The wine tasting experience was disappointing as while I don't expect every winery to provide entertainment for my children, it was unfortunate that they were shoved onto a bench separate from the tasting pod. We bring colouring books etc with us when we visit cellar doors but there was no where for them to sit and do this. I'm sure you are aware that mums and dads are big consumers of wine and it would be in your best interest to provide a more family friendly experience. The tasting itself was fairly ordinary - the staff member doing our tasting was not hugely knowledgeable and it felt we were part of a production line rather than having a tasting experience. I don't understand the rationale for 'the pod'? As well as not being family friendly, I would also expect anyone with mobility problems to struggle with the seating arrangements as well. I expected better from such a reputable winery like Brokenwood. At the end of the day, a cellar door is about providing a positive experience - i can buy great wine anywhere - it's the experience that makes your brand memorable and unfortunately Brokenwood did not live up to the hype. With that said, the staff at The Cru where very kind and helpful and the food was lovely.

If you like big commercial cellar doors this one is for you. I knew what I am signing up for and got what I expected. Kind of production line tasting with a group of people served by on person, going through a predefined list of wines in a relative hurry to vacate the place for the next group. Having said that, the girl running the show was flexible, poured some extra wines when we asked and knew her stuff. There is $25 tasting fee, but refundable when you purchase $50 worth of wine. This was the highest tasting fee from any of the wineries and if it was not refundable, I'd say rip off. Since we always purchase wine it was not a problem. Another interesting thing about Brokenwood. A lot of their wines do not come from Hunter Valley and all that we purchased we either Vic or SA. Kind of disappointing since I like to drink regional wines, but this is true for most of the bigger wineries there.

Really nice afternoon spent trying a number of different wines with Oli who was attentive, knowledgable and friendly. Make sure you have organised a way to get home in advance if you aren’t driving- we thought Brokenwood would be able to organise us a taxi but they couldn’t so in the end one of their kind staff members (Alex) dropped us back to our hotel which was really appreciated. Thanks Alex!

One of the larger wineries in Polokbin. Gorgeous place to visit. Our server was great, very knowledgeable, and able to offer us so extra tastings that weren’t on the list, after finding out what we liked. The whole redeemable wine tasting was rather unclear and so we bought 2 bottles but because we only used one card, only got one of the tastings as redeemable. No conversation or mention about this at any point, despite us booking well in advance so beware.

After failing to get in during our last visit to The Hunter due to it being fully booked, we finally managed to get in this time and had a lovely experience. Our host was warm, welcoming and knowledgeable about all of the wines we were tasting. The wines themselves weren’t our favourites out of all of our Hunter Valley wine tastings, but that’s all down to personal preference. The winery is beautiful and the staff were lovely!