Catherine Vale Vineyard

The day had come - we finally found work in Australias hunter valley, famous for wine and the birthplace of Shiraz. A vineyard finally called us back when they decided the grapes were ripe for the picking. For us it was high time we roll up our sleeves, put a few hard days work in, and replenish some of our funds spent on the car, gas and barbecues.

Normally picking around here doesn’t start until Australia Day (26 Jan). But it was such hot weather in 2009 that most people thought the harvest would be mid earlier this year. Then there was 'heaps' of rain in December and the sugar levels dropped a bit, so picking was set back a full week.

It was not at all easy finding a job picking grapes in the Hunter Valley. In truth, I couldn't believe we found a vineyard like Catherine Vale that still existed. Most of the larger operations we found were either streamlined modern or tacky fairytale properties. We had enquired about work at one very polished estate. The American girl greeting us was so enthusiastic she tried to guess our reason for dropping by, "Table reservation? Tasting!? Private function?? ...Wedding!!!?"We started slowly walking backwards out the door. One vineyard even had a festival stage for the upcoming Tom Jones concert on its lawn.

Catherine Vale

We narrowed the search to the smaller properties from then on, but the outlook was pretty bleak. One owner laughed at my search for an old-fashioned vineyard that would pay hard working travellers cash in hand. These days were long gone she said. Tax inspectors come in regularly now. They even park outside taking photos of license plates.

Cellar Door and the Lawson family house, formerly the Old Uniting Church Manse in Singleton until Bill and Wendy moved it from no 1 Church street in 1993 and re-assembled it here.

But where had the true romance of winemaking disappeared to? It seems that traditional corks aren't the only things that have disappeared in Australia. I was defeated and now just in need of a practical way to buy wine for camping. She laughed again at the question for where one could buy re-fill wine at a discount like the plastic containers you buy in France. How old fashioned - this was done away with years ago. Un-sealed bottles were against all health and safety government guidelines.

The Cellar Door

We were therefore incredibly lucky to arrive at Catherine Vale. Bill and Wendy offered to let us stay in their amazing cellar door, which is actually more of a banquet hall in a unique country church. That night Wendy had us over for a roast chicken, with potatoes, stuffing and a salad on the side. We couldn’t explain how good this tasted after a few weeks of canned chili and makeshift pasta. Bill and Wendy have created their vineyard from scratch. They even moved the house from nearby singleton, and rebuilt here on their beautiful hunter valley property. Unfortunately Bill told us how the Australian wine industry is in a depressing decline at the moment due to a massive oversupply. Steph and I were also very interested to learn how they built their dream of vineyard from the ground up, and also how their four children are now have lived all over the world.

We woke up in the mornings with a sunrise view over the vines, and happily sat reading on the terrace in the evenings. The cellar door also had an industrial kitchen for catering that we used to cook up a few meals.

It's fair to say that our grape picking arrangement was more of luxury wine holiday retreat so far...