Hope Estate Winery

Great concert venue but, you have to pay $35-00 for any bottle of wine, which at a winery might not be so bad (if it was good), but the wine is (to be as polite as possible) - bottled vinegar!
I have tried several and there is a consistent theme - are are all terrible!
The 'Champagne' had a beer bottle cap on it.
Not a good advertisement for a winery.
UPDATE
The review above was based on my experience from 3 different concerts. I have just recently been to a fourth, and I happy to report that the wine quality had improved. Maybe they listened, but I hope it wasn't just a 'one off' for that event.

Pop into hope estate for some good quality craft beers. I have been a fan of hope beers for quite some time. Good for a few good beers after lunch on a sunny day!

We booked Signature Dinner Packages 5 months ahead at $389 each: Platinum concert tickets, VIP parking, 4 course meal and 3 hr drinks pkg.

With "Platinum" as the marketing description our seats turned out to be B-reserve. Does Platinum = B-res in your books? A-Res seats were being sold for $150 in the week leading to the concert

Advised arrival was 3.00pm. We arrived at 2.30pm and the VIP parking was full. At the foot entry at that point there were just 4 other people in the VIP queue. Who was parked in the VIP parks?

They let us into the grounds at the same time as General Admission but the Attendant at the next checkpoint apologised that he couldn't let us into the VIP area as he hadn't been given a names list yet or wrist bands. We waited and watched GA attendees grabbing wine and food and setting up for their enjoyable afternoon. Ironic that the GA attendees were settling in, while the premium price customers were standing in a growing queue (50 or so metres deep). Eventually we are updated that they are not ready for us and we won't be let in for “some time".

2hrs after pulling into the carpark they are letting us in, but then it all stops. We are told that those who are attending the Signature Dinner have to move to another door .... 60 or 70 very unhappy people walk around the growingly crowded grounds to the new entry ... to be told by some very cranky staff that there is no way we are going in that door.... Eventually we are instructed to go back to where we started. On returning the poor Attendant confessed he had no idea what to do with us ... waited a bit and then made a decision to let us up .... As we walked through the door.. very late.. there were empty trays of champagne flutes, no table numbers and a mass of people descending from multiple doors .... it must have taken another 1/2 hour or more to sort through wrist-bands, tables etc ..... the champagne flutes never did get filled and poor staff were trying to play catch up all night.

Food just didn't come and with no idea how food or drinks were supposed to work, people piled to the bar. Apparently a VIP Package doesn't = drinks being brought to the table .... despite the trays of champagne flutes suggesting it had been in the plan to greet all with a cup of bubbles. Eventually another stressed staff member appears with a small tray of a bite of salmon on a biscuit. We all got 1, some even dared to take 2. Those in the bar queue missed out .. 15 minutes later a tray of oysters natural. I snared 3 of those given 2 people on our table didn't eat seafood. 10 minutes or so further in 1 bread roll (the little white ones you buy at Coles and throw in the oven .. $2 a pack of 8) . Finally some nice cold seafood arrives and we enjoy prawns, crab and bugs. - but nowhere to put the shell and no bowls of water, lemon etc ... the bowls, lemon and water are brought to the table about 5 minutes after the seafood has been finished and everyone has stashed cracked shell anywhere they could find and wiped hands on table cloths etc. The couple on the table that don't eat seafood asked if they could get more bread ... "sorry we have run out" .....

Right about now we can hear Birds of Tokyo start their set ........ we haven't even been served our main ..... eventually, the beef was great ... but accompanied by the tiniest single potato (smaller than a squashed ping pong ball), a couple of tough pieces of fungi and sauce to provide moisture for the first 3 bites .... and then a poor young staff member walked around the tables to apologise that everything had started late, but "they hoped we were having a great night" ...to compensate for the late start they were going to extend the drinks package for 1/2 hour .. the bands are already playing .. how can we stay inside for longer??

We abandoned the yet to be served dessert and headed out to catch the Oils deliver an almightily amazing performance.

NEVER buy a VIP package at Hope Estate.

