This morning we woke to a very warm van. The sunshine is out and the sky is blue. What a great day this promises to be. We started with breakfast and meeting other travelers having their breakfast. One couple who are from England but have moved to New Zealand had lots of suggestions about places to go and see which Wes noted. We are learning more all the time and of course now that the weather is returning to seasonal normals we are wondering if we are going to the south island too soon. Oh well, decisions are made and plans are set.
We had planned to go to the Maritime Museum this morning but we had to be back here by 12:30 to go on the wine tour. Regardless we headed downtown thinking that we could at least see some of the museum in two hours. We got downtown and discovered two things, the museum is closed today and the beach is calling our name. So we went out to the beach and checked out the views and water. However, the beach is made up of smooth pebbles and small rocks with no sand. It is tough to walk in and fills the shoes quickly.
After we finished at the beach we decided that we should take a walk around downtown Napier and have a coffee. We have had very little coffee here since we generally drink tea. The coffee is expensive and often not to our liking. However, we both had a craving for coffee so we stopped by a shop and went for it. Wes had a long black and I had a strawberry mocha.
We really enjoyed this area since the street is basically cut off from traffic, people are walking around casually and there is a warm sun but with the light breeze not too hot or too cold. There are still Christmas decorations around since today and tomorrow are state holidays (to compensate for Christmas and Boxing Day being on the weekend) so the sales are going strong and people are shopping. I did find one store that had a little steam engine called Thomas the Steam Engine. I recognized it only because of some of the videos of my grandchildren.
We returned to the campgrounds in time to be picked up for the wine tour. Before I talk about the tour I should explain a few things about the wine industry in this area. On February 3, 1931, most of Napier was leveled by an earthquake. The collapses of buildings and the ensuing fires killed 258 people. The centre of the town was destroyed by the earthquake, and then this town was rebuilt in the Art Deco style popular at that time. Some 4000 hectares of today's Napier were undersea before the earthquake raised it up above sea level. The significance of this is that much of the wine vineyards are now growing on land that was raised by 7 feet because of the earthquake moving the land from below sea level to above sea level.
In terms of the vineyards and wineries there are over a hundred different wineries in the region so that means there are over 100 different wine labels. The oldest winery is called Mission Estate Winery. Mission Estate was established by French Missionaries in Hawke's Bay in 1851, where vines were planted to produce both sacramental and table wine and New Zealand's first winery was born. The first record of a commercial sale dates back to 1870 when a parcel of mostly dry reds was sold. The original location of the winery was in the valley but due to constant flooding the buildings was relocated up onto its current location overlooking the valley. The earthquake of 1931 destroyed only the sanctuary leaving the other buildings standing. At the door of the entrance is a bottle of wine from the late 1800’s which was discovered when they were doing some renovations. At this winery we tasted: Cabernet Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Noble Gewurtraminer.
After we left the Mission we went to Moana Park Winery but on the way we passed by a carving along the side of the road. There is a Institute of Technology college here and one of the courses offered is wood carving using standing tree stumps.
Moana Park Winery is noted as being the only winery with the vegetarian recognition in New Zealand since they do not use any animal by-products in the preparation and development of the wine. In addition they have the lowest possible content of sulphur in the wine possible. This family owned and run winery is very new with only 10 years of history but already has received notable mention and awards. We sat on a covered balcony and enjoyed the sampling of several wines. We sampled a Pinot Gris, Voignier, Chardonnay, Vine Gris (Rose), Pinot Noir, Merlot Melbac, Syrah, and a Late Harvest Muscat.
Our next stop on the wine tour was the Salvare Estate Winery which also was hosting the Hawke’s Bay Boutique Wine Makers festival today. This was very interesting since we had 11 different wineries represented but of course we only tasted the Salvare Estate wines. In addition to the wines there were samples of different cheeses and olive oils available. As part of our wine tour we were treated to a platter of breads, meats and cheeses which by now was very welcome. We all felt that the drinking of wine all afternoon without some form of food was not always wise. This area of the valley provided ideal soil for growing the Chardonnay grapes so our samples included oaked and unoaked Chardonnay, a merlot, a rose, a voignier and a syra. However one of the highlights for me was to sit at a bench beside the rows of grape vines and enjoy the sun and breeze while we sampled the wines. The antique Morris Oxford 4 was a treat to check out as well.
Finally we had to move on to the last winery of the day, Ngatarawa Estate Winery. The winery was developed on the lands that at one time was a race track. The winery and its cellar door are housed in old equestrian stables fronted by tranquil lily ponds and gardens. The history of the winery is very interesting and if you are interested I suggest you Google it. Needless to say it is a winery that has unique wines and is well known for the wines that we sampled. The interesting aspect of the labels of the wines is that they have pictures to indicate the best pairing with the food and wine. For wines that are labelled for resale the best way to identify them are the latitude and longitude descriptions on the labels. We sampled Chardonnay, Merlot Cabernet, Noble Harvest Riesling, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Syrah. We bought a Noble Harvest Riesling which is a dessert wine to take home.
By now we all were feeling really good having about 8 ounces of wine at each place.
We returned back to the campsite ready for dinner and an evening of relaxation. However, as we sat around we were joined by a couple who live in Wellington and had a very enjoyable visit.
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