The Hunter Valley is welcoming the return of an old friend, as the iconic Tower Lodge in Pokolbin re-opens as Spicers Tower Lodge from 1 July 2022. After a more than $6m renovation, you can now book an all-inclusive package and join visitors in the Basque-inspired Sebastian Restaurant.

Tower Estate and the luxury lodge accommodation first launched in 1999 as the love child of Australian wine legend Len Evans AO OBE and a coterie of high-profile mates. Their commitment to quality and the partners’ personal resources saw Tower Lodge win the global luxury lodge category at the World Luxury Hotel Awards in 2010.

The exclusive retreat is built in a modern Spanish mission style, featuring warm, earthy textures and colours that blend into the landscape. Handmade Mexican terracotta tiles line the floors, thick adobe-rendered walls that catch the sunset over the Brokenback Range. High ceilings to soak up the summer sun and open fireplaces keep you warm in winter.

Massive, ornate, late 19th century French coach-house doors give entry to the retreat’s central hub, an enclosed courtyard paved with limestone, circling a dramatic fountain pond. Cloistered walkways framed by timber beams disappear toward suites and a labyrinth of spaces to explore.

David Assef, Spicers Retreats Managing Director, loves the simple, robust design, and the spacious rooms and high ceilings, “We are honored to be the new custodians of this iconic property. Tower Lodge has a wonderfully earthy and natural design, it’s in harmony with the changing seasons around it, as the vines bud, flower and eventually drop their leaves for a winter display.”

Wonders experienced in intimacy

Spicers Tower Lodge is the third Spicers Retreat in the Pokolbin area, joining Spicers Vineyards Estate and Spicers Guesthouse. The trio spoil you for choice whether you’re planning a romantic getaway, an adventure with friends, inspiring business retreat or wedding among the vines.

The 14 rooms at Spicers Tower Lodge all feature a large bedroom, lounge, dressing room and gorgeous new bathtubs, and some host a private courtyard, open fireplace, or outdoor hot tub, from which to gaze across the lawns to the winery and vineyards in the distance.

Assef says, “Tower Lodge is something unique in the Hunter. There will never be design so personal or esoteric in the area again. Think of Morocco meeting Athens and going on holiday to Spain!”

Nourished by the landscape

Tower Lodge’s Sebastian Restaurant is inspired to the gastronomic destination of San Sebastian in Spain’s Basque country. The city is famous for its endless pintxos bars and world leading Michelin star restaurants, melding cosmopolitan flair with local traditions.

Although Basque cuisine is acknowledged among the world’s culinary treasures, its simple and unpretentious, healthy and hearty, with minimal use of spices and herbs.

Just as the Basque have an obsession with the finest locally sourced, seasonal produce from the native landscape of mountains, valleys and sea, so too Sebastian is a showcase of the Hunter region, sourcing many wild and foraged ingredients from the local area.

Sebastian offers a five-course set menu, which changes daily on a four-day cycle, with a different premium meat presented three ways as the main course each night. The winter ‘game and forest’ menu features trout, squab, roe deer and wild boar, prepared with a wealth of Basque-style and origin ingredients. Guests who stay longer than four days are treated to their own bespoke menu.

An amuse to begin could be a delicate balance of grilled oysters, Idiazabal cheese and finger limes, first courses include feta and Basque Pipparrak chili pepper bread, wild garlic and Txistorra butter, and second course on the right night will be koji-aged turbot, foraged wild lettuce, beurre blanc sauce and Yarra Valley trout roe, and a dessert of local sheep’s milk ice cream and berry compote.

Depending on the night, your main could include wild boar jowl and native gooseberries or roe deer tartar, beetroot and pungent flowers. As an example of the trio for mains, imagine in front of you squab breast cooked on vines and fermented wild Mountain Roger glace; squab rillette, pickled Mountain Roger flowers and native riberry; and squab consommé with chestnuts.

The Hunter region’s 200-year wine heritage is on full display at Tower Lodge, supported by iconic Spanish varietals, including Albariño, Tempranillo, Grenache and gently sparkling Txakoli with notes of apple and citrus, which dances on your palette as Sebastian’s flavours of Basque country fill your senses.

A vision for perfection

Spicers have secured Patrick Barrie as Spicers Tower Lodge’s General Manger, who joins them from the highly awarded Saffire Lodge in Tasmania’s spectacular Freycinet Peninsular.

