Enjoy an epicurean break in Mudgee

“Welcome to Burgundy”, says winemaker Richard De Beaurepaire, while walking us around his vineyard outside the Central NSW country town of Rylstone. “Here, we’ve got the same soil structure, the same alkalinity, climate and temperature range as the great vineyards of Burgundy, where wine is the liquid expression of the land,” says De Beaurepaire, who settled on the region in 1998 when he had the revelation the limestone-enriched location and cool climate would allow him to produce the terroir-driven wines that lean into his French heritage. After an immersive guided Vigneron Experience with De Beaurepaire, we gather for a tasting led by his daughter, Amanda, in the cellar door housed in 170-year-old stables. We also get a taste of the terroir at Lowe Family Wine Co, an hour’s drive away in Mudgee, where vines have been threaded onto the property, like dainty needlework, since 1973. The sprawling Tinja family property now includes a tiered lawn bar, award-winning restaurant, Zin House (below right), and rustic cellar door (above). Our food-and-wine-focused tour of the region also includes a visit to Three Tails Brewery and Smokehouse, housed in a heritage building in Mudgee (the town’s original post office), yum cha at 29 nine 99 on the cobblestoned main strip of Rylstone, and a five-course Warakirri Dining Experience at Indigiearth that showcases native ingredients found on Wiradjuri lands. DISTANCE: The drive from Sydney to Mudgee takes roughly three and a half hours; from Mudgee to Rylstone is 40 minutes. Seek out eco-friendly accommodation at Strikes STAY: Mudgee (below left), Glenayr Farm and Evamor Valley.