This Hunter Valley winery restaurant has fortified its position as one of the best in the country – and we’re not just talking wine country. If you’re looking for big, bold flavours with a silky smooth finish, skip the semillion and the shiraz and go instead for a degustation at EXP., which captures the region’s terroir just as well as anything in a bottle.

The intimate dining room is home to locally made sawn-log tables, but it’s a seat at the spotted gum bar that you want. Adjacent to the pass, it’s close enough to watch each dish getting spritzed by chef-owner Frank Fawkner, who interacts with the guests like another diner at the table. First up is a jersey milk haloumi sauced in a grenobloise of burned butter and capers, with a twisted wire tool to tackle it with. Then, a vermillion fillet of Petuna ocean trout with a lightly frothed bisque, and a perfect paunch of lamb belly, lacquered in sweet lamb caramel and saddled with a celeriac mille feuille and paper-thin radish. Faulkner reinvents the cheese course with a Pyengana cheddar brûlée, which sees creamy quenelles of curd finished with brandy snap-like lids, as well as bubbled crumpets smeared with Shadows of Blue. Not just a country stopover, this destination restaurant warrants a trip of its own.