Peregrine Winery, with
a snow-capped mountain
in the background.
Jim was recommended to us by Reid Wilson, who, with his wife, spent multiple months a few years ago touring New Zealand. From reading Reid's blog, it appears they spent most of their time in NZ going from winery to winery!
Wine tasting can be a barrel o' fun.
We were picked up at Muna Moke promptly at 11am on Monday morning, which allowed us to relax: me by blogging, Maddy by doing homework, and Carol by reading. (What kind of cruel country is Australia that they assign homework over spring break?!?!)
Wine tasting can be a barrel o' fun.
(In case you didn't get it the first time)
Jim is a very affable guy, and we chatted about wine, New Zealand overall, and his background as we drove the 30 minutes or so to the first winey -- Peregrine. It turns out Jim made the first wines at Peregrine -- it first produced in 2003. The building is beautiful -- with a very cool design, and the setting is breathtaking -- in a valley surrounded by mountains as far as the eye can see.
Candids are hard to swallow for some people.
Go here to read about the building design. Very cool. First we went into the glassed in barrel room, and then to the counter for the tasting. I am certainly NOT going to remember all the wines we tasted at all five wineries (yes, five, and Jim offered to take us to a 6th!).
Our guide, apparently
not expecting to have
his picture taken.
But, given that Central Otago produces a very small number of varietals -- Pinot Noir is the only red, and then there are Pinot Gris, Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Rose. A few wineries have their own special (white) wine. At each of the wineries, we got to taste multiple Pinots -- a Tuesday night wine, an estate, and a reserve at most.
People who know me think I'm a red wine snob -- I don't like whites. And, that's true -- I really don't! But, when in New Zealand, do as the Romans do, so I tasted the whites. Some were good, although I'm not suddenly becoming a white wine drinker!
We piled back in the van and rolled on to Cromwell, a town named by an Irishman to annoy the Brits. (Now, as an Irish American, that makes me proud! As a political consultant, I'm even more impressed -- doing something just because it annoys your historical enemies!).
Our next stop was at Aurum wines, a family winery in Cromwell. It's a very pretty setting -- and the tasting room was empty except for us. Lucie -- part of the husband-wife team of winemakers. Or maybe it is the son/daughter-in-law team? The website explains it all.
Lucie was our pourer -- after the bigger Peregrine winery, it was great to talk to someone who is invested in the business and a key part of the wine making operation. Lucie is from Burgundy, although she has little to no trace of a French accent. It's fortunate for the family that Pinot Noir is Burgundy, because she has been able to take what she knows from her home region and apply it in Central Otago. A true love story.
We bought the Madeleine Pinot, partly because it was excellent and partly because the name is similar to Madelyn, who happens to be with us on the trip! The subtle pressure she applied to buy a wine named similarly to her was too significant to overcome! The website notes that it is named after one of Lucie's two daughters -- the other one has a Pinot named after her too! While picking a wine based on a name is not a good reason, it is not a bad reason either. The key is, we got to taste it and appreciate it!
Next, we headed a short distance to the Wooing Tree tasting room. Yes -- three wineries before lunch!
The funny thing is -- Wooing Tree was the least visually appealing winery -- far from the hills/mountains. There were also a bunch of loud talkers in there (for a while at least), so that was disconcerting. It was hard to hear the young lady who was pouring for us. (Interestingly, the pourers at all five wineries were women.) However, I really enjoyed the wines. They had an unusual champagne-coloured wine called "Blondie" -- different than any white I had tasted before.
We bought a bottle at each of the wineries -- and last night (Tuesday night) we had the Wooing Tree Pinot Noir. It's probably my second favorite wine from the five wineries. Grapes are not the only thing grown in that area -- there are a lot of cherry trees (apparently that's where the money is now), as well as other fruit. I had to, of course, take a picture of the giant fruit that dominates the skyline.
The giant fruit. Needs a cherry!
The vineyard is the Wooing Tree.
We headed into Old Cromwell for lunch at a quaint Italian restaurant (is it really a travel blog written by someone in their middle age if they don't use the word "quaint" at least once?). Maddy and I each had a pizza, while Carol had the blue cod. We were all famished. It was quite relaxing sitting outside by Lake Dunstan. After three wineries, we all agreed that water was more than sufficient with lunch. After lunch, we walked around Old Cromwell for a few minutes. Of course, "Old" in New Zealand is younger than the eastern US -- on par with the American West. After so many of our trips having been to Europe since 2000, "old" certainly means different things in different parts of the world.
One problem the Nats had this season is
that they couldn't hit with ducks on the pond.
After lunch, we headed up country a bit, driving down a country road into Bannockburn, where we stopped at Felton Road winery. It was the most beautiful of the settings wineries so far. We bought a Riesling there -- Carol and Maddy really enjoyed the taste, and I was underwhelmed by the Pinot Noir. (Not sure if all NZers pronounce it this way, but Jim would say "Pinot are" when saying Pinot Noir.) Since the winery was elevated partway up Mt. Difficulty, we had beautiful views back into the valley.
Felton Road
Like many California wineries, Felton is owned by a multi-millionaire who made his money in some other line of work before buying the property and becoming a winemaker. Apparently that trend is starting to really escalate the cost of the land, so there are more and more dot com equivalent vineyard owners in Central Otago.
On the way out of Felton, we had to slow considerably for a flock of sheep that was coming down the country road. Sheep don't strike me as a bright animals, but they all shuffled over to avoid the van!
Our last stop (Jim offered us one more, but we declined) was Mt. Difficulty winery, also on the foothills of, yes, you guessed it, Mt. Difficulty. We had shared a bottle of Mt. Difficulty Pinot Noir (of course -- when in Otago, drink what the Otagians do!) each of the previous two nights, so it was fun to visit a winery whose product we knew we already liked.
Mt. Difficulty
Mt. Difficulty was the most dramatic setting of the five wineries, and they also seemed to have their sales act together the most. They sold verticals, or different packs of their single vineyard Pinots right there. Interestingly, we even got to taste a single vineyard Pinot that sells for $99 NZ (about $63 US). That's not the one we bought.
They have a beautiful restaurant and then a side area off the tasting room with plush chairs outside -- so we sat outside for a little bit before getting back in the van and heading home to Muna Moke.
Going off on a riff, it's interesting how expensive everything is in New Zealand. However, the American dollar is so strong that you have to do the conversion in your head to realize it is not that much different than what you would pay in the States. Except for petrol. Here it is $7.99 per gallon. Even with the favorable exchange rate it is $5.10 per gallon!
We returned pretty much the way we came, with a diversion to drive past some beautiful farms on the way out of the Bannockburn area. A bit past Peregrine, we stopped briefly at a Cheesery -- we still haven't tasted the cheese we bought (at Maddy's suggestion) there. It's in the fridge in our hotel room -- maybe we will have it with breakfast this morning before heading to Kaikoura.
Our haul for the day, with the Remarkables
in the background. Pretty, well, you know.
We returned too late to do much of anything except eat the leftovers from Pedro's House of Lamb (which was even better the second night after sitting in the lamb juice for 24 hours!) and sit by the fireplace. Another early to bed night for the 50-somethings. Maddy, as she has been doing, stayed up later for social media time, blog writing, and even some homework!
After five wineries, it's a good
thing we weren't going out.
A mellow evening was great.
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