on the booking
- Download your tour over wifi before you drive: coverage in wine country is patchy and the offline download keeps the narration playing
How it compares in Hunter Valley
- Its from-price is 86% below the median of the 13 day trips we list in Hunter Valley.
- Its length is typical for the group.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Hunter Valley
The Hunter Valley is a New South Wales wine region of vineyards, horse studs and low ranges, a couple of hours' drive north of Sydney.
The valley follows the Hunter River inland from Newcastle, with the main wine district around Pokolbin and the town of Cessnock at its gateway. Vines have grown here since the 1820s, which makes it one of Australia's oldest wine regions, and semillon whites and shiraz reds are its best-known bottles. Many cellar doors sit among gum trees and lawns, with long views across the rows.
