Audrey Wilkinson, Hunter Valley — Attraction in Pokolbin

Please read if planning a wedding at Audrey Wilkinson's.

It has taken us a while to write this, but we have now gathered our thoughts and wanted to share our experience of having a wedding at Audrey Wilkinson's.

On the plus side, the view is stunning. Combined with a clear sunny day, the scenery is picturesque and will create memories to last a life time.

The negatives however lie with Audrey Wilkinson's staff and the many restrictions/requirements they have for those who want to get married at their venue. When we booked the venue we were informed that we would have to organise our own port-a-loo and a bus to transport guests to and from Audrey Wilkinson as guests are not permitted to park there.

Imagine our surprise then when we got to the venue on the day of our wedding to see that the winery was actually open to the public who were allowed to park there as they wished. Anyone was allowed to park there, except for those who are coming for our wedding, which was one of the most important days of our lives that we spent almost 2 years planning. With the cost of securing the venue, one would imagine we would have the tiniest bit of priority especially for parking.

Other very disappointing moments included the port-a-loo being placed behind the wedding arch (despite organising our wedding arch location with the venue months beforehand. No communication happened between the venue staff and port-a-loo company and it was to our surprise to see it there when we drove up from Sydney the day prior to our wedding. At that stage it was impossible to change its location. All our ceremony photos now have a bright blue toilet in the background). What made the situation worse was that Audrey staff told the mother of the bride she was not permitted to use the toilet inside the winery, because mum didn't want to cause a scene using the hired port-a-loo during the ceremony.

As we continued with our wedding ceremony we came across a short spell of absolute downpour, and whilst all the guests ran under cover to the small space on the side of the winery, the bridal party ran to Audrey's verandah to avoid ruining the big wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, hair and make up and the suits of the groom and groomsmen. Once we got to the verandah we were 'told off' by Audrey staff that we weren't allowed there which would mean we had to go back out into the pouring rain.

It was quite an upsetting experience in general, saved by the beautiful reception at Hunters Quarters. We certainly didn't expect Audrey Wilkinson's to close their winery just for us and for our wedding, but we honestly felt like second class to the general public there for wine tasting and were barely tolerated. The staff just couldn't care less for a day which had meant so much to us and we had spent nearly 2 years planning in advance.

I really don't want any one else's wedding day ruined, please bear our experience in mind if you are thinking to have a ceremony...

My wife and I booked the premium wine tasting and picnic experience. I was disappointed to be honest. It was a birthday treat for me from my wife. The wine tasting was 5/10. The lady who presented the wines was just basically reading off (memorized) the sheet infront of her, which was also infront of us in each table. So we could’ve just read that sheet and informed ourselves. Another tables asked her some questions and she did not know the answers, just general questions about the winery and the making process of some of the wines we tasted. We had 2 glasses for the 7 wines we tasted and after every pour there was no way to properly clean the glass. They did give us water and a spittoon to wash the glass of the old wine before the new. But there is always water in the glass no matter how much you try to get rid of. The 7 drinks totalled to roughly 1.5 glasses according to the lady. Which is roughly 30–35 ml per tasting. Add in 2-4 ml of water drops left in the glass after trying to wash the glass and the new wine poured is now roughly 10% water. I asked her to pour in a little bit of wine from the new wine to wash the glass and empty into the spittoon before actually tasting that wine (standard practice to wash away sediments, debris and flavour from old tastings left in the glass) but she said it is not necessary and to wash with water.

The picnic was good. Good views of the valley from where we sat and it was a nice and sunny day. The picnic was basket was...

A BUCKET LIST EXPERIENCE FOR WINE LOVERS

Audrey Wilkinson Wines is one of those jaw dropping places. I could sit and stare at the Autumnal colors of orange, red and brown across the vineyard all day. The Cellar Door sts upon a foot hill of the Brokenback Mountain Ranges. This experience started with a self-guided tour of the museum, followed by a master class and premium wine tasting from a wine expert. We tasted 10 premium wines, and learnt a lot about the grapes and region.

After the tasting you get to select a bottle of your choice to enjoy at your picnic! We chose the one of a kind Verdelho and couldn’t help but purchase 2 more bottles to take back to Sydney - the Chardonnay & Semillon we had tasted. Then you collect your picnic basket to enjoy your picnic amongst the vines of the stunning 270 acre property! The sun was setting for our picnic and we sat back relaxed and enjoyed the views of the brokenback mountain range. Our picnic hamper included a decadent picnic of meats, cheese & crackers.

Special mention to the incredible Liz, our wine expert who was so welcoming, knowledgeable and passionate about the vineyards, grapes and wine. Her presence was so calming throughout the whole experience - and to think you couldn’t be more relaxed already!

A truly magical experience and a must in the Hunter Valley. Cost: $85 pp. Definitely do the #audreyexperience when visiting...