A tasty drop or two — An Elegant Sufficiency

There was the sound of a noisy engine outside our window early this morning.

We poked our heads over the side to see what was going on, just as the pilot jumped on board.

An hour or so later, here we were. Our plan for the day was to enjoy a sunny afternoon on the Hawkes Bay Wine Trail.

Leaving the city, I immediately spotted the large tree ferns along the roadside and thought of Amy, who would covet such a treasure for her garden!

Our first stop was the Mission Winery. The oldest in the country, we learned, when guide Trevor introduced himself and welcomed us into part of the original Seminary.

Our places were set with tasting glasses, notes on the history of the winery and the wines we were going to try plus the gift of an engraved glass for each of us; a lovely souvenir of our visit.

It was good to hear the story and background to the estate as we began our tasting with a fresh Sauvignon Blanc, the wine which first brought New Zealand wines to our notice. This one hasn't been made from local grapes but from Mission's Marlborough operation, where the terroir is better suited for making Sauvignon Blanc.

It was clean, fresh and exactly to my liking! New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is my go to white wine and this one was right up my street.

During the next hour or so, we worked our way through the Hawkes Bay Chardonnay, an Alsace-style Riesling, a Syrah Reserve from the Gimlett Gravels and a Cabernet Merlot, which was everyone's favourite being rich and very drinkable.

We were glad to have time to look around the lovely historic building and enjoy time in the garden too, though we were soon on our way again.

We caught a glimpse of the Mission vineyard as we left, heading for the Bridge Pa Triangle wineries for further tasting.

We drove through acres of vineyards on both sides of the road, with cycle tracks evident everywhere.

In places, the harvest had begun already

though there were plenty of other places where the grapes were still there in abundance, ripening in the sunshine.

Our second tasting was at Ash Ridge Winery

Described to us as a relatively new, family operated winery, we had hardly stopped when Leith, owner and winemaker jumped on board and introduced himself, explaining that they were having a busy day and things were somewhat chaotic! We didn't mind at all and were happy to stroll in the sunny garden where there were plenty of places it sit and enjoy the fresh air.

And it was here in the garden where Leith brought over a glass of two and a splash of Elodie, their sparkling wine named after his daughter, because she too was “sparkling, lively and full of character”.

He was soon followed by a young woman bringing over a platter of cheese, fruit, hummus and oatcakes, including some incredible red kiwi fruit (far more tasty than those we'd tasted in Tauranga, too)

We worked our way through glasses of Sauvignon Blanc and Estate Rose, both very drinkable and somewhat less pretentious than the Mission wines - or was that just the informality and friendly family atmosphere here?

There followed a delicious Syrah called Nelly Noir, named after the family's Black Angus cow, and then the Reserve Front Row Pinot Noir which had a somewhat strange label. This too had been named after a family member, John Ashworth, who'd been a forward with the All Blacks, Leith said.

“Oh, and he's sitting right beside you”. 😉

The last bottle to try was the Winston Ruby Syrah, named after the sweet and friendly family labrador who had been wandering around with us all afternoon.

It had been a great way to spend the afternoon and we left feeling warmly towards Ash Ridge, finding it a good contrast with the professional and well established Mission.

We returned to Napier for a quick look at the Art Deco buildings in the town centre, though it was late Saturday afternoon and everything was closed.

What a good job we'd passed one of the “hot spots” this morning and I'd snapped a photo, then!

Though I didn't need to worry, because when we returned to the ship, a group of enthusiastic owners had brought their beautifully restored cars for us to see and they had even dressed for the occasion!