You're standing in the middle of Australia's most visited wine region, with more cellar doors per square kilometre than anywhere else in the country. The only question is where to start. That's exactly what Wine & Dine Hunter Valley is built for.

There are wineries that make good wine, and then there are wineries that make a place feel like home. Gartelmann Wines and The Deck Café Lovedale, huddled side by side along Lovedale Road in the heart of the Hunter Valley, have always been both, and as Gartelmann marks its 30th anniversary in 2026, the estate is doing so with the kind of quiet confidence that only comes from decades of doing things right.

Enjoy Winter culinary experiences in Wine Country with our Hunter Valley dining guide!

There are cafés that serve coffee, and then there are places that make you want to stay. Sidecar Roasters, on Maitland Street in Branxton, is firmly the latter. And in winter, it becomes something even more compelling.

There’s a particular kind of pleasure in arriving somewhere without expectation and leaving with the quiet certainty that you’ve discovered something just before everyone else does. Branxton is beginning to feel like that place.

There's something about a craft beer that tastes even better when there's a chill in the air. As the Hunter Valley settles into its cooler months, the vines stripped bare and the mornings sharp with frost, The Valley Brewhouse comes into its own as one of the region's most welcoming and characterful places to pull up a chair and linger a little longer.

There are plenty of reasons to linger in the Hunter Valley, but Sabor in the Hunter Dessert Bar gives you one of the sweetest.

Few names in the Hunter carry the weight of Ben Ean.

There’s something shifting in the heart of Pokolbin, and if you’ve visited Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort before, you might think you already know it. The sweeping golf course, the villas tucked into the hills, the long views across vines to the Brokenback Range, it’s always been one of the Hunter Valley’s most recognisable destinations.

There are places you visit, and places you keep coming back to. Hunter Valley Resort + Farm, on the corner of Hermitage Road and Mistletoe Lane in the heart of Pokolbin, has a way of becoming the latter.