Day 13 – 9/15/17 – A Taste of Waiheke – Wine Tasting on Waiheke Island, New Zealand (Auckland)

We awoke somewhat later again today, one of our latest on the trip I think, and got ready to head down to the vineyard. Taking our other trips on wine tours into account, we elected not to take our larger cameras and instead to capture any photos we had using just our phones. This would end up being a mistake, looking back, but we didn’t really have a gauge for this except knowing we’d have to lug equipment around with us the entire time while trying to drink wine here and there as well! After a short walk down the hill and into the Ferry Building, we provided our reservation number to the ticket counter and got our tickets. The “Taste of Waiheke” tour includes a ferry ride to Waiheke island (map), not to be confused with Waikiki area of Hawaii, where a large percentage of wines from New Zealand are made and originated. It also includes an all-day bus pass on the island itself (there is a pretty regular bus service that goes from small “town” to “town” on the island. I put town in quotes because they’re really just a collection of buildings), three wine tastings, and an olive oil tasting along the way. We were very excited to try the local wines, though having all been to olive oil tastings before we weren’t exactly excited about that part… I don’t have the palate really for olive oil. Heck, I don’t really even have it for wine I just know the difference between “I like this” and “I don’t like this”… and that’s the secret to how I pick my wines… but today should be fun and we always enjoy the wine tours, it’s a chance to drink while being only mostly-responsible!

After a bit of time waiting for the ferry, the three of us walked down the entry ramp and grabbed a seat upstairs. The back of the ferry was a bit wet, which was concerning, but we sat at the very front on the second level of the ferry and settled in. The trip to Waiheke takes about twenty-five minutes from Auckland, and we crossed it without getting wet and without incident. You could barely feel the small waves as we left one harbor and entered another (there’s a small bit of open water there, but land was always in sight), and soon we were headed to the tour bus (again a bus… about twenty people or so on this one).

 

 

 

We sat separately since we were some of the last ones ready to board the bus, and then we were told the bus would be full, every seat, with passengers for the trip to the wine tastings. All three of us were immediately debating just leaving the bus and using our all-day local transport pass to ride the regular buses around to various wineries, but given that we had already payed for the tastings on this tour (they’re not all free!) it seemed worthwhile to stay where the free alcohol was for now! We headed toward our first vineyard (not wine estates, like in South Africa), named Stonyridge.

 

The ride to Stonyridge, as well as the bus tour we got along the way, would set the pattern for the rest of the day. The island is small, and many of the different wine companies even share the same hillsides. From a taste perspective, this means they’ll all have some of the same flavors, but this can be played with a great deal by the winemakers themselves. Prior to learning about that, though, the bus driver took us all around the island, showing us some of their beaches, making lurid jokes about their one “clothing optional” location that is not accessible by anything but hike, and showed us a few different wineries. I was starting to question our choice in tours, however, as more than once the tour guide/bus driver said things like “Now THIS winery, on our right, is an amazing one with millions of dollars invested in it. It’s one of the nicest wineries on the Island. We don’t stop there but you should when you have time.” The first time I let it pass as just one we didn’t have time for today… but this happened three or four times before our second stop for the day, almost as if the bus driver was really trying to tell us better places than the ones to which her bus and our tour group would be relegated over the next few hours. I stayed positive, however, and we arrived at Stonyridge. I don’t mean to downplay the beauty of the island at all, and this vineyard was no slouch in the views department!

 

 

We tried a few different wines, and I enjoyed the white wine here that we tried somewhat, but there was something in the red wines I did not like… some base flavor that I couldn’t put my finger on. I had tasted it before but I just couldn’t remember where, but the reaction was almost visceral and negative, and I was lucky that we followed up this first tasting with a “light lunch” that consisted of a few courses with salad, cheese, and a spinach quiche-like thing. The food was good, and we sat with a couple from Alabama. They informed us the other individuals on our tour with the “A”‘s on their jacket were also from Alabama, but they had traveled separately. We’d learn from the couple that on our tour with us that day was Alabama’s Commerce Secretary, Greg Canfield. This didn’t really change the tour for us at all and most state-level politicians in the US do not have enough celebrity to note unplanned introductions, autographs, or pictures, but it was a fun thing to know as we went throughout the day. He and a team of about four people were “looking for economic opportunities in New Zealand” according to the other Alabama couple… which to me probably was just a good cover for a vacation and some wine. 😉

