News

Fireside Tasting Made Easy

Our Fireside tasting is one of our favourite events. It's a great chance to rug up & get cosy by the fire whilst enjoying a few of our new release, & to be released wines with some great local produce.

The event runs from 4.30pm to 6pm, leaving plenty of time to:

• finish your day with dinner 
• start with a leisurely long lunch
• stay in the valley for the weekend

To help you make the most of this opportunity we thought we'd share a few suggestions for our favourite places to dine and stay:

DINING

The Deck Cafe 

If you've been to our stomp! event you'll have experienced Chef Matt Dillow's delicious cuisine. Matt owns local Restaurant The Deck Cafe in Lovedale. The Cafe offers a "tappas" style menu, is uniquely situated on a deck overlooking the dam and young forest bushland. It is an experience to remember with local chefs and staff cooking and serving cafe favourites with a Hunter Valley fine-dining twist.

Jimmy Joans

One of the newer kids in the neighbourhood and located at the other end of Wilderness Rd, Lovedale is Jimmy Joans. The relaxing bar and restaurant menu offers a range of casual snacks, share style main courses and gastro pub classics paired with local wines and creative cocktails.

ACCOMODATION

There are so many options when it comes to accomodation in the valley. From large hotels with all the services, whistles and bells, to unique cottage accomodation tucked away in the trees. We'd highly recommend winecountry.com.au to give an overview of the range of options available.

Bluebush Estate 

Located a little further along Wilderness Road & nearby to Jimmy Joans, Bluebush offers a range of different cottages & houses. Set amongst the vines they offer options for couples through to larger groups.

Tuckers Lane Boutique Accomodation

If you are looking for something unique, with five star inclusions, Tucker's Boutique Accomodation is the Hunter's only luxury shipping container accommodation, designed to pamper adults. Their one and two bedroom cabins will surround you in the sights and sounds of nature. It will be hard to decide whether to stay and immerse yourself in the setting, or to explore further afield.

Chateau Elan at The Vintage

Offering all the services you'd expect in a resort, including restaurants, pool, spa and luxury accomodation, and  located across road from our Cellar Door (but too far to walk in the darkness of night), is Chateau Elan at The Vintage. Also located within The Vintage precinct is a range of amazing homes available for short stays through The Vintage Holiday Houses. If you you'd like a hit of golf the following day, these are two perfect options.

MAKING THE MOST OF THE EVENT

TIP 1. Our tasting will be outdoors, fireside, so rug up. Wear your scarves, beanies and winter woolies.

TIP 2. It will be a little smokey. It's hard to have open fires without a little smoke, especially when you are up close toasting marshmallows, so you will go home with a reminder of an evening by the fire.

TIP 3. This is great opportunity to stock your cellar and fridge with some wines and cheeses to recreate a Fireside Experience at home with family and friends.

TIP 4. Not already a stomp! wine club member? Join now & receive Member's event and wine pricing, and receive six bottles of wine of your chosing, delivered to your door three times per year.

TIP 5. Our experience from past events is that our guests use the Fireside Tasting as a great excuse to gather friends and visit the valley. To avoid disappointment and to make the most of your visit make sure you book your tickets, accomodation and restaurants well in advance.

We can't wait to see you in July. Book your tickets here.

Stomp! 2023 - a snapshot from the day's fun

Our Stomp! 2023 was a day of fun as our winemaking apprentices squished, blended, stomped, sang, dined and, of course, wined their way through the day.

The 2023 vintage was hailed a success by our winemaking teams as they blended a red ready to spend some time in barrel. 

With healthy competition from the teams throughout the day, "You had me at Merlot" won our best Winemaking Apprentices of the day, with Savvy Brazels not far behind.

To nourish the workers throughout the day they were catered to by Chef Matt Dillow & his team from The Deck Cafe. We enjoyed pairings of Salmon Bruschetta with our 2021 Semillon & 2022 Fiano, and Crackled Pork with Peach & Raisin Relish served with our guests choice of Chardonnay, Rose, Merlot or Shiraz. Oh yeah, and dessert to die for - Rhubarb Frangipani Tart with Sotally Tober. 

A fun introduction to the day (and something that will be highly encouraged in future years) was handing the microphone to the teams so they could describe their blend, the marketing and thinking behind their wine (encouraging us to point them the highest scoring for their wine); recite a witty poem or to sing a ditty in hope of being awarded additional points.

Michael and I love meeting new apprentices, welcoming back past guests and joining in the fun and diversity that each year brings to stomp!

