The Orange Wine Festival has come a week early for a group of American wine writers and bloggers after a tour across the region showing off some of Orange's best food and wine.
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Each of the 10 writers have come to Orange off the back of the annual Wine Media Conference in the Hunter Valley, arriving in the colour city on Sunday for a three-day tour.
Tim Lemke, from Cincinnati, said it was a "beautiful region" but had heard very little about the region before coming but was impressed.
"The amount of Australian wine we get where I live in Ohio is quite limited as a wine writer and connoisseur I try and seek out some original things and discovery is part of the adventure," he said.
"The wines are quite elegant. I wanted to come here because of the high-altitude wines and what that brings and I haven't been disappointed."
Mr Lemke, who writes for cheapwineratings.com said the prices in Orange, while not bargain basement, were good for the quality of wine.
"I've been impressed with the pricing of the wine here ... they're very reasonable," he said.
He added the Shiraz in the region had suited his tastebuds.
"The Shiraz we tend to find in the US tends to be the Barossa Valley and for me it's too much and too intense and too inky and the type of Shiraz I've found in this area has really impressed me," he said.
He said most Americans thought of a different drop when talking about orange wines - namely referring to the apricot-coloured wine mixture where white wine grapes are fermented like red wine, but he was excited to find some orange wine at See Saw.
"He's doing experimental stuff and it's a little bit trendy in the US doing natural wines and can still be hard to find and the ones I find interesting and unique are like that and I was excited to find actual orange wines in Orange," Mr Lemke said.
"For the world to have this orange wine trend happening globally when you have an Orange region which isn't really found in orange vines per se, so that was an unexpected highlight."
The delegates visited wineries and restaurants such as Rowlee Wines, Angullong Wines Cellar Door, Philip Shaw Winery, Ross Hill and many more, and they also took the time to visit Millthorpe and other smaller villages around Orange.
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