 

After lunch, without any additional tastings and with no bottles bought by any of the three of us, we headed on to the Rangihoua Estate.  This next stop actually processes olive trees that are planted by Stonyridge to improve soil and provide other things which I forgot but are good for vineyards apparently, or at least that’s what they told us. They showed us the processing equipment, and let us try three olive oils that won gold medallions are the international level for Italian olive oils. Even while there, it was hard to be interested in this, but they did give us some bread to try with the olive oil and that was enjoyable. All three of the samples were thicker “extra virgin” oil than I am used to. I cook steaks all the time with regular Olive Oil for the smoke point differences, and the “extra virgin” versions we tried definitely felt closer to the texture of what I’m used to using for a bit of season and slickness in a pan. That stop behind us, though, it was time to move on to more wine!

 

 

Our second winery stop of the day would be both beautiful and uncomfortable, at a winery called Casita Miro. Casita Miro sits on a hillside down a broken, bumpy dirt road that apparently sits in disrepair but would only take a few hours to fix. This seems extremely odd to me, but as we bumped and scraped our way up the drive in our bus… we were surprised by the intricate mural work on the side of the road, and then the entrance to the winery’s cafe/bar as well.

 

 

 

 

Once inside, it was clear that the bar and cafe area was currently open, and while we lined up into two tables to scrunch together and not consume the whole place… a taster tray was put in front of us so that we could sample the wines, along with tastes to boot!

 

 

As you can see from the picture, the wines went from light to darker (that left one’s just water, but “pure, 100% rain water”  we were promised, “best in the world!”), and these were all good again until we started getting into the reds. I’m still not sure what the flavor is that I don’t like… but at least I remember now why I’m having such an aversion to it:

 

 

For those of you who haven’t read about our Antarctic Adventure, you won’t remember this picture… but the picture and its contents are something that will apparently scar me for the rest of my life if this wine tour was any indication. I couldn’t help but taste this horrible cough medicine (which triggered vomiting just due to the taste… at least when coupled with seasickness) with every drink. I’ve tried to look up the ingredients, and unfortunately due to different laws in South America and a description that only reads “honey and herbs”, I have no real frame of reference to say which particular ingredient was ruining the wine tasting for me… but every red wine we tried today had the same underlying flavor… and I hated every sip. Jen and Jon, however did enjoy the wines at least, except for the one on the very right of the above picture. It’s a fortified wine, and all three of us agreed on that one and said it was a pretty terrible thing to try and drink!

 

 

 

 

We asked here about the variance in wines we had seen so far, most wine tastings in the US include standard wines like a Cabernet, but so far in New Zealand we’d only seen a Cabernet when it was mixed at some percentage with a Merlot. There were no Cabernet-only offerings available anywhere. This, at least according to the guy in charge of our wine tastings, was just part of the taste differences between Americans and those from New Zealand… nobody would drink a Cabernet. Interesting! We wrapped up this winery, thanking the helper for the information, and headed to our last one for the day, Mudbrick Vineyards.

 

Unlike the previous stops in the day… Mudbrick Vineyards is what you would expect if you have been on winery tours in the United States. It is a large estate, with sprawling vineyards, a wine cellar with a shop for guests to purchase wine, as well as two on-site restaurants. We were told by some of the locals we know here that this is the place to eat… so special they’ve brought family members for their fiftieth birthday party, etc., and we had taken this to heart. From here, we could catch a cab back to the town if we wanted and explore, or we could continue on the bus back to get dropped off. As it turned out, though, the winery had a wedding that day and was closing just after our wine tour. We couldn’t go to the restaurant! The wedding areas at Mudbrick are currently booked two years in advance… and I can see why. The winery contains the highest point on the island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After tasking a few wines, and Jon grabbing a few bottles of one of his favorite reds, we climbed back on the bus to head to one of the “towns”. We grabbed a quick bite to eat with a drink, took the ferry back (we saw a few dolphins!) and then actually did the same bar/food trip in Auckland after walking around for a while, each of us unsure on what we really wanted. We would end up in a “gaming lounge” eating bar food and drinking a beer while we begrudged just how quickly this trip has been going. We only had one more full day before we head back to the United States.