NZ-martinborough wine country
After our Tongariro speed hike, we had a leisurely morning wake-up the following day and left National Park to continue our journey south along the North Island. Our destination this time was Masterton. A few times we stopped along the drive to Masterton to ask about which route would be more scenic, and each time the Kiwi we asked said, "why Masterton?" with a bewildered look on their face. See, kiwis seem to think there isn't much of interest between National Park and Wellington, except for some wine country regions along the east coast.
Well, the simple answer is that we were meeting my cousin Claudia who was working at Johner Winery. Claudia has been travelling around Australia and NZ on a working holiday visa. It had also been around 10 years since I last saw her, which was when I was graduating from college.
We learned from Claudia that winery work is quite demanding. Actually, we have learned that any agriculture seems to be tough work - seems like there's always something to do. Hmm... sounds a lot like consulting...
We met most of the Johner Winery crew, including the owner, Karl Heinz, the winemaker, sales rep (winemaker's girlfriend), and another girl, Katy, who was working there on her working holiday visa. Everyone was German!
After introductions, we took Claudia and Katy to their house to drop off our stuff and headed to the market to get dinner supplies. We (Julie, Claudia and I) prepared a delicious NZ mussel stew in tomato sauce, steamed veggies, and of course plenty of Johner Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir to accompany dinner.
Claudia, Katy, the winemaker and his girlfriend were all living in a little cottage close by. It had a beautiful view overlooking Johner winery and the surrounding farm region, with views across the Masterton /Gladstone valley. Claudia was kind enough to give us her room while she slept on the couch - I think she got a nice deal as the couch is in the living room with the coal-burning stove for warmth! It was a true experience of living in the country!
The following day we headed over to Martinborough for some wine tasting. This area is known for its Sauv Blancs and Pinots. We visited Gladstone, Ata Rangi, Alana, Canadoro, and Nga Waka. Ata Rangi had some great Pinots, while we bought a few Cab Sauvs at Canadoro - believe it or not NZ can make some good heavy reds! I was surprised to hear that Alana considered their regular Sauv Blanc to only need 3-7 years of age, with their Reserve at 12-15! We later learned not all the wineries bottle such young whites. Nga Waka was a quick stop, as the owner, Roger, didn't normally do tastings, but stopped by to say hello since he was good friends with a PwC colleague, Peter Randle.
We had such a good time with Claudia that we decided to stay an extra night, and the housemates were kind enough to let us do that. Fortunately for them it also meant they had 2 extra cooks for another night! We learned that Claudia did most of the cooking - I am proud of our family's cooking skills! After dinner, Julie and Claudia spent the rest of the night talking, with much laughter - I think Julie was enjoying the childhood stories that Claudia was sharing with her :O
The next day we went to Wellington to visit the town and take the night ferry to the South Island. We found Wellington to be a pretty harbour city with a bustling downtown area, albeit small by US city standards. Our first stop was up to a vista point at Mt. Victoria, which provided some very pretty views of Wellington and the harbor. Julie and I visited the Te Papa museum while Claudia kicked around town. The Te Papa musuem was great - lots of big Maori artifacts to look at, and we were lucky enough to catch some schoolkids doing some traditional songs & dances in the auditorium! Very impressive to see how NZ is working to preserve the Maori customs. Later we walked along the bay, meandered through the city hall plaza, and walked up a pedestrian shopping street. We had some of the best gelatto of our trip at a small bayfront store. Unfortunately that was all the time we had, so we left Claudia and headed to the port to take our ferry to Picton on the South Island.
Well, the simple answer is that we were meeting my cousin Claudia who was working at Johner Winery. Claudia has been travelling around Australia and NZ on a working holiday visa. It had also been around 10 years since I last saw her, which was when I was graduating from college.
We learned from Claudia that winery work is quite demanding. Actually, we have learned that any agriculture seems to be tough work - seems like there's always something to do. Hmm... sounds a lot like consulting...
We met most of the Johner Winery crew, including the owner, Karl Heinz, the winemaker, sales rep (winemaker's girlfriend), and another girl, Katy, who was working there on her working holiday visa. Everyone was German!
After introductions, we took Claudia and Katy to their house to drop off our stuff and headed to the market to get dinner supplies. We (Julie, Claudia and I) prepared a delicious NZ mussel stew in tomato sauce, steamed veggies, and of course plenty of Johner Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir to accompany dinner.
Claudia, Katy, the winemaker and his girlfriend were all living in a little cottage close by. It had a beautiful view overlooking Johner winery and the surrounding farm region, with views across the Masterton /Gladstone valley. Claudia was kind enough to give us her room while she slept on the couch - I think she got a nice deal as the couch is in the living room with the coal-burning stove for warmth! It was a true experience of living in the country!
The following day we headed over to Martinborough for some wine tasting. This area is known for its Sauv Blancs and Pinots. We visited Gladstone, Ata Rangi, Alana, Canadoro, and Nga Waka. Ata Rangi had some great Pinots, while we bought a few Cab Sauvs at Canadoro - believe it or not NZ can make some good heavy reds! I was surprised to hear that Alana considered their regular Sauv Blanc to only need 3-7 years of age, with their Reserve at 12-15! We later learned not all the wineries bottle such young whites. Nga Waka was a quick stop, as the owner, Roger, didn't normally do tastings, but stopped by to say hello since he was good friends with a PwC colleague, Peter Randle.
We had such a good time with Claudia that we decided to stay an extra night, and the housemates were kind enough to let us do that. Fortunately for them it also meant they had 2 extra cooks for another night! We learned that Claudia did most of the cooking - I am proud of our family's cooking skills! After dinner, Julie and Claudia spent the rest of the night talking, with much laughter - I think Julie was enjoying the childhood stories that Claudia was sharing with her :O
The next day we went to Wellington to visit the town and take the night ferry to the South Island. We found Wellington to be a pretty harbour city with a bustling downtown area, albeit small by US city standards. Our first stop was up to a vista point at Mt. Victoria, which provided some very pretty views of Wellington and the harbor. Julie and I visited the Te Papa museum while Claudia kicked around town. The Te Papa musuem was great - lots of big Maori artifacts to look at, and we were lucky enough to catch some schoolkids doing some traditional songs & dances in the auditorium! Very impressive to see how NZ is working to preserve the Maori customs. Later we walked along the bay, meandered through the city hall plaza, and walked up a pedestrian shopping street. We had some of the best gelatto of our trip at a small bayfront store. Unfortunately that was all the time we had, so we left Claudia and headed to the port to take our ferry to Picton on the South Island.
Labels: Claudia, honeymoon, Julie, Martinborough, Minakawa, New Zealand, wine tasting, Xavier
posted by Xavier at 7:14 PM
2 Comments:
so what did you think of australian/ new zealand wine?
i had a bottle of cab from down under the other day- under Robert Mondavi label...
pt
Australian Barossa shiraz is New World style, real fruity on the nose and palate and full of dark cherry, plum and some earthy flavors. I'd say you can cellar the good wines a few years, just like the CA cabs. Didn't really try their whites.
NZ wines are quite different, at least the whites and Pinots we tasted. the whites are generally light, usually not oaked, and SB's are sometimes typical NZ grassy. We learned they start using white grapes at a young age - one winery was using 3-7 year old vines! Their Pinots are more like a Burgundy than a USA Pinot though, generally not massively fruit forward and you can taste the minerality in the wine.
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