Unfortunately, the news about my grand niece was not the best as I woke up on Sunday (Saturday for you folks back home). Cora had to be put on an ECHMO machine today to stabilize her. The good news is she is stable and the doctors remain optimistic. However, my family is an absolute shock that an otherwise healthy, athletic girl would be in this condition. And I am helpless thousands of miles away. I did speak to my sister a number of times today and the family is insisting I not come home and continue on. So … I tried to do that today by carrying on with a trip to Waiheke Island for a wine tour, but quite frankly, my heart was just not in it. I tried to take pictures. I tried to listen to the wine presentations at each winery and I tried all the tastings. I even tried to have lunch in the main village on the island, Oneroa Village. However, I am afraid I was just going through the motions. Nevertheless, my family remains insistent that I continue with my trip and blog about it. Not only is it a good distraction for them, I am told, but most importantly, my grand niece would want it. So, this is all for you darling girl. I love you so much. Fight Boo. We need you.
**************************************************
The trip started with me taking the 45 minute ferry ride from the Auckland waterfront to Waiheke Island where I met Oliver from Waiheke Island Wine Tours along with six other folks. Oliver walked our little group to the waiting van, but not before introducing us to Te Werowero, (which means the Warrior) and is the gorgeous Maori statute that guards the entrance to the ferry terminal.
And if the statute wasn’t enough, we walked past a very unusual sight, a beautiful flowering Pōhutukawa tree. Now why was it unusual? Well, this tree is known as the New Zealand Christmas tree and usually flowers only in December … so two months later is an anomaly we were fortunate enough to see.
Now, unfortunately, two folks that were supposed to be on the tour missed the 9:00 a.m. ferry despite specific instructions on being there early to ensure a spot on the ferry. As a result, Oliver took the 7 of us around on a short tour of the island, driving up into the hills overlooking Matiatia Bay (where the ferry docked). We passed a number of gorgeous view homes before doubling back and picking up the two missing passengers who arrived on the 9:30 ferry (without an apology to the rest of us who were waiting).
Anyway, once we picked up the two tardy folks, we continued on with a short tour of the island, taking in the views from Little Palm Beach Bay towards the Noises Islands before driving to our first winery, Casita Miro. Now this place turned out to be my favourite of the day (although the wine was probably 3rd out of the three wineries we visited). The views were fabulous, the restaurant was lovely and the food pairings were perfect.
We started with a 2021 Vionger paired with focaccia bread and house made olive oil. The second wine was a 2021 Malbec, my favourite, which was paired with focaccia bread and house made paprika olive oil. Absolutely delicious and if I wasn’t travelling for another 5 months I would have picked up some of the olive oil.
So next up was a 2019 wine called Summer Aphrodisiac made from Cab and Syrah grapes paired with an olive that had been marinated in the wine and then smoked over charcoal. I could have eaten 100 of those little nuggets.
Now, sadly, the wine was not my favourite, but I loved the label, which read as follows:
This hot steamy wine was picked provocatively by a number of nubile nymphs. The juices were pressed, barreled for many years with the lights out and then bottled. The palette has saucy rich undergarments, and an explosive finish.
GOVERNMENT WARNING: THIS WINE WILL HAVE VASODILATOR EFFECTS AND MAY SHUNT BLOOD FROM ONE PART OF YOUR BODY TO ANOTHER. DO NOT TRY TO FIT THROUGH SMALL SPACES.
PICK UP THIS BOTTLE AND POUR YOURSELF A STIFF ONE.
At least the winemaker has a sense of humour!
Anyway, the fourth wine was a 2019 red blend called Miro paired with Manchengo cheese. The cheese was my favourite part of the pairing, although the blend was pretty good.
The last wine was a sweet desert wine (like a moscato) that was blended each year with a bit of wine remaining from the prior years hence no date On the wine. It was paired with a walnut that had been soaked in the wine and grilled. I am not a sweet wine lover so I was out on the wine, but damn that walnut was fabulous.
We then spent about a half hour wandering the grounds, past the amazing mosaics made by the owner and down to the vineyards before moving on to our next stop at Te Motu, where we were greeted by a lovely spotted dog. Now the wines here were quite good, but the vibe was not nearly as nice as the vibe at Casita Miro.
Here, we started with a 2022 rose, which was made from Merlot grapes. It was quite good and would be perfect on a summer day. The second wine was a 2019 Cab/Merlot blend, which was yummy. The third wine was a 2020 blend of Merlot, Cab and Syrah. Clearly my favourite. The fourth wine was their flagship blend, a 2020 Merlot, Franc, Malbec wine. And while this was really tasty, I still liked the third wine best.
Now what I didn’t like is that there was no pairings. No crackers. No cheese. Nothing. If I am tasting wine, dammit, I want something to eat with the tastings.
Sadly our last stop was the same. Wine and no pairings. Now the last stop was a visit to Mudbrick Winery, one of the top wineries on Waiheke Island. The place is huge and has a number of restaurants and wedding venues. However, I found the place to be too big and too pretentious. Although the wines were very good and the views were spectacular.
Anyway, first up we tried a Reserve Chardonnay, which was quite good. The second was a Rose, which was perfect on the hot day. The third was a Syrah, which I found too spicy. The last was a red blend. Now notice what I didn’t say: the year of each wine or the composition. That is because we were not provided any tasting sheets. All we had was a a young woman (who was quite nice) talking about the wines. As a result, the information was pretty sparse.
So after the wine tasting, we hiked up to the top of the hill in back the winery and took in the views, which were spectacular and, quite frankly, my favourite part of the Mudbrick visit.
Once we hiked down, we were given the option to stay and have lunch at the winery or head into Oneroa Village. I chose the latter and opted for a lunch of Mediterranean spreads and grilled sourdough bread at a lovely little restaurant, Apertivo Wine Bar & Kitchen, overlooking the waters off the coast. Sadly, I neglected my camera (was not thinking about pictures), but the views were gorgeous and the food was quite good.
By 3:40, I was back in the van and heading to the ferry terminal for the return trip to Auckland. It had been a pretty great time in New Zealand (except for the last two days). I am pushing on tomorrow to Sydney, where I will be in Australia for the next 6 weeks. And tomorrow night, on my 65th birthday, I will climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge in honour of the fighting spirit of my grandniece Cora … you got this Boo.