Discovering New Zealand Wine March 24, 2011

Wine day! We walked about 2 miles to the Ferry Terminal for our trip to Waiheke
Island, a 40 minute boat ride from Auckland. A nice ride there with great views of the city as we were leaving. Waiheke Island is actually a part of the city of Auckland and many folks commute each day via ferry. We could see by the number of cars parked at the island ferry terminal that there would be a mini rush hour just getting to and from the ferry.

We were booked for a wine tour with Anada tours and Stuart was our driver/guide. He was very knowledgeable about the island and about wine. There are about 17 small vineyards on Waiheke producing award winning wines. Our first stop was at Kennedy Point, an organic winery. A small operation owned by two Americans from Hawaii. Their winemaker is shared with another small operation. He helps hand pick the grapes. The grapes were ready for harvesting this weekend but rain is forecasted, and that could cause problems. This year may not be a good year for wine, but the past three years were very good. We tasted several wines and olive and avocado oil as well.

Off to the next winery, Obsidian. This was even smaller than Kennedy Point and had lovely wines. We bought two bottles here. A note about our companions on this tour. Two Australian couples our age and three Chinese, a daughter who spoke beautiful English and her father and brother. The Australians were very knowledgeable about wines (oenophiles?). We ended up at the smallest vineyard, Jurassic Ridge. Bought a Pinot Grigio blush and a Cabernet Franc. The latter has been around forever as a grape, but always mixed with another grape to make wine. This vineyard specializes in single varietal wines. Uncle John, I learned a lot about wine today!

We had lunch in a little beach side town called Oneora. After lunch we walked down to the beach. The wind was blowing, but the water was warm. Back to the ferry for our trip to the city. Dinner at an Irish pub, the Bog. Beach towns are the same all over as are Irish pubs. I wonder if there is a supplier out there that specializes in furnishings for Irish pubs??