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Hello from Art Deco style Napier.
We have had a wonderful week on the East Coast, with gorgeous sunshine, architecture, food and drink. We should have an album up shortly so you can see how beautiful it is for yourselves. Being so far East we were treated to a stunning sunrise down from the beach, just five minutes from where we were staying.
Anyway, enough of that, what about the wine?
We went on a tour on Tuesday afternoon with 'Vince's Wine Tours.' Although Vince himself was not taking us, we had a lovely guide in Robert Simon, a Canadian who came over to New Zealand in '93 for a 5 week golfing holiday and never left. We were driven around Hawkes Bay's wine trail stopping at four very different vineyards.
First stop was New Zealand's oldest winery, Mission Estate (established by French settlers in the 1800's). Stunning vista's overlooking the vineyards and a beautiful period building make for quite the experience. We were treated to an array of wines, most notable was the 2010 Syrah Black Label (this being from their reserve range). Now that New Zealand is fully established as a wine making force, they are producing some great medium bodied reds in the French style.
Next up was Moana Park, NZ's only certified vegetarian winery. They are beyond organic and you can taste the care and attention in some of their more experimental wines. Top of the class was their 2010 Viognier. Not only is the wine making process as clean as possible, but this particular wine was made as if it was a red. The result is a strong floral aroma, tasting of rich peach whilst still being quite dry.
No. 3 was Salvare, another up and coming vineyard whose olive oil was as impressive as their Merlot. They are also producing a very tasty frozen wine, which would make for a delicious sorbet.
Finally we visited Ngatarawa, formally race horse stables, now a very picturesque vineyard with the cellar door being a stable door. Pick of the wines was probably one of their dessert wines. The Late Noble Harvest is made using grapes concentrated by botrytis (also known as 'the noble rot'). This fungus afflicts the grapes, concentrating the sugar content and making for a rather sweet treat.
Tomorrow we meet our next WWOOF host. A lovely brit named Paul who has promised to take us to the best lookout point in all Hawkes Bay as well as a chocolate factory.
Until next time,
Mike and Lou
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