Hunter Valley cooking and wine schools teach pupils how to appreciate fine wines and prepare meals that will leave your neighbours at home green with envy. There are a number of activities that celebrate the wonderful cuisine and wine the valley is known for.
The Hunter Valley Cooking School at Pokolbin’s Hunter Resort runs half-day courses with master-chef Phillip Collis providing professional tuition. Participants learn how to create three-course meals using organic produce from local farms.
There is a minimum requirement of eight students for each class. People learn to prepare culinary masterpieces such as tagine of lamb, Peking roast duck and veal tortellini. People on the courses get to eat their own creations.
Cooking classes held at Majors Lane Cooking School in Lovedale tutor budding chefs on how to produce the mouth-watering tastes of Asia’s finest gastronomy from ingredients sourced in the valley.
Recommended Good Food Guide chef Ben Sales oversees while learners try their hands at dishes from Szechuan, Thailand and Vietnam. Courses do not run every day, but individual participants are welcome.
Tuscany Wine Estate Resort and the Sandalyn Wilderness Estate are two other Hunter Valley Cooking and Wine Schools options. Instructors at Sandalyn teach the art of making fresh pasta and sushi. Wine-making experts at the Hunter Valley Wine School walk visitors the through the estate’s vineyards and into the cellar. En route, people learn all about grape varieties and cultivation, blending and the wine-making process.
Wine School Australia stages two-hour wine appreciation tutorials at Harrigan’s Irish Pub in Pokolbin. Again, people learn about the qualities of each grape genre and wine producing techniques as well as the skills of detecting the different bouquets and palates.
The Hunter Resort offers taster lectures which comprise a short video detailing how wine is made followed by a talk on how to recognise the innate quality of a wine.