Gloucester River Vineyard
18 June 2024 / Story by Robert Emmett, Photos by Barry Luttrell and Denise Birrell
After a previous day of overcast skies and rain in the Hunter ,Sunday morning was crisp and sunny as fourteen (14) cars and twenty five (25) members gathered at Hungry Jacks car park Beresfield .
After the usual run down as to what is expected of members on club outings (runs) it was time to climb into the cabins of our magic machines . A radio check was carried out and the role called, just like we were back in school. This practice is to make sure no one is left behind when we move off .
Moving out of the car park and heading towards Newcastle for a short distance and turning off and passing through Woodberry then towards Raymond Terrace and on to the Seaham Road heading for Clarence Town and our morning tea stop . On arrival at the Lions park because of the rain the previous day the parking area appeared to be a sea of mud ,but it turned out to be quite firm so after parking a BYO morning cuppa and another chat was enjoyed . These morning tea chats are non-fattening so all participants join in on them . After this pleasant interlude we travelled the short distance across country to join the Buckets Way heading towards Gloucester and out final destination Gloucester River Wines . Buckets Way apart from the beautiful rolling green hills and the densely tree covered range you pass through some parts of the country that played important role in the forming our country . We passed through Stroud once part of a 1 million acre property granted to the AA Company (Australian Agriculture Company ) around 1824 . Many of the Old buildings pertaining to the AA company still stand and on the town Lookout the remains of Two (2) underground Grain storage silos can be seen . The 1 million acre property stretched from Port Stephens to the Manning River on which Taree is located . As we pushed on, we passed through the small village of Wards River as the Over Night XPT flashed by in the opposite direction heading for its next stop in Maitland . The next village on route was Stratford which does stand on a river called the Avon but it is possibly not the Stratford on Avon that usually comes to mind .
On wards we went and just outside of Gloucester a Left turn was preformed and a short distance down the road a right turn to take us to the Winery . Once more the rain the day before made parking in the grounds of the winery difficult so most cars were parked along the road side . Being a very quiet country road this wasn’t a problem .
We were greeted by John the owner of the small 30 acre holding (Winery come hobby farm) and shown the Wine making facilities and the bottled product . Moving from the shed to the residence veranda table and chairs were set out to accommodate our group . Everyone had been issued with a glass for wine tasting before moving on to the veranda , cheese boards were set out on tables and wine tasting began. Whilst the different wines were poured and tasted Johns wife who I didn’t catch her name bought freshly baked loaves of bread with small bowls of olive oil to dip the bread and plates of cut up sausages were laid on each table . What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon . Of course most of the wine tasted was rolled around the pallet and spat out as its usually done on wine tasting adventures .
After wine tasting had concluded we were lead up to the top of the slope the winery is located on to a barb wire fence where a large Murray Grey Bull and a number Murray Grey Cows and their calves plus two Alpackers were waiting to be feed . John the owner has loaves of stale bread on hand and everyone gets to feed the animals .
After a most pleasant day out we each made our own way home . Once again it’s a Great Big Thanks to Glenn and Denice for arranging the day just another one of many arranged by them . Once more I would thank all members of our group for their company on these outings.