Purchased the Brewhouse package for Midnight Oil, 21st October 2017. Package was advertised to include 3 hours of Hope Estate various beer, wine and sparkling wine options and substantial food with reserved seating at $399. Sounds good. Upon entry to the venue I was told by a staff member that he would be looking after us, taking orders and delivering our alcohol. Soon after this the venue manger approached us; advised the same and also that food platters would be presented to our table over three hours (1 hour of cold food, 1 hour of hot, then desserts). Sounds great. Unfortunately the reality was extremely disappointing. For the first 1 hour and 1/2 no one approached our table to take an order or bring any drinks. I needed to queue for up for up to 30 minutes to get a drink and was advised that only one drink could be provided per person in the queue. I saw a number of times patrons leaving, purchasing beer outside the venue and bringing them back for their groups. As for the food service this was even more pathetic. Over the entire 3 hours only 3 platters of food were presented to our group (no plates available so everyone only got only a few pieces of bite sized portions). Only 1 plate of hot food was presented ( a very tasty but singular lamb cutlet) and this only occurred as i complained to the venue manager a number of times. I have never experienced such poor organisation of similar catered events. I felt so sorry for staff and security. They were understaffed and provided no leadership or direction. There were so many patrons complaining. I saw one staff member crying after a discussion with a disgruntled customer. It was so poor when groups actually obtained some food there were cheers from surrounding areas and photos were taken as it deserved celebration. Absolute rubbish. I only read other reviews about previous similar events the day after my attendance. It appears what I experienced as been repeated on numerous occasions. Extremely poor organisation and service that I can only assume is because of either management incompetence or a deliberate measure to reduce costs. Talking to people from other more expensive packages they also experienced similar issues. Taking out the ticket price included in the Brewhouse Cocktail package, the $270 paid for the venue, food and alcohol was definitely not worth it. Don't waste your money! Buy a ticket to the concert only, pay for your drinks and food from the event outlets. As for Midnight Oil and Birds Of Tokyo - outstanding.

Midnight Oil VIP Package $400 a ticket should be used as a case study for the hospitality industry on what not to do.
This was a complete breakdown in resource planning and management. To be sold as a cocktail premium event only to watch people fighting over food and the odd drink that was served was disgusting. We waited for drinks and eventually joined the queue to wait half an hour to be served by the lone person manning the table to then be told only one drink per person. So consequently what was supposed to be a pleasant event with my wife was spent with each of us taking turns in trying to acquire something to eat or drink. Then we went to see the concert to find we were seated at the back behind the light tower (apparently no seating map is provided when you book, so this becomes blind choice )
I have never attended an event that is so poorly organised combined with a total lack of quality in service, food , venue and consequently will never attend a concert at this venue again or buy the products on offer.
Save your money and see the band of your choice at any other venue than this one.

Response from Reviewer

Denial , just not a river in Egypt

it seems that you have case of the trumps in which everyone else is wrong. By the amount of negative reviews here you are obviously not listening to your patrons or don't care or both. Like everyone else in the last 12 months I felt compelled to write a review as the experience your business offers is so terrible and causes great pain.

You would do better to not blame others for your failings and address the many criticisms made by other reviewers.

If the experience was great we would write and say how outstanding it is.

I did not witness any bad behaviour by patrons or anyone being escorted off the premises, what I witnessed was people starving and bereft of any service, which they had paid a hefty sum for.

Your response is disingenuous and I remain committed to not attending any event that is promoted by Hope Estate as i would never want risk repeating the same experience.

We stopped over at Hope for lunch, this was my Wife's second time here at Hope, the Wine is quite reasonable with some good drops on offer. Really nice grounds, we had lunch and enjoyed a Pizza with Salad outside in the sun with a gladd of Wine! Food was nothing amazing however it was nice and not overpriced which is not always easy to find in the Hunter! We like The Cracker and The Ripper!

Some of the best beer I have ever had! Love that new Raspberry Sour seasonal they have. I will be back again.

Great concert venue but, you have to pay $35-00 for any bottle of wine, which at a winery might not be so bad (if it was good), but the wine is (to be as polite as possible) - bottled vinegar!
I have tried several and there is a consistent theme - are are all terrible!
The 'Champagne' had a beer bottle cap on it.
Not a good advertisement for a winery.

Attended Hot Dub Wine Machine this past weekend. Staff were not able to open at 2pm as advertised because barricades, tables, scanners, armbands , contraband bins etc were not in place. Staff were all lovely but waiting for management to bring these items for set up, each one by one. So drawn out waiting process. Finally got into venue with the first act already started...Poor Sports performing her gig without a crowd. Festival advertised there were vegetarian, gluten free and vegan food options..As you weren't allowed to bring your own food in we trusted there would be vegan fare to enjoy. Unfortunately no. Extremely disappointed and hungry for the event, just eating potato chips for the afternoon and evening. Toilets were woefully too few, lines extremely long and slow. Water for hand washing ran out in the toilets, so that was a concern. Very drunk people kept trying to get in the waiting lines ahead of the patient people, causing near fights. Festival goers were overall young and very drunk, arriving tipsy due to drinking outside before entering the venue. This made for a few unpleasant experiences with vomiting witnessed often, males urinating on building walls ( up at the main winery building near the food stalls )in front of security. Ambulances arrived throughout the event to take people to hospital. Police in attendance was appreciated. A couple of passed out people whom we attended to while help was called for. No entertainment between acts, boring actually. Way too much alcohol but it is a winery. Ground turned to mud making for people falling over in the mosh pit a minute by minute occurrence. I'm sure there were a few sore bodies the next day as a result. You can't control the weather of course. It's beyond me why anyone would want their winery trashed to such a degree...But must be worth it financially. We won't be back, too disorganised despite staff all being friendly, helpful and patient. The head female security guard out the front of the mosh pit was brilliant, worked hard the whole time and kept the male guards up to speed with safety concerns. Pay her more, she was brilliant.