Sauvignon Blanc & Sheep
As promised Ange had a bottle of sauvignon blanc waiting for us in the fridge. Dad and I both needed a glass. It had been quite a long day of travel.
Our first week in New Zealand had blown by in a flash. The Cedar Barn in Renwick was the perfect retreat for us to catch our breath for a few days. We had been going nonstop ever since landing in Auckland. I had planned the next few days to be much chiller.
Our flight had taken us through Wellington. Whilst there I scooped some Best Ugly Bagels for us. The fridge was packed with all sorts of goodies, and there were fresh eggs from Ange’s chickens. Dad and I cooked ourselves a hearty homemade breakfast.
After breakfast dad and I explored the grounds. Arriving in darkness, we hadn’t gotten a good look at the barn until the morning. Situated amongst vineyards, the barn was postcard perfect.
Having fed ourselves it was time to feed the sheep. Ange had left us some food to fed them. We could hear Rosie, Dot and Freckles excitedly baaing as we approached. Our own private petting zoo. Soft and sweet, they smacked their lips as they gently ate out of our hands.
Wine tasting was our agenda for the day. Ange lent us a few bikes so we wouldn’t have to drive. She recommended we check out Framingham Wines. Twas our first stop of the day. I love wine, but I don’t claim to be a connoisseur. Everything we tried was quite nice. Their riesling was most memorable. Not overly sweet, like the German rieslings I’ve had, it was balanced, dry with hints of grapefruit.
Nautilus Estate Wine of Marlborough was our next step. To dad’s surprise, his favorite wine of theirs proved to be their chardonnay. Not usually a fan of chardonnay, dad found it much more interesting than the over-oaked chardonnays that are common back home. So much so that we picked up a bottle.
Both Framingham and Nautilus are members of the New Zealand Sustainable Winegrowing program. I noticed that most of the vineyards in the area seemed to take part in the program. Very cool to see that environmentally responsible practices are taken seriously.
As we rolled up to The Vines Village I could hear the sound of someone singing sailing on the breeze. Most of the restaurant was out back surrounding a large pond. There on a small makeshift stage sat an adorably sweet young lady perched on a bar stool. Black bob haircut, pink skirt and a black jumper, she was a sight for sore eyes. And she was singing Radiohead in her pitch perfect angelic voice.
When she broke into George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass,” I couldn’t believe it. One of my favorite songs of all time, and she absolutely nailed it. Wow.
Lunch wasn’t too shabby either. Dad and I split a skirt steak sandwich, local mussels and clams atop linguine, and fried potato chunks loaded with cheese and chorizo.
I could have spent all day watching that lovely bird sing, but alas dad was ready to carry on. We had biked quite aways from the barn and knew it would take a while to get back.
What a superbly beautiful day.
