Orange Wineries Oct 2020

 Orange being a cooler climate I believe we have a greater variety of white wines, which for me I am in favour of.  Like the Hunter the wineries are dotted all over the region, so you cover a lot of territory if you want to visit a lot of them...   We only tend to visit one or two wineries per day as that is enough for us.  On this trip we were in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, which meant you had to make a booking for most wine tastings due to number limits and another thing we notice is that wineries are now starting to charge.

Angullong Winery- Millthorpe

You cant visit Orange and not take a trip to the picturesque historic town of Millthorpe, and while there you can't not visit a winery. There are two in town Slow Wines and the one we visited Angullong.   They have their cellar door in an old bluestone cottage that was once the stables for the adjoining hotel.  This winery you definitely needed a booking as there is only room for 4 people inside.  Due to the inclement weather and tastings outside were out of the question.  We would say this one is a must-do as we really enjoyed the wines and the experience. We bought wine .... of course! and we didn't pay any tasting fee.

Philip Shaw Winery

This would be the prettiest winery we have visited here in Orange and another must-do if visiting this region.  As this is a popular winery I would recommend that you book. We chose the Koomooloo Taste & Plate experience, where for $20 you tasted not only the wines but other products from the region.  The wines were delicious but I also love the artwork they use on their labels.  Here you couldn't pick and choose the wines you wanted to taste, but if you ask and it is available they may give you a taste of another style that you prefer.  Your visit is not complete without a little wander around their beautiful grounds, obviously geared for weddings and other functions

    

De Salis Winery

There is always one winery that you think "oh we could have skipped that one" That was NOT De Salis, but leads to the story of how we got there.

 We had booked to go Mountain View Winery, But there was just something missing with the whole experience.  Was it the rain, the uninviting shed they put us in or the wine just wasn't as nice as the others that we had tasted.

 

Driving along feeling a little dejected, remember we don't do a lot of wineries in a day. Then we spotted a sign for De Salis and on impulse, we hung a left and drove the long driveway up the hill.  Greeted by the resident chickens we traipsed through the mud and hoped that they would let us gate crash without a booking. Maybe it was because it was the end of the day, someone didn't turn up or did they just say what the hell! and they showed up to our wine barrel. With a beautiful Italian fresco as a backdrop we tasted their delicious wines, do they charge, I don't know, but we did walk away with a couple of reds that we paid an obscene amount of money for.  

Orange August 2020

 Orange was a stop as part of our COVID NSW road trip.  There is just something about Orange.  Like the Hunter they make wine, like Mudgee, they make wine, but also there is more history associated with it.  Thanks to its cool climate, it revels in producing delicious Sav blanc's, chardonnays, shiraz and cab savs.

But it is just not just about the wines, beautiful heritage homes and buildings line the streets and then not long out of town you are surrounded by amazing landscapes.  Lots of small villages and towns with a unique character of their own are only a stone's throw away.

To say it is cold in August is an understatement and unfortunately with had rain to go with it... Although the deciduous trees still lay bare, the daffodils were in bloom adding a splash a colour to an otherwise dreary day.

All small towns have a memorial.

Court house

The information centre brings Orange into the 21st Century

The arts and culture

It was a whirlwind drive around the city to capture just a few photo's to prove that we were there, but it was a lucky find when we were running early for a winery visit that we decided to call into Cook Park, only cause it had a sign saying there was a craft shop. 

The gorgeous little stone cottage is nestled in this lovely garden that you expect to find in a country town. Within the cottage, you will find arts and crafts of all types made by the local community.  Knitwear, wooden items, jams, chutneys line the shelves, but it was hard to pass up the cookies, melting moments, slices and fruit cakes there were all on offer.  

The gardens were also a credit to the community, and you could see that once spring has sprung, so will the colours, making it a stunning place to visit.

During this trip, we stayed at the Town Square Motel.  It adjoins the Metropolitan Hotel.  Our room was comfortable and really we had nothing to fault. The room had recently been renovated and as long as it was quiet, warm and have hot showers, I am happy.

The downstairs of the pub had a lot of character and it had also been renovated.  We ate a meal at its Balcony Bistro and it was exactly what you would expect good pub food to be like.