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.
We live in “interesting times” is a quote often mentioned to explain the challenges we face today. Yet it seems to me we live in a time when communities are breaking down and the support that comes with often evaporating. So how lucky are we in the Hunter wine and tourism industry to have a…
We had just arrived at the war-torn Kigali Central Hospital, to join the Australian Medical Support Force, being the second Australian Medical Specialist rotation. Walking down the corridor I was introduced to a young boy with a serious problem. ”We have been keeping him for your arrival, Sir,” the young medical Officer said. He had…
It has been said that what people eat and drink reflects their culture and is emblematic of their country. “Throw another prawn on the barbie” in many ways reflects the easy-going Australian, nature but what we drink has undergone many changes over the years. Our Hunter pioneers, Busby and Lindeman, advocated wine as the way…
Recently Neal Crisford, producer of “Cooking for the Many” a film about Australia’s first cookbook published in 1864, asked me what they would be drinking back then. Now this book was aimed at “the upper 10,000” as well as the “many” so it is fair to guess this largely British colony was following in the…
The settlement of Australia which has received some controversial attention recently was a striking departure from previous patterns of European colonization. Much of the philosophy behind the move to NSW came from the lessons of the Enlightenment, intent on building a new settlement differently. Based on humane principles it was in effect an experiment applying…
“The moving finger writes, and having written moves on. Nor all thy piety nor all thy wit, can cancel half a line of it” “Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Brough, a Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse – and Thou beside me singing in the Wilderness – And Wilderness is Paradise…
Wine-Tourism Hunter as I like to call it, rather than the longer version, Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association (HVWTA…not to be confused with LB…..) in association with the Cessnock and Singleton Councils ( The Alliance …so to speak) have just announced reaching the $300,000 fundraising pledges target to mount a major marketing campaign with Destination…
Pokolbin 50 years on…”and the rest is history” AROUND HERMITAGE POKOLBIN HUNTER VALLEY·WEDNESDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2018 Having a quiet drink and pizza at Peter Drayton’s new Brewhouse on a Friday evening I was pleasantly surprised to be given a copy of the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miner’s Advocate, May 1967. This had been handed to…
We have all been there before experiencing a hot summer. Pokolbin is said to derive its name from the Hungarian Pokol which means purgatory or hell. Early European vinedressers who made their way here in the 1840/50s thought the summers were “Hot as Hell”. A theory expressed in Max Lakes book Hunter Wine Makers based…
Not surprisingly most of us who enjoy good food also love a good bottle of wine to go with it. Sometimes we have the opportunity of having extended experiences of enjoying the two over a long lunch or dinner. Our local Legends Lunch, organized by Ian Napier, is held at a number of Pokolbin restaurants…