Tyrrell's — Attraction in Pokolbin

If you see my profile, you will see I don’t often post bad reviews. I also know that the difference between 5 and 2 stars is significant…so here is our experience from today:

We were recommended this spot by several people as having decent wines and we were quite excited to visit.

We turned up at around 13:20 and, as we walked in, we saw the sign that indicated there were specific tasting times, at which the next one was 13:45. We were told that that sitting was fully booked but if we fancied a fast tasting, we could do that before 13:45. Sounds great! We really appreciated being accommodated like this.

What followed was a whistle stop pouring of 5 whites followed by 5 reds. Can’t argue with the number of wines we got to taste at all. Our issue was that the man pouring our wines seemed in an incredible hurry to pour our wines and set us off drinking, but had 0 interest in sharing any information that took longer than the time it took to pour the 5 wines. Of course, we knew we signed up for a fast tasting but it felt completely impersonal and cold. We could hear other guests being given a much more informative and careful description during their tastings.

We dutifully sped through our tastings. About halfway through the reds we were asked “do you have any questions?”. Normally, I have many questions during these lovely tasting sessions but in this case I felt so bamboozled that I just said no and carried on with the wines.

At 13:45 the other tasters had arrived for their sessions and there was still plenty of space for us in our 2 seats. At which point we were told “everyone is now here for their sessions so you don’t need to rush at all anymore, would you like to try anything else?”…after we had just rushed through 10 wines with minimal description when we didn’t actually need to rush at all? We politely declined and heard “great, that means I can go for lunch” which really gave us an understanding of what was going on.

We did enjoy many of the wines that we tried and, as pictured, decided to buy 3 semillon and 2 Shiraz. We handed the paper over and were given the helpful tip “if you buy six I can give you a discount”. We liked the sound of that and upped our count to 3 Shiraz, 6 bottles total.

We left the winery and my partner and I agreed that we felt agitated by the whole experience which was totally at odds with every other tasting we had done. Had that been the end of the story, I think I would have left a 3 star review as, in comparison to every other tasting experience we had in Hunter Vally (6 other wineries), Tyrell’s fell well short. However, we got home this evening to open the box we purchased and find 6 Shiraz instead of the 3 semillon and 3 Shiraz we had asked for.

For me this final detail demonstrates the rush and lack of attention we received at the winery. We had such a pleasant experience everywhere else and therefore I can honestly say I would not recommend this winery to anyone looking for a pleasant and informative...

We only had three days in the Hunter Valley staying at the Mercure.

First afternoon we saw Tyrrells so in we went. Not experienced wine cellar tasters so didn’t know what to expect.

There was only one other couple there. Out came the chap who instantly started nattering away as if he’d never met a Scottish couple before. I wish he’d told us his name but he was a terrific bloke who told us all about the wines they have (obviously very proud of them). He went though about 12 different wines - Nine whites and three reds (as I’m not keen on reds). They all HAD TO BE from his vineyard in the Hunter as it’s pointless otherwise.

The wines ranged from an excellent Verdelho for $25 up to a truly wonderful one for $65. Chardonnays tried and not too oaky. Also Semillon which appears to be the main white grown in the Hunter.

The last wines we tried were three different reds, eg Pinot Noir, Shiraz and a Pinot Noir Shiraz blend which cost $65. He asked us and the other couple to guess the percentage of Pinot noir to Shiraz. Both us males guessed closest and we were presented a prize of Slim Dusty’s greatest hits... the wives got two cds each... joking.

The other three vineyards we went to the following day didn’t even come close to Tyrrells and we were a tad surprised that two of them (Ben Ean and Brokenwood charged $5 and $10 respectively for tasting.

Preferred the Tyrrells Verdelho as it is great so lashed out for two bottles.

Cost? Absolutely nothing at all. We were there for about 20 minutes and throughly enjoyed it thanks to the relaxed talk to the...

Always enjoyed visiting Tyrells. Quite like how old the buildings are and how long they have been in the Hunter. We enjoy the wines too. But a bit of a strange visit on the 16/7. Called in before heading back to Sydney. We were asked if we wanted to taste some wines but said no too early in the morning.(plus we know the wines) We just wanted to see what wines were available. We wanted local and one side seemed to be from interstate, which we were not interested in. The otherside which were local we were told were supermarket wines... the man was serving two people who seemed to be having a taste of a $100.00 bottle of whatever. He seemed to be put out that we didn't do a tasting & secondly we bought wines from the supermarket side. Quite an amusing attitude seeing Tyrells probably makes the majority of their money from those sales. Quite a disappointing visit. After the many times we have been there and always had such a nice time. Even shown around by Murray Tyrell years ago... who was interested in his customers. Ps not much point having a wine tasting when you are driving.. and who should be on the road out of Polkolbin the police doing breath testing.... Better luck on our next...