A Milestone Year for the Hunter Valley
It started with a vintage universally agreed by critics as one of the best Hunter Valley vintages of all time.
Then, not long after the ’14 vintage was in the bottle, the Hunter Valley was chosen as Australia’s best food & wine region in the 2014 Gold List Awards for Luxury Travel Magazine, and shortly thereafter was named in the Top 10 wine destinations in the world by USA Today.
Mid-year, two of the Hunter Valley’s new and dynamic generation of stars took out the titles of both Gourmet Traveller Young Australian Winemaker of the Year (Gwyn Olsen of Brian Ridge) and Australian Young Restaurateur of the Year (Troy Rhodes-Brown of Muse Kitchen and Muse Restaurant). These wins giving credence to the surge of young talent coursing through the region.
In November, four titles at the NSW Tourism Awards were shared between Margan Wines and Chateau Elan highlighting the Hunter Valley’s sophistication, and reputation as Australia’s pre-eminent Wine Tourism destination.
Winemaking successes continued in November with a number of Hunter Valley Producers recognized by both James Halliday in his Top 100 and at the NSW Wine Awards.
Then, just as the celebrations were subsiding, the Hunter Valley has this week been voted “The Best Wine Region” by Australian Traveller. Within days, yet another accolade, with the Hunter Valley voted number one in NSW, and third in Australia in the category of “Hotel Reputations” by travel website Trivago.
What a year it has been…
“It certainly has been a milestone year, and bears out the Hunter Valley’s status as Australia’s most sophisticated Regional Tourism destination. However perhaps our biggest achievement has been the accolades received from the 2014 wine vintage, which has been judged by astute palates as one of the very best in the 190 year winemaking history of the Hunter Valley,” Gus Maher, General Manager, Hunter Valley Wine & Tourism Association comments.
“As the very special Hunter Valley year draws to a close, as a team, Hunter Valley winemakers, grape growers, hoteliers, chefs and tour & attraction operators can all take a bow and celebrate a vintage year,” Maher continues.