Central Otago – Day One

Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Irv

After enjoying the fruits of the north end of the south island, we struck out for the two-day (we are taking it leisurely, after all) drive down to Central Otago, the hottest new wine area in New Zealand. Our first stop was at Northburn Station, a newer property just north of Cromwell. At their cellar

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Nelson

Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Irv

After our great wine experiences in Blenheim, we thought we’d relax a bit with some beach time in Nelson. However, the gale-force winds made any outdoor activities somewhat less than appealing. So, we just had to substitute cellar doors for surf and sand. On Kevin Judd’s suggestion, we made our way to Neudorf in the

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Marlborough

Sunday, November 27, 2011
Irv

Marlborough This New Zealand wine adventure has been very interesting and great fun but when we hit Blenheim, a pleasant little city in the heart of the Marlborough, the largest and most acclaimed wine region in the country, it got even better. We arrived mid-afternoon and since we had received directions to get to Kevin

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Waiheke Island Wineries

Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Irv

Waiheke Island Wineries Our final adventure on the North Island was a day trip to Waiheke Island. I must confess that I knew virtually nothing about this island until recently, and largely dismissed it as just a tourist spot with no serious wines. Boy was I wrong! We elected to ride the train to Auckland

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Kumeu Wine Area

Monday, November 21, 2011
Irv

KUMEU As we continued our journey back toward Auckland, we decided to spend a day and night sampling the wines of the Kumeu region. This is the area off the west coast only 45 minutes north of Auckland. It was the first area in New Zealand to be developed as a wine region. Today other

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Matakana Wine Trail

Friday, November 18, 2011
Irv

Matakana Wine Trail Well, we changed our plans. Instead of heading back to Auckland and then on to Hawke’s Bay, we opted to stay in the north and check out the dozen or so properties that make up the Matakana Wine Trail. The northern wine makers have just done too fine a job. After a

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Northland Wine Trail

Friday, November 18, 2011
Irv

NORTHLAND WINE TRAIL After heading north to Whangaria and using our friend’s delightful hobby farm as a base, we’ve spent parts of three days exploring then many small wineries that make up the Northland Wine Trail. We managed to visit more than half of the cellar doors and thanks to the wine and food tent

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News from New Zealand

Monday, November 7, 2011
Irv

Our great New Zealand wine adventure has had a fine start. Departing Vancouver at 8:00 pm and landing at 6:00 am wasn’t a tough adjustment for our body clocks. We just had to get our heads around the fact that it was Sunday, not Saturday. We only had time for a coffee and a short

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