Our 2024 event is locked in for Saturday 9th March. With limited tickets available, we highly recommend gathering your friends and booking a table now.

BOOK NOW

See you in 2024 for more stomping good times.

Wine & Pottery

Pottery in the Vines, Saturday 1st October

Session 1 - 10am - 1pm
Session 2  -  2pm - 5pm
$150pp

BOOK HERE

In this hands-on experience you will enjoy a tasting of our wines accompanied with a Binnorie Dairy cheese plate - all whilst making a variety of your very own keepsake pottery table and serving ware (mugs, little bowls and plates).

During this workshop, you will learn how to design your own pottery pieces using slab or pinching techniques and then decorate by carving, slip painting and/or stamping. The pieces will be taken back to Hunter Valley Ceramics Studio to be glazed and fired ready for pick up (or postage) approx. 3-4 weeks from workshop.

Included in the workshop:

• Stomp! Wine tasting
• Binnorie Dairy cheese plate
• Clay
• Use of tools
• Instruction on how to achieve your individual design
• Glaze firing

BOOK HERE

  Limited spaces available

Why Stomp?

When Michael and I decided to start our business we wanted to make sure we remained true to ourselves and ensure the values we hold dear shone through.  We wanted our new venture, including its name, to reflect a little of ourselves.

So how did we come upon the name Stomp?

Just before entering the slightly scary world of self-employment, we were taking our children on a family holiday through country Victoria. I challenged myself to name our business before returning home. This proved harder than it seemed! Every night I’d sit with a glass of wine brainstorming. By the time we returned home I had a very long list of names. Sadly, all a little obvious… boring… blah…

The week Michael was finishing his employment with Tamburlaine our new business remained nameless. That was until one night I awoke with an epiphany… what about Stomp! As in, stomping on grapes to make wine. Michael tested the name on a few work colleagues. They loved it. Finally, we had a quirky name that suited us.

Aside from the obvious connection to traditional winemaking, our name reflects a little of ourselves.

Personally, grace was not given to me when I was born. In fact, I’ve never forgotten my first house mate exclaiming one morning, “for someone so slight you sure do stomp in the mornings!” Oops… I’ve always been heavy footed.

Michael and I are also quite determined. We did not come from a family of winemakers and we have not inherited a family winemaking business. All we have today has come from sheer hard work and determination.

Early in his 30’s when Michael was deliberating a major career change and the prospect of being a winemaker, we decided to give it a go. Why die wondering was our logic? Try it and if doesn’t work move on… We only have one life. We want to move through it purposely, stomping with attitude. Hence, not only our name, but also our tagline - live it… love it… stomp!

Vegan Friendly Wines

Over the last couple of years, we’ve experienced more demand for Vegan Friendly wines. To date we’ve not had any to offer, as throughout the winemaking process we use fining agents derived from animal products. But we have been listening and working on a solution. Michael’s been busy in the winery trialling non animal based alternatives – one’s which don’t compromise the quality or flavour of the wines you love. The good news is, we’ve finally found one, derived from the humble pea and potato! Drum roll… we now have some Vegan Friendly wines:

Stomp! Limited Release 2021Sauvignon Blanc
Stomp! Limited Release 2021 Fiano
Stomp! 2021 Chardonnay
Pssst ‘n’ Broke Sotally Tober

Why do we fine our wines, anyway?

Fining is basically like filtering a wine. Without this process our wines would be cloudy and contain floating particles (proteins, tartrates, tannins and phenolics). These can be detrimental to the flavour, texture or colour of our wines.

Traditionally the industry has used fining agents derived from animals. The most effective we’ve found are egg whites and skim milk. Although for a while there has been ways to fine our wine without animal products, Michael has not been happy with the compromise it’s made to the flavour of our wines. Now completely happy we’re not compromising our quality we’re very pleased to be able to satisfy our Vegan fans!

We're Coming Home With You!

Missing the interaction, education and fun of a wine tasting experience in our cellar door? Looking for a way to celebrate a special occasion whilst still remaining at home? Order one of our Zoom Tasting Experiences and we'll come to you, live. Stay home and we'll deliver wines to your door and have a fun, informative, hands-on tasting experience.  

Experiences will take place via Zoom, Saturday evenings 7pm - 8pm, with half hour extra question time if needed. You will be hosted by one of our expert team who'll share knowledge of all wines received -  discussing the varietal, its history, production methods, and best bit, how to taste like a pro and get the most out of drinking our gorgeous wines - temperature to serve and foods to serve with. 

