History

Viticulture in the Hunter Valley is considered to have commenced with James Busby. He brought over cuttings of European wines in the 1830s and established what was probably the first vineyard in the district.
 
The Drayton family then established a vineyard at Pokolbin around the late 1850s and the Tyrrells Estate was set up in 1859 and produced the first batch of wine in 1864.
It was not really until the 1960s that the wine industry of the Lower Hunter Valley really began to boom due to the closure of local mining operations.

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