Art Deco'd Napier & the Wonderful Vineyards

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Made our way through the streets of Wellington for the route to Napier. Great double laned highway that we came one car away from being nailed in a radar trap. We were to see the major difference between the North and South Island as we made the day's road trip. Here, you pass through a town every 10 minutes and everything slows down but in the South, you pass through a town every hour. At this rate, it would take us forever to get to Napier. I started to long for the wide open pastures and mountains. There was intermitten rain and decent wind gusts among the grey clouds and pointy brown hills ran along the highway. Soon we were along the coast and lots of road construction. The Tasman Sea was pretty calm even with the wind and had the same jagged coastline as we had seen in the South Island. After this point, we started seeing less and less town which was a blessing to our driving time and also made for much nicer views. We were now driving along the Tararua Range, not the grandeur of the Southern Alps, but still stunning. They were covered in a dense, dark green forest and the later gave way to a more sparsely covered ground. The land below the range was farmland and it became hillier the farther we drove.

The wind really picked up and we were being knocked around like a rag doll. At first I thought it may blow the black clouds I now saw away but quickly realized it was pushing the storm towards us. I could see a blanket of rain sweeping across the countryside and the mountains were quickly disappearing. As we turned down the highway we were suddenly met with a huge rainbow. We could see it all from end to end and hoped it was a sign of good weather coming. We pushed on, driving over branches and other debris victims to the harsh wind. Passing by us on our right werre giant wind mills used to generate power. They were shadows on the mountainside through the low cloud and look eerie in their slow motion oscilation. It was raining now which was lousy timing as we were coming up on a Gorge (the sign for it along made me nervous, it was compounded after I saw a sign that said "road open"). They should have called this Gorge from Hell. It was a steep, winding road where the edge barely had a shoulder and only a flimsy metal rail to stop you from plunging into the river far below. It was raining hard now and getting dark. I could feel my body edging towards the center of the car, getting as far away from the window (and the view straight down) as possible. That was the longest 10 minutes of my life.... We switched driving shortly after that and lucky me, I got to drive in the dark. There are zero street lights and high beams are the best way to see the road ahead. At least it stopped raining so I didnt have the jammer I expected to have. Got in late to Napier and afte checking in to our cute little motel, we drove down the street for some highly recommended Thai food. It was excellent and we went back for some well deserved rest as we had booked a wine tour for the next day.

Don, our guide for the day, picked us at 10am sharp. Looked like it was more of a private tour as we were the only people on it until noon as two others were joining us then. Lucky for us though, Don was a great guy and guide and we set off for our first winery. We decided the old "it's afternoon somewhere in the world" was going to get us off the hook for starting wine tasting a 10:30 in the morning....it was going to be a long day!! Before we went to our first stop, Don took us through the town on a quick tour and told us about its history. There was a massive earthquake in the 1930's that destroyed most buildings and killed over 200 people. From this disaster, the earth rose and ended up gifting them ten thousand hectares of land, which is what most of the town (and vineyards) is built on. Without this land, Napier would be nothing like it is today. Also, because everything needed to be rebuilt at the same time (in the 30's), almost all buildings have the Art Deco facades. What a lovely town with so much character. We were glad we had booked an extra night at the motel as we were anxious to explore the town the next day. We also traveled along the Marine Parade (the street along the shoreline) and Don explained all the monuments and structures built here. He wasnt originally from Napier, but you could tell how much he loved it by his descriptions and stories.

First winery was Brookfields and it turned out to be our favourite. We were greeted by Sharon whose husband is the wine maker. She was a fantastic host and have us heaps of tips and info on wine. They had a lovely brick tasting room and she had a bunch of wines ready for us to try. Whites tasted were: Sav Blanc, 2005/2006 Chardonnay, Viognier (my first try and really liked it). Reds: Malbec (another first for me and Sharon paired it with a piece of dark chocolate...amazing!!, Syrah, and their Gold Label Cab Merlot. You could really tell the difference between the smokiness of the French and American oak barrels used in the last two reds. There is a lack of the Pinot Noirs that we had seen in the South Island as the temperature here is not good for that grape. They are very famous for their Chardonnay's in the North. One thing brought up was how people (and restaurants) greatly overchill their white wines. The ones we tested were more at room temp (they werent warm by any means) and you really could taste the wine, not the coldness. We are so used to white wine being so cold, this really showed us what we are missing as far as flavour goes. We were here for at least an hour and I could have easily stayed longer to listen to Sharon's great stories. But, we had lots more places to go....

