Broke Estate's rustic cottage.

Bocce at Catherine Vale.

POSTED: 18 APRIL 2011

Destination: Broke, Hunter Valley

Mike Smith enjoys his passport to the Hunter Valley’s ‘Little Bit of Italy’

If you love wine of the Italian variety, go for broke and head to Broke — in the NSW Hunter Valley.

This tiny community — population 400 — nestles on the western, often forgotten, edge of Australia’s oldest wine region and is a haven for nurturing vines of arneis, barbera and dolcetto among the valley’s more traditional semillon and shiraz varieties.

It’s not surprising that each year on one weekend in early April a group of the area’s estates join hands to open their grounds and cellars to celebrate a Little Bit of Italy festival.

Look out for the Italian national flag and you will find an estate serving up wood-fired pizza, antipasto plates, gelato and macchiato to accompany the wines at an event that promotes “a love of food, wine, family and fun”.

After collecting our “passport” and $5 wine glasses (for tastings) at a small stall across from the Broke village store, we set out on a mission to taste the fruits and various other fresh produce of the region — our first stop the Pickled and Pitted/Riverflats Estate on Wollombi Street.

Here, we are invited inside a small cottage to sample estate-grown award-winning olive oils, olives and a tantalising array of gourmet condiments, before or after a brew from the outdoors coffee cart.

“Come back later and you will be able to enjoy a wood-fired pizza ($10) and an Italian-style sausage in salsa ($6) while listening to live music,” insists the young storekeeper.

Outside the cottage is a small fruit-and-vegetable stand, tomatoes $5 a bag. Behind, in another room, are the overwhelming fragrances of a vast range of well-being products that would be at home in the bathroom or inside a plush day spa.

Bag packed with a few goodies, we take the short two-kilometre drive to Broke Estate, its focal point a rustic corrugated former barn which has been lovingly transformed into a cottage, complete with kitchen and stained-glass windows, and a wine tasting room.

Greeting us is the estate’s friendly farm dog Spot (he loves to bite moving tyres) and a young woman sporting a small python on her head and invitation to pat the pet snake, Max.

Sheltered from the sun under a large tree, we sit at a table and sample the fruits of the estate’s aged traditionally made wines while enjoying an antipasto plate of local and imported cheese, olives and meats ($24). Such is the greeting and warmth of day (clear, 25ºC), we find it difficult to leave the tranquil setting to continue the mission of having another stamp placed in the “passport”.

But we do, and a 10-minute drive along Milbrodale Road has us at Catherine Vale Vineyard, set on the side of a hill at Fordwich with a panoramic view of the Wollombi Brook valley and its rows of vines and clusters of gums.

Each year, a group of Croatian men join Italian counterparts for a keenly contested game of bocce while their families sit back and socialise in a large marquee, enjoying a wine or two, a dish of sausage panini from the barbecue and live music.

Tented market stalls fill the grounds, selling almost everything from art and craft to cheese and olives. Alongside the makeshift village, a cluster of Italian cars and motor cycles, children entertained by puppeteer Murphy.

Inside the polished, churchlike cellar door, coachloads of visitors congregate around the counter sampling the Italian varieties. The light and refreshing dolcetto proves particularly popular on such a beautiful sun-drenched autumn’s day.

On the return drive towards Broke, we turn off Milbrodale Road for the relatively new Margan Family Estate, buzzing as it always does on weekends, courtesy of a contemporary cellar door, the sampling of award-winning wines and the dining in the much sought-after restaurant, the cuisine Mediterranean inspired, the views of the valley equally enticing, especially for outdoor diners.

Some have pedalled bikes to reach the estate, others in small groups, many couples. An Italian menu has been created for the special weekend, matched with premium local and imported Italian wines. And, as expected, the atmosphere is relaxed.

Across the main road is Nightingale Wines cellar door, the adjacent restaurant, too, turning on impressive Italian fare, the guests entertained by live music.

Other estates, too, have Italian flags waving, including Whispering Brook with its al fresco celebration of great food and wine promotion, Mount Broke and a few more antipasto delicacies to accompany eight flavours of “authentic” gelato, Krinklewood Biodynamic Vineyard (cheese plates again a hot item) and Somerville Wines, sausage panini, espresso coffee and more live music to accompany the wine tasting.

Unfortunately, with so few hours in the day, we can’t visit all.

But on the drive back to our accommodation in Pokolbin, in the heart of the Hunter winegrowing region and a spectacular sunset across the lake’s waters from our two-bedroom villa at the Leisure Inn Pokolbin Hill, the music to That’s Amore continues to ring in the ears.

Max, the pet snake, at Broke Estate.

Fresh vegetables sold at Pickled and Pitted.

GETTING THERE

The village of Broke is a 15-minute drive west of Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley. To reach the Lower Hunter from Sydney is a two-hour drive north.

STAY

Accommodation ranges from bed-and-breakfast and guesthouse style to resorts/hotels and self-contained lodges, cottages and cabins — for varying tastes and budgets. The Leisure Inn Pokolbin Hill is centrally located close to Hunter Valley Gardens Village and has studio, one- and two-bedroom villa apartments with swimming pool, spa, games room, barbecue facilities and restaurant (02 4998 7000, www.leisureinnhotels.com). Chateau Elan at The Vintage is a more recent addition to the valley, overlooking The Vintage Golf Course, Rothbury. Accommodation ranges from themed suites to one- or two-bedroom villas. Also has a plush day spa with 17 treatment rooms (02 4998 2500, www.chateauelan.com.au). Lilies Cottage is a two-bedroom contemporary country house set over a private pond at Lovedale (02 4930 7335, www.lilies.com.au). In Broke/Fordwich is a sprinkling of country guesthouses, farm stays, homesteads, cottages and studios with delightful names as The Mews, Bonn Abbey, Glen Eden and The Dairy Vineyard (details, 1800 449 888, www.singletontourism.com.au).

ANNUAL EVENTS

Broke — Broke Village Fair (September), Spirit of the Vine wine festival (October), Folk in Broke (November), Little Bit of Italy festival (April).

Pokolbin/Lovedale — Lovedale Long Lunch (May), Hunter Valley Wine and Food Month (June), Chocolate Festival @ Hunter Valley Gardens (August), Hunter Valley Semillon and Seafood (October), Jazz in the Vines at Tyrrell’s Vineyards (October).

INFORMATION

Hunter Valley Wine Country, phone (02) 4990 0900, www.winecountry.com.au