Patrick well understands the needs of a regional luxury retreat, having been a manager at Hakuba Springs Hotel in a village in the Japanese Alps; the luxury Longitude 131° resort located adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park; and the Oatley family’s Qualia on Hamilton Island.

He also completed the Camino de Santiago trail in north east Spain, taking him more than a month and over 1,000kms, exploring the local Basque towns and food culture on foot, giving him an affinity for Sebastian Restaurant.

Fulfilling an inheritance

Tower Estate was Len Evan’s last business venture before he passed away in 2006, and a testament to his life as a pioneering, inspiring wine judge, ambassador, restaurateur and passionate entrepreneur.

“It’s essential we retain Evans’ vision for the estate, with an ambience and design that reflects the unique country style and a search for quality above all else,” explained Barrie.

“We have so much to thank Len Evans for,” Patrick says. “He arguably did more than any other one person to create our culture of wine appreciation in Australia.”

Evans was a playful, loud, and extravagant bon vivant, who wasn’t embarrassed to pursue and praise the world’s top wines, especially those from France, and in particular those from Burgundy and the prized wines of Domain Romani Conti.

It helped Tower Estate’s fortunes that investors over the years include British TV chef Rick Stein; previous co-owner of Rockpool Bar and Grill David Doyle; renowned Hunter winemaker Brian McGuigan; businessmen Andrew Banks; businessman and art collector Basil Sellers; and former News Limited boss Ken Cowley.

Alongside contemporary wine luminaries Brian Croser and James Halliday, Evans was a great educator who turned Australians into wine consumers by demystifying wine and encouraging higher standards in the domestic industry. He even had an entertaining, jargon-free wine column in The Australian Women's Weekly.

Room to be free

Spicers Tower Lodge is a place where you can celebrate and share the wonders of life. It’s ideal for intimate events and long, convivial days and nights enjoying some of the region’s finest cuisine and wine with friends, family and colleagues.

Every evening, the team at Tower Lodge hosts a food and beverage masterclass on a topic drawn from the things loved by Sebastian Restaurant: jamon, olives, cheese, sherry, vermouth, gin, and of course wine, and you can reserve a range of unique regional wine experiences in advance.

Enjoy the spacious lounge, bar, library, conference facilities and sauna and take full advantage of the carefully tended grounds that surround Tower Lodge, with games on the lawn like frisbee golf, croquet and kite flying, there’s even an archery range.

“There are so many outstanding spaces for our guests to enjoy, says Patrick. “There’s the underground cellar, gorgeous restaurant, a newly designed outdoor terrace with a fireplace, and a stunning pool area in an undercover courtyard, it’s a real treat on those warm Hunter Valley afternoons.”

“The Tower Suite with its roof top hot-tub looking over the vineyards is sure to be one of the most sort-after suites in Australia,” he says.

A style to savour

Located at the heart of Australia’s oldest wine region, Spicers Tower Lodge is lined on one side by vines and, on the other, a small creek among the gum trees. Nearby are some of the most iconic cellar doors the Hunter Valley has to offer.

Brokenwood’s new cellar door complex is the largest in the Hunter Valley and one of Australia’s First Families of Wine, Tyrrell’s, established in 1858, has a suite of tasting experiences that showcase their heritage vineyards and museum wines.

If you’d like some more vigorous activity, Tower Lodge has a short walk which starts and finishes at the property. Or you can grab a mountain bike and take a tour of beautiful Pokolbin, visit the Pokolbin Farm Shop for local produce or browse the delicious stalls at the Hunter Wine Country Markets.

The Hunter Valley offers a swag of options if you want to pursue adventures like hot air ballooning, a helicopter joy ride, or some rounds of golf at one of the three picturesque courses within half an hours’ drive from Tower Lodge. Spa Anise at nearby Spicers Vineyards Estate is an elegant day spa with two treatment rooms, each with private courtyards, and offers a mobile service to Tower Lodge.

Spicers Tower Lodge is your perfect romantic base to experience life and explore the delights of the Hunter Valley, tucked away along pretty country roads and enchanting scenery.

You will find Spicers Tower Lodge on the corner of Broke and Halls Roads; a two-hour drive from Sydney or one hour from Newcastle. Sydney Airport is 190km away, Newcastle Airport is 80km. Transfers are available upon request.