Cooking Classes Hunter Valley

The Hunter Valley's group cooking schools all sit in the wine country around Pokolbin and Lovedale, yet each puts a different kind of food on the bench. One rolls pasta among the vines, one smokes brisket in a covered courtyard, and one runs a teaching kitchen inside a farm resort with rooms on the same property.

At Hunter Valley Resort + Farm, on the corner of Hermitage Road and Mistletoe Lane, chef-led classes run in a purpose-built teaching kitchen and finish with lunch at the table. The 100-acre property adds candy making and pizza making workshops, so a group can mix and match, while grape stomping, a taproom, a bistro and 35 rooms keep the rest of the day on site.

Our Italian Table teaches at Nicita Estate on Mistletoe Lane: pasta made by hand, then eaten at a long table among the vines with biscotti and espresso. Classes stretch from a two-hour masterclass to a seven-course deluxe day, drinks are BYO, and private groups of up to 20 have the school to themselves from 12 bookings, From $155 per person. Majors Lane Cooking School in Lovedale cooks outdoors under cover – smoked brisket and ribs, Thai or Greek – for private groups of 6 to 18, with roughly three hours at the stove and then lunch with a drink, From $170 per person.

Matching a school to the group:

• Staying the night: Hunter Valley Resort + Farm, with rooms, a bistro and a taproom beside its kitchen.
• Pasta and a long table: Our Italian Table, with wine you bring yourselves.
• Smoke and spice: barbecue, Thai or Greek at Majors Lane Cooking School.
• Mixed appetites: candy, pizza and full cooking workshops side by side at the resort.

A class makes an easy anchor for a team building day or a hens party, with the afternoon still free for a cellar door.