Professor Robert Lusby (AM), to give him his full title, was a pioneering vascular surgeon based at Sydney University and Concord Hospital, Sydney. In the early nineties he and his family purchased a property on Hermitage Road, Pokolbin, Hunter Valley (Tintilla Estate) and set about producing wines in homage to the Europeans, especially the Tuscans and Burgundians, who had shown the way to integrate family, wine and food.
Now “retired”, Bob, pursues his passion for wine and food living full time in the Hunter Valley. Bob’s passion for wine is not only in the making and drinking of it, but also in the history of how Australian Wines and in particular the Hunter Valley Wines came to be and continue to be some of the best wines in the world. Bob’s Blog tells that story.
Around Hermitage in Pokolbin, Hunter Valley There are many areas within the wine regions of the world that have unique characteristics that contribute to their regions. The Around Hermitage precinct of the Pokolbin sub-region in the Hunter has developed in such a manner. Other precincts include the Parish of Pokolbin, Central Pokolbin, and Lovedale. This…
Address by Emeritus Professor Robert Lusby AM, Chair National Centre for Veterans Health care Working Party Sandakan Memorial Burwood Sunday 4th August 2019 When asked to speak at this ceremony in memory of the infamous Sandakan Death March, the words of a song sung by Roy Orbison came to mind There won’t be many coming…
I was a little surprised to read in the excellent Forbes magazine Laura Parker interview with Jo Thomas, of the Hunter Valley Wine Tourism Association, how little recognition there appeared to be in Laura’s view, of the Hunter Valley wine region within Australia. Laura Parker did, however, title the article “Australia’s Hunter Valley is the…
We are fortunate that the Hunter wine industry grew from the enthusiasm of pioneers who were inheritors of the mindset of the age of enlightenment. They formed the Hunter River Vineyard Association in 1847 with a view to exchanging ideas and experience, acknowledging they came from a country devoid of a wine-growing culture. That is…
The dawn service at Branxton this ANZAC Day saw a record number of people present for the rising of the sun around the war memorial Rotunda. A brief service set at the time when men left the trenches to advance on the enemy. A brass band accompanied comforting hymns to remember the lives of those…
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I often think the patchwork nature, small holdings, and landscape of the Pokolbin and Broke Fordwich wine subregions is similar to Burgundy. Indeed there is a move afoot to get Heritage recognition for some of the old vineyards that have survived and, given that we are a phylloxera free area, these vines are unique growing…
I recently was given a rather special gift by Professor Mathew Vadas AO of the Centenary Institute in Sydney, which Tintilla wines have supported for over a decade, it was a hand blown wine pourer of an impressive size! It got me thinking about how we serve our wines and of course the influence of…
Not enjoying the humidity that comes with a Hunter Summer? Well, you may not know it, but the vines are – not so much the risk of mildew infection, which we spray to avoid, but the protection the humidity gives them stopping them from drying out and shriveling. One key reason the enhanced flavours from…
At a recent family celebration, I opened a bottle of Grand Cru Classe wine bought in Saint Emilion back in 1979! It was a Tertre Daugay 1964 and to our great surprise, it was still a very sound wine with those wonderful characteristics of an aged Merlot. Now you probably haven’t heard of this wine…
More than meets the eye; Interment and Beyond. Bob’s Blog – Heritage Cairn Rothbury Cemetery We recently went to an important event in the Rothbury, Wilderness Road Cemetery, not a place I would normally hang about in. However, it was a gathering of people from the Hunter wine growing community present to see the unveiling…