ABOUT US
Thirsty Palette is a family owned vineyard located on the Claremont Estate in Lovedale, NSW.
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Lovedale: "The Heart of the Hunter"
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We cultivate a range of varietals including Shiraz, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet and the Hunter Valley's speciality Semillon.
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We like to believe all good wine is a work of art, the winemaker is the artist, the glass the canvas, the grapes the paint, and the vineyard is our palette.
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We love welcoming visitors to the Estate; whether its dropping in for a tasting at our Cellar Door while enjoying the views of the Brokenback Rage, staying in the main house Claremont Manor or one of our self-contained "tiny houses", or hosting your big day or special event.
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ABOUT
THE HUNTER VALLEY
Regarded as one of the most prestigious wine regions in Australia, The Hunter Valley is a couple of hours North West of Sydney and West of Newcastle in New South Wales and is the oldest wine producing region in the country.
The Wonnarua ("people of the hills and plains") were the first inhabitants of the (Coquun) Hunter Valley lived on and facilitated the land and who's territory stretched for 5,200 km2 across the Hunter west until The Great Dividing Range.
According to the Wonnarua dreamtime the Hunter Valley was created by the great spirit, Baime (Byamee). Before Baime there was nothing, everything was sleeping. Baime awoke and created everything, the mountains, plains, rivers and every living thing.
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There are over 2,600Ha of Vineyards in the region which generally has a warm and humid climate, we get a lot of wind from the sea and Thirsty Palette especially is known for its nice cooling breeze which counters the heat of summer, however that also means frequent rain and can lead to us struggling with humidity and rain during the harvest in some years... check out our Broken Man shiraz for more details.
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The region itself is renowned for Semillon and it is considered a World Benchmark wine for the variety. A hunter Semillon and Thirsty Palette is no exception is known to develop over a number of years, the key to ensuring a great Hunter Semillon is to pick the grapes early at a low sugar concentration and let the flavours develop in the bottle! the flavours will continue to develop for around 7 years before they have a sharp drop off.
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Other varieties of note for the region are Shiraz, the robust nature of the grape lends itself to the climate variety. The Hunter Valley was the first region to grow Chardonnay in Australia, we continue that tradition today. Modern styles of Hunter Chard range from lean and mineral through to full flavoured, richer styles... however we like to do things a little differently at Thirsty Palette.​​​​