Back on the road to Park Estate. What a bad stop. Our hostess was more interested in catching up with her sister in law then to talk to us about the wine. Don ended up doing all the talking which worked out well. This was also our first try of fruit wine and she poured us a taste of their Kiwi fruit one. There are no grapes in this, just fruit and we both really enjoyed it. We later tried a Bosenberry one as well. The rest of the wines tasted were not that great especially the Pinotage. We werent there for very long and headed towards lunch at a Chocolate Factory. Very good food but we werent able to tour the factory as we were already late in picking up the other couple joining us for the afternoon. Off we went to the bus depot and picked up an older couple from Ireland. Very nice people, he didnt drink so he spent his time chatting with Don while his wife tasted with us.

Church Road was our next stop and the hostess there was great. Very busy place with lots of people tasting. Whites included: Pinot Gris (Kerry's new fav), Chardonnay, their Reserve Chardonnay, Lim. Cuve Series Sav Blanc and Sav Blanc. We are starting to feel like we can tell the difference between the Whites and are hoping when we're sober, we'll still remember it. Reds: Cuve Series Syrah, Malbec & Cab Sav and Reserve Merlot Cab. We finally got to taste dessert wines which included Virtu Noble Semillon (there version of ice wine) and Noble Semillon. I actually really enjoyed these sweet thick wines. I asked the new addition to our tastings (I cant remember her name) and she commented on how she was used to drinking her whites colder and wasnt too keen on these temperatures.

Off now to Mission Estates, a vineyard orginally started by monks. The building heritage building was originally down the road but moved due to contant flooding. It is popular for weddings and is booked at least a year ahead. Stunning grounds as well. You can walk out onto the veranda and look at vineyard as far as the eye can see. Inside, we were set up for our tasting by a lovely lady (cant remember her name). Whites: Reisling, Pinto Gris, Sav Blanc, Chardonnay. Reds: Merlot and Cab Merlot. I think our Irish friend is now well into her cups as she is really liking the Whites now!! Tried their ice wine as well which was very nice. Walked outside for abit to enjoy the view while our companion went off to find a cup of coffee (hmmm.....). Don was also telling us that Mission Estate also hosts an annual summer concert that brings in some major talent. Supposed to be a great event as the venue is superb and obviously, the drinks served are fantastic. They create a special label wine for each year (except the year Clapton performed as he is a recovering alchoholic and wouldnt support it being made). On the road again.

Last vineyard in the tour was Moana Park. Our host was a young lad who was going to school to further his career in wine. They are the only wine that does not use animal products. I actually didnt know animal products were used in wine. It was really quiet there and we were the only people tasting. As we tasted, Don set up a platter of bread, cheeses and assorted chutneys. I wish we could have stayed longer as the food was fantastic, especially paired with the wine. We tasted the usual wines as with the other stops as well as their ice wine. Don was in a hurry to leave so we could stay on schedule.

Our final visit today was to a Cider House and by this point, I dont even remember the name of it...... It was great to try something other than wine and we picked out all the different beers and ciders we wanted to try. I ended up buying a small bottle of their famous Ginger Beer (actually, I didnt realize at the time it was alcohol free) which I enjoyed the next day. Very nice people there but we didnt stick around too long. Don dropped us back at the motel and as we were in no condition to drive, ordered a pizza for dinner! We thought at the time that it was the best pizza we'd ever tasted.

It was a good thing we booked the extra day as it would not have made for fun driving. Not that we were hung over as we drank over an 7 hour period the day before, it was just nice to have a lazy day. It started out sunny as we drove to town and of course started raining as soon as we got out of the car. Wandering around the town was great as the Art Deco was fabulous and everywhere you looked. Had lunch at a busy cafe and spent some time on the internet. It was really starting to rain which was disappointing for our pictures. Took to most of the streets in the area as well as the beach but decided to head back to the room as we were getting soaked. That night took us to that Thai restaurant again and seeing as we had zero energy left, an early evening. We were checking out the next day to head to Taupo but thought if the weather was nice in the morning, we would head back to town to re-take some of our pictures.

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