Joining us is as easy as one, two, three:

1. Choose your experience according to your wine taste:

• Bubbles & Sweet Wine
• ​Classic Dry Wine 
• Halliday 95 Point Shiraz 

2. Book your pack online:

Remember to leave plenty of time for our extremely busy couriers to get to you. We suggest approximately 10 days to ensure delivery. 

3. Join us via Zoom. 

Simples!  What are you waiting for?  Join us for your next online celebration or boredom buster!

MORE DETAILS HERE

Stomp 2021 - What a day!

We can't wait for our annual Stomp! It never seems to come around quick enough... 

We've put together a picture of the day to show you why. 

Thank you to everyone that joined us, participated with such enthusiasm and yet again made the day so much fun.

We hosted members, visitors and friends...

The competition was fierce, with The Grape Escape being the winning team of the day ...

The food and wine were amazing - even if we do say so ourselves. Thank you to chef, Matt Dillow & his team at The Deck Cafe...

The stomping was undertaken with great vigour and loads of laughs....

From Michael, Alyssa & I - thank you for joining us in 2021. We hope to see you on 5th March 2022.
 

Doodle, Discover, inDulge...

We're thrilled to be collaborating with local artist, Rowena Henderson, to bring you an afternoon of mindful doodling and an in depth wine tasting, whilst feasting on local produce.

Join us as we:

DOODLE the day away with mindful pattern making and designs, creating your own mindful masterpiece
DISCOVER your favourite stomp! wine
inDULGE in locally crafted cheeses & the most DIVINE cupcakes

Participants will learn how to relax with the rhythm and flow of doodling and pattern making, creating an artwork to take home.

No experience needed, bring an open mind, the desire to relax, enjoy, learn & have fun.

DETAILS:

Saturday 29th May
1pm - 4pm
$120pp inclusive of art session, guided wine tasting, locally produced Binnorie cheese platter and divine cupcakes from The Valley Cake Company. You'll even take home your own framed doodle art & a few tools of the trade to keep you doodlin' at home.

Numbers are capped at 8!

BOOK NOW.

A Stomp Wine and Rowena Henderson Art collaboration.
Bookings essential, numbers VERY limited.
Participants must be 18years+
 

Semillon & Seafood

Perfect Partners

Stomp Semillon and...

Prawn Linguine

500g green prawns
Linguine or spaghetti
Rocket – 1 handful
Butter – 50g
Parmesan – block, shaved
1 lemon
Garlic – 2 tablespoons minced
Chilli or Stomp Chilli Jam – 1 tsp or to taste

Method:

Cook the pasta in salty water to your taste.
Peel the prawns. Leave the tails on.
Heat butter in the pan. Add garlic and chilli until sizzling. Squeeze over half the lemon juice. Add prawns and cook on high heat, tossing frequently.
Tear rocket and stir through cooked pasta until wilted.
Add prawns and pan juices.
Shave over parmesan.
Squeeze the other half of lemon over your dish, garnish with some herbs or edible flowers from your garden and serve with Stomp Semillon. Perfection!

 

Wine Diamonds

Have you ever heard of anyone finding clear glass like crystals in the bottom of their wine glass or bottle? Perhaps you've even found them yourself?

Don't panic, you've not found glass, you've found tartrate crystals or what winemakers sometimes term 'wine diamonds'.

Let me explain... Both tartaric acid and potassium are naturally found in grapes. During the winemaking process they bind to form a compound called potassium bitartrate. This is the same as cream of tartar used in your cooking at home.

Potassium bitartrate can become unstable at cold temperatures and can sometimes form clear, glass like crystals in wine. These crystals or 'wine diamonds' are perfectly harmless and if ingested will cause no ill effect, possibly only a slight grittiness on the tongue. 

Although harmless, many winemakers, including ourselves, cold stabilise their wines. This process drops the temperature of the wine close to freezing for 3-4 days causing the crystals to separate from the wine and stick to the sides of the tank. We then drain the wine from the tank, leaving the tartrate crystals behind and hopefully preventing tartrate dropout. The process is not 100% foolproof and sometimes tartrates are left behind and can crystallise in the bottle at cold temperatures.

Tartrate crystals are more likely to be seen in white wines as opposed to reds because we generally don't chill reds.

So, if you ever find crystals in the bottom of your glass of wine, smile to yourself and count yourself lucky - you've found diamonds!