Wine Travel Stories

(Feb. 12, 2010) I love the name “Mt. Difficulty” – what incredible brand uniqueness. It’s almost impossible to forget. The minute I heard the name, I was intrigued as to why someone would name a winery in Central Otago this way. The mystery is solved though, once you arrive, because thrusting up in a craggy mound across a verdant valley filled with vineyards and rivers is a mountain which is named Mt. Difficulty. It was so christened because it was impossible to herd sheep over its steep and unfriendly terrain. The other cool thing about this winery is the script [...]

(Feb. 11, 2010) Before leaving the States, I had scheduled an appointment to meet with Nick Mills, the winemaker and owner of Rippon Vineyards, which is often referred to as “the most beautiful winery in the world.” It was also the first winery that wine friends recommended when I asked where to visit in Central Otago. Furthermore, it is the home of the famous vineyard photo that appears on most NZ wine brochures, calendars, and other materials to lure tourists to NZ. Having traveled to more than 200 wineries around the world, I have to admit I was slightly skeptical. [...]

(Feb. 11, 2010) “Embrace the fear,” is the slogan that greets you as you drive through Queenstown, capital of Central Otago, which is known globally for its amazing pinot noir and as the birthplace of bungee jumping. Our travel book described Central Otago as being filled with young people pursuing extreme sports. This turned out to be more than true, because as soon as we arrived on a bright sunny morning we saw hang gliders, parasailers, and jetskiers on shining Lake Wakatipu, and many people walking around with bandages and casts on legs, ankles and arms – trophies of participating [...]

(Feb. 10, 2010) Next stop was Mudbrick Winery where we were greeted by 4 servers holding beautiful trays of pink rose (see photo). It was a lovely site, with the sun causing the pink wine to shimmer and dance in the glasses like hundreds of jewels on a tray. We were invited to take the glass of 2009 Mudbrick Rose and proceed to our private lunch (starting around 2pm) on the covered patio. The view of the vineyards, harbor, surrounding islands, with the Auckland skyline in the distance was breath-taking. Furthermore the windows opened to lavender and rosemary gardens, which [...]

(Feb. 10, 2010) Next stop was Cable Bay Winery, which was in an impressive modern style building with an amazing hilltop view of the ocean. They also had an outdoor sculpture garden with unique modern pieces, and a famous gourmet restaurant. The vineyards on the hillside were surrounded by tall hedges to protect them from the winds. I had never seen this layout before, and was told it was a lot of work to keep the very tall hedges trimmed. No wonder the wines from this island are so expensive – lots of work in the vineyard, and small production [...]

(Feb. 10, 2010) Next stop was the Goldwater Vineyard, which is the oldest on the island. Both the viticultralist and winemaker met with us and provided a walk through the vineyards and a tasting of 3 different wines. They have 20 acres on 2 meter by 1 meter spacing primarily with cane pruning. They achieve around 2 tons per acre and produce 2400 cases. They are known for their Bordeaux varietals, but also produce chardonnay, which was my favorite. For the 2008 Goldwater Chardonnay, the winemaker told us she uses natural yeast with barrel ferment and sur lies aging. The [...]

(Feb.10, 2010) The conference organizers scheduled an optional field trip to Waikehe Island the day after the conference ended. It appeared as if everyone signed up for it, because there were more than 60 people who sat down for the 3-hour gourmet lunch we had late that afternoon. We caught the 9am ferry to the island, and everyone was delighted with the bright sunny day, and the amazing turquoise blue of the water as we approached the island. Two large tour buses were waiting for us as we disembarked from the ferry and drove us to the Fossil Bay Vineyards [...]

(Feb. 7, 2010) Another happy occasion to travel to a unique wine country – New Zealand. This was my second visit – the first occurring in 2003 – and I was looking forward to returning to sample some excellent wine and cuisine. The event that brought me back was the 5th International Wine Business Conference. Academics from around the world attend this conference every two years in a new wine region. The last conference was in Sienna, Italy – and is described in the 2008 portion of this blog. We arrived in the capital, Auckland, on Sunday morning, Feb. 7th [...]