Port Stephens Part 2

So on Sunday, we woke up early (well, not too early... lol), but we had to be ready to go at nine on the bus. We got yelled at by our tour guide since there were kids from a different uni that held ridiculous parties. Almost every hotel room checked out early because of the excessive noise level for a second night in a row. In any case, our first stop was around 10:30 at a winery called McGuigan's. They had a really cool set up and wine tasting area. I brought my Little Black Book of Wine (courtesy of my best friend Bethie Hinds) and did my research. The top three grapes grown in the Hunter Valley are Semillion, Chardonnay, Shiraz, and Verdelhoo (which is a grape I'm not familiar with - it comes from Portugal). Nothing stood out except a strange slightly sparkling Shiraz (which is what we normally call Syrah). After that, we went across the street to Tempus Two, which was a beautiful building. Once again, nothing stood out except a two fantastic aged Ports (we had a lot of Ports and dessert wines). I'm actually maturing into someone who really enjoys a nice Port, which is interesting to me at least. After grabbing lunch, we drove about 20 minutes away to Drayton's. There I had a wine that really stood out for me. We had a nice moscato, but our wine expert said it was their number two seller. We asked him what the number one seller was and it was called the Tickled Pink, which had a beautiful crispness after the flabby moscato, and sure enough, that was the only wine that impressed me and I purchased during the day. After Drayton's, the rain was still going, and we stopped at the Great Grape for liquor tasting. We had butterscotch schnapps and strange liquors, but we had this incredible one called Dragon's Breath. It was hot pepper schnapps, and it scalded your throat, but it what was incredible was how much I enjoyed it. I almost bought it, but it seemed like too peculiar for any one else I know to enjoy something like that. Truly though, it was something special.

After the bus ride home, we went to the Cahrity Shield, which is the opening rugby game of the season. I don't quite understand rugby, but it was fun despite the incessant drizzling. Oh well. It was a fun day after all.