Ginis Chronicles: Auckland Adventure

Today (Monday) is Labour Day here in New Zealand, but it's not the same as home. Missing is the "end of the season" feeling that marks the end of summer for us. Also missing, is the mad dash to get out of the city; at least it is not in the same scale as it is at home.

Case in point: we decided to visit the wine region just north from where we live on Saturday. There are 6 relatively small vineyards near a town called Warkworth (about a half hour drive). We have done this trip twice now and it is an absolutely beautiful drive. At one point the road seems to run on the crest of a huge ridge and you can see nothing but 'down' on either side as we travel along a 2 lane highway. The speed limit is 100kmh on this two-lane, and winding road. This would scare me in Canada, but here, where every Kiwi changes from a friendly, accommodating person to a selfish 'prick' as soon as they get behind the wheel of a car, it's doubly scary.

We visited the information station at Warkworth to get directions; we were told, (by a friendly lady...as she was not close to a car), that we can try to get back on the highway and head towards Matakana, but there is a huge backup in traffic. She gave us some directions that would bypass this huge traffic jam. We took it and went on our way. It was a beautiful drive through some rolling farmland hills - and the whole time we may have seen 20 cars on the road. When we got on the main road to double back to where the winery was, we saw the big traffic jam - they were all moving at about 80kmh, and it looked like a normal drive on Hwy#7 back home. We both laughed and made a remark about how I wish our Labour Day Weekend traffic were like this back home.

The vineyard we visited was quite beautiful. The winery and boutique were on a hill overlooking some vines - the sun was peaking through the clouds and the temperature was about 20C. We sat down and sampled 3 whites and 2 reds (their repertoire), they gave us tasting cards and we slurped and made notes - we felt cultured!

We left the Matakana Estates Winery with 2 bottles somewhat early as we had a lunch reservation at another vineyard. We left the Matakana with some concern for time - I guess our eyes had not convinced our "Southern Ontario trained" instincts about the traffic we were experiencing. We got to Ransom Winery 20 minutes early!

This was the second time we have been to Ransom Wines. The first time we visited Ransom we had missed our turn and decided to keep driving. We went for about 30min further and saw a small sign for a winery. Ransom Wines is only 8 hectares big, and is owned by a husband and wife team. It's the classic story, two professionals decide to leave the city life and open a small vineyard in the country. The first time we visited we saw that they offered a fixed lunch - more like a gourmet ploughman's lunch and we ordered it. The meal was a variety of items: there was olive oil that was made by the owner's brother, fresh and fruity. We had venison salami, brie/blue cheese, mixed grilled and pickled vegetables, a sundried tomato tapenade, feta cheese marinated in herbs and oil, and fresh bread. Kathleen had a "Noble" wine made from Chardonnay grapes, and I had the Cabernet Sauvignon. We sat and stared at the vines and wondered how much money one would need to start up a place like this. Oh, to dream!