Patrick Emerson’s Taste of New Zealand.
Thursday, January 28th
I made it to New Zealand safely! We truly hit the ground running upon our arrival, but first about the journey. It was one of the longest and most grueling I have endured. 36 hours of taxis, planes and buses door-to-door. To fully understand New Zealand you have to realize how far away it is. It is literally on the other side of the world. When you cross the international date line in the South Pacific, you propel forward a day, so Wednesday, January 27th did not exist to me. We went straight into Thursday morning, landing in Auckland around 6am.
The only person I know from New Zealand is Matt Mitchell, winemaker for The Crossings winery who we hosted for a wine dinner at Slightly North of Broad a couple of weeks ago with Chef Bob Wagoner, and he was the first person I ran into when we were leaving baggage claim. Small world!!
Air New Zealand was wonderful and the people of New Zealand are equally so. Down-to-earth, calm, no nonsense, extremely friendly, straight-forward, generous (we are renting a house from a lady who moved out in the morning so we could move in and she left, Holly, her old dog for us to look after!).
A note about my fellow intrepid travelers – we are a group of six led by the fearless David Duckhorn (son of Duckhorn winery fame and president of Via Pacifica imports – a gentleman of great character). Jan, Jon and Mark are wine distributors in Maryland, California, and Ohio respectively, Brenda owns the top restaurant in Maryland, and then myself – the sole wine director/sommelier in the group. We are spending the first few days in Hastings (Havelock North) right around the corner from Hawkes Bay.
We took a little hopper flight to Napier and scattered herds of sheep as we landed. Having had a quick bite of lunch we piled into our cozy little van, and sped towards the wineries. First stop was Craggy Range which is a stunning setup and the tasting room is surrounded by a “craggy range”. Probably one of my favorites, and the wines were showing beautifully, especially “Le Sol” Syrah. After the winery we explored the town of Napier with a stop into the wine museum, and a view of the entire Hawke’s Bay. We then drove to Trinity Hill Wine Estate and met up with the (Aussie) winemaker John Hancock. Ironically his signature is on every bottle! Had a great tour of the Gimblett Gravel range and a barbeque at the winery for dinner.
Cheers,
Patrick
4 comments Elizabeth VanDerwerker | Maverick Southern Kitchens, Uncategorized
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Great stuff…love many NZ wines (and lambs)…keep writing!
You are speaking from my heart! New Zealand is the most beautiful country in the world. We married our daughter to a Kiwi sheep farmer in a beautiful vineyard setting five years ago.
It was also our discovery of New Zealand wines. Every visit we keep touring the wineries, not only in Hawkes Bay, but on the South Island as well.
Now we also have a Kiwi business partner and try to take the grueling trip as often as we can.
Looking forward to reading more of your Kiwi experiences…thanks!
You MUST get to Waiheke Island! 30 min ferry ride from Auckland and some of the best reds and roses I’ve ever had! If a restaurant in Charleston carried Waiheke wines, I’d be there every night! Make sure to check out the tiny but lovely winery, Jurrasic Ridge. Oh how I miss wine touring in New Zealand! Also, there’s a little self serve tasting bar in Queenstown, where you can taste 90 different New Zealand wines…that’s a nice one stop shop
Great posting from Patrick! We are really looking forward to his class on Feb 26 at CharlestonCooks when we can taste his travel finds- can he continue to post updates from New Zealand? It’s fun to be able to post comments to his blog entries! Thanks for providing us with this glimpse into his trip! -Sarah