Some of the oldest vines in the Hunter Valley were planted in 1924 around the village of Fordwich. Pokolbin, located in the "Lower Hunter Valley", is the centre of the Hunter Valley wine country, which claims to be Australia's oldest wine region. It is located between the towns of Cessnock and Branxton, about west of Newcastle. The wine country is primarily located within the Cessnock and Singleton LGAs. Its proximity to Sydney has been an influence on the area's investments in wine production and its emergence as a tourist destination. The Broke Fordwich area is located along the Hunter River tributary of the Wollombi Brook near the suburb of and was founded in 1830 by Major Thomas Mitchell who named the region after his fellow Napoleonic War veteran Sir Charles Broke-Vere.