[6] The wine-making history of Hunter Valley begins with the European settlement of the Sydney and the New South Wales region of Australia in the late 18th century as a penal colony of the British Empire.

[6] Land prospector John Howe cut a path through the Australian wilderness from Sydney up to the overland area in what is now known as the (Lower) Hunter Valley proper in 1820.

Today, the modern Putty Road between the cities of Windsor and Singleton follows Howe's exact path and is a major thoroughfare for wine tourists coming into the Hunter Valley from Sydney.

[7] The expansive growth of the Hunter Valley wine industry in the mid to late 19th century arose from its monopoly position in the lucrative Sydney market.

This temporarily produced an up-tick in plantings but the global Great Depression as well as a series of devastating hail storms between 1929 and 1930 caused many growers to abandon their vineyards.

[4] The Permian rocks in the central and southeastern expanse of the Lower Hunter Valley were formed when the area was underneath a shallow marine estuary.

The remnants of this period has left an extensive network of coal seams that fuelled the early population boom of the Hunter Valley in the 19th century as well a high degree of salinity in the water table of much of the area.

[9] Overall, the Hunter Valley has more soils (mostly hard, acidic patches of poorly draining heavy clay) that are unsuitable for viticulture than they have areas that are ideal for growing grapes.

Among the hills of the Brokenback range are strips of volcanic basalt that are prized by growers for their tendencies to restrict vigor and concentrate mineral flavours in the grapes.

The origins of the river begin the Liverpool Range of the volcanic Barrington Tops and flows south and then east down to the Pacific Ocean at the seaport city of Newcastle.

Hunter Water Corporation's dams supply the large urban population of more than 500,000 living near the coast and centred on the cities of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.

[11][12] In addition to the dams, fresh water for the lower Hunter Region is supplied from the Tomago Sandbeds, via a series of bores.

The climate of Hunter Valley is humid subtropical, similar to the Greater Western Sydney region, with distinctive maritime influences from the Pacific Ocean.

[13] With its northerly latitude and close oceanic influences, the Hunter Valley is one of Australia's hottest and wettest wine regions.

Flanked by mountains to the west and north the Hunter Valley acts as a funnel, pulling cool ocean breezes into the area.

Electricity generation at the Eraring, Bayswater, Liddell, Munmorah, Redbank and Vales Point coal-fired power stations is a major industry of the region.

Commonly known as "Wine Country",[19] the Hunter Valley is a major tourist destination in New South Wales and is the 6th most visited place in Australia attracting more than 2.5 million people annually.

The Broke Fordwich area is located along the Hunter River tributary of the Wollombi Brook near the suburb of Pokolbin and was founded in 1830 by Major Thomas Mitchell who named the region after his fellow Napoleonic War veteran Sir Charles Broke-Vere.

Much of the rolling countryside around Pokolbin is under vine and has a large number of vineyards, restaurants, shops, golf courses and country guesthouses.