Wine Tasting in Hawke's Bay

The view of Cape Kidnappers from our campervan window: no surf. A good day to taste the local grape juice.

As our dear readers know well, wine needs accompaniment if one is going to day-drink. So we sought out bread and cheese. Here is the little bakery in Havelock North where we preemptively stocked up on baguettes. One step inside and we knew it would be good.

We didn't go into our Hawke's Bay wine tastings totally blind. Our friend Jason, who runs the Meteor Winery in Napa, passed on a very nice list of recommended places to visit. So the first two wineries were based on Jason's recs. When someone in the wine business points you in a certain direction, you listen. We're glad we did.

First stop was the Te Mata winery. 

We ended up getting a very young 2013(!) Gamay Noir which is their version of a Beaujolais. Incredibly drinkable and smooth. And cheap! Sorry guys, you can only buy it at the winery.

One thing you'll see in New Zealand that you probably won't see in Napa- sheep in the vineyard. I thought I tasted notes of mutton along with those tannins...

Next we headed over to Craggy Range for a tasting and lunch. Jason said the restaurant was excellent, and he was right on. Many of the wineries here have their own restaurants, and this one was great. The wines were delicious too. The Syrah was top notch and the Bordeaux blend was smooth and destined for pasta coupling (say, tomorrow night?).

Here we are tasting at Craggy Range

Providing a nice backdrop to the winery is Te Mata peak. 

The girl working the tasting room at Craggy Range was a surfer and was stoked on our surf mission around NZ. So she gave us a few local tips, including some beachfront wineries in Hawke's Bay we should check out. That's where we headed next.

Here is Cam tasting some of the tasty wines at Elephant Hill

The rose was niiiiiice, right Cam?

We asked the tasting hostess helper pourer lady which wineries she liked and she told us about a winery that also did cheese tastings. Sign me up. The winery, Sileni, was on the other side of town, but we had nothing else to do so we headed over.

We ended up buying a Merlot-Cab Franc blend at Sileni, under their "Redmetal" label. And we got some stinky Brie from the South Island.

We called it a day after four wineries, and healthiness had already lost the battle to gluttony, so we headed to the best ice cream shop in town. Yes, it was good. Cam's passion fruit was deeeelish.

Then we found our FREE campsite on the beach and threw her in park.

Here's what the table in front of me (in the campervan) looks like as I am pecking out this blog. Baguette, stinky brie cheese, and wine. A complete meal.

Tomorrow we head west towards Taranaki and "surf highway 45." Magic Seaweed (our reliable crystal ball for swell forecasting) is calling for a five star swell at Stent Road on Friday (day after tomorrow). So tomorrow we will drive ~5 hours and establish an ambush position for the surf.

Over and out.