If it was possible to forget, living as we do with a world class wine making region as our backyard, that the Hunter has something special to offer, the reminder was at the Station on Saturday afternoon.
A perfect August day, a spectacular 2023 harvest under the belt, and between 30 and 40 of the Hunter's best winemakers showing off their wares as the sun dipped behind the harbour; Newcastle turned it on for the inaugural Taste of the Hunter on August 26.
It wasn't, of course, an easy road to Saturday's success. Initial plans for the event, billed for bringing the sprawling Hunter Valley and all it has to offer to one place in the heart of the city, had like most things over the past few years, been derailed by the COVID pandemic. But organisers persevered through every last minute change and finally brought the event to fruition at the weekend.
Locals Kirby Vassallo and Sophie Hurford were among friends at the event sampling the wares and said it had been a winning afternoon.
"It's a great day, beautiful sun, good vibes," Ms Vassallo said.
Ms Hurford had moved from Wales in the past year and had gained her permanent residency in Australia in the past month. They group of Cooks Hill and Charlestown locals - Brad Walker, Bailey Cooper, Joel Maher and Cass Scott - were taken by the Brockenwood Semillon, a well-awarded Hunter staple, and had also enjoyed the drop from noted Hunter winemaker Andrew Thomas.
Charlie Kempe was at the Station representing Lisa McGuigan's Vamp label which had only just released an exceptional 2022 Chardonnay and said the event was a chance for locals to get to know the labels in their backyard.
"The reception has been absolutely amazing," he said, "We're getting a lot of people coming up asking questions. We're a new establishment, ourselves, so this gives us the opportunity to meet those people and say, look, this is what we're about, this is what we're producing.
"This is pretty much what is at your doorstep."
"The weather is absolutely amazing; you can't beat this kind of weather. And obviously when you're pairing it with the wine, it's a good recipe. Good day out."
Event coordinator Ally Thorpe said seeing everything come together after such a long road was a great reward and testament to the Hunter product. The plan now is to take the Taste to the regions and evangelise the quality of local produce around the state.
"Newcastle really turned up and turned out better than we could have thought," she said, "A lot of vendors have used this to launch a lot of new products; we have had a few that were just bottled last week.
"We have so much in the Hunter Valley, and a lot of locals have never explored it.
"It's incredible. This is the first one and we're going to take a lot of feedback from it, but for the first one everyone has shown up, the weather has been perfect; it's really good."
