Will you be trekking out to Cape Reinga? I am waxing nostalgic over your tour. And to keep it on topic, thanks for the note on the 2012 Winston Churchill. Long ago, my nit with the Winston Churchill was that it was overly sulfured and showed it in its youth. Has that changed?
Cheers,
fred
Just catching up now, Warren. Certainly well done/commendable for keeping your spirits up and persevering through all the obstacles and difficulties to carve out what looks to be a still-very-memorable trip. Ahhhh, to see the pictures of that lovely land again. I spent 3 weeks way back in 1998, some years before they began filming Lord of the Rings. I was so happy when I heard they were filming there, because—though he never went—I saw Tolkien everywhere I went. For natural beauty, only Yosemite Park and maybe Gros Morne park in Newfoundland can rival the place, especially the south Island. I am glad from my heart that you both have had a still-wonderful experience. And yes on the flights—there’s a day that doesn’t exist for you on the transit over there. Continue to stay well. I gather you’re not stopping in Wellington? I don’t know if Angkor restaurant is still there, but it served some of the best lamb I’ve ever eaten in my life.
Haere Ra
I’m not sure, but I didn’t notice excessive matchstick, sharpness, bitterness, which is what I’d assume a champagne that was overly sulfured at bottling would show. I’ve certainly encountered reductive Champagnes, for example Dom Pérignon and some bottles of Taittinger Comtes, but I don’t recall ever thinking of a bottle as “overly sulfured.” Maybe it’s seen me and I simply didn’t recognize it. In any event, this bottle didn’t show any of those characteristics (or if it did, I missed them 
).
I loved the Duke of Marlborough .
“Refreshing Rascals and Reprobates Since 1827”
I’m more of a North Island guy, enjoy! Don’t miss the Kauri forest!
We love the people and the country. Although I have a quick question for @brodie_thomson and any of my Berserker friends from New Zealand. After almost a month here, we’ve yet to stay in a home, hotel, motel or shack that had screens on the windows or doors. I’ve spent countless hours practicing the capture and release of bees, as well as hunting flies, gnats, and other pests (as if to punctuate that point, there’s some flying pest on my computer screen as