Are there any Hunter Valley horse-riding tours?

Murchessons Horseback Wine & Dine tours runs Hunter Valley horse-riding tours. These include breakfast at Voco Kirkton Park and wine-tasting at the Iron Gate Estate in Pokolbin

Detailed answer: Wine-lovers can debate endlessly whether it’s better to self-drive through a wine region or take a wine tour. But one option rarely considered is seeing wineries on horseback.

Let’s face it, there are several good reasons for this. But if you want to do something rather different in the Hunter Valley near Sydney in New South Wales, your steed awaits.

Hunter Valley horse-riding tours head through the vineyards and olive groves around Pokolbin, the hub village of the Hunter Valley. They’re run by Murchessons Horseback Wine & Dine Tours, and based at the Hanging Tree Winery.

Hunter Valley horse-riding tours: Morning or afternoon?

There are two options – morning Hunter Valley horse-riding tours or an afternoon outing. Both cost $230. The afternoon tour is not offered in summer due to the heat, and it lasts three hours, with two wine-tastings. The morning tour beats the heat by leaving at 7.30am. It lasts roughly four hours and has around 45 minutes of wine-tasting at the end.

Hunter Valley horse-riding-tour Pokolbin — Couple enjoying a Hunter Valley horse-riding tour at Hanging Tree Wines, Pokolbin with Murchessons Horse Wine & Dine Tours. Photo copyright Destination NSW.

The morning tour starts at 7.30am with introductions to the horses. There’s then a 45 minute breakfast at Voco Kirkton Park before the main ride through the vineyards towards the Iron Gate Estate. Here, there’s a VIP wine-tasting experience conducted at the Tuscan-style cellar door.

This is, frankly, a better bet, because there isn’t an awful lot else to do in the Hunter Valley in the mornings. Unless you want to take a Hunter Valley hot air balloon tour, that is.

Go horse-riding in the morning, however, and then you can spend the afternoon on a wine tour or visiting the craft breweries of the Hunter Valley.

Should the Hunter Valley horse-riding tours give you a taste for riding, Murchessons also offers private lessons for $80 an hour.