Fish and chips, avec bulles, on the beach

Bay of Islands, Friday 17 February 2012

It was something I’d wanted to do: fish and chips on the beach, watching the sun set. Ian and Much made it go one better: fish and chips on the beach at Paihia, watching the glow from the setting sun illuminate Russell, washed down with gorgeous sparkling wine picked up at the Omaha Bay Vineyard earlier in the week.

The wine was known as FAB — Flora avec bulles. And from now on, any sparkling wine that isn’t officially champagne shall be referred to as ‘avec bulles’. It’s far better than ‘sparkling’ or ‘fizzy’ or anything else. ‘Avec bulles’.

This Flora was the perfect match for our fish — Ian had hoki, Much and I had whiting — lemon-y fresh and sufficiently acidic to stand up to the greasiness of fried fish and chips. I’d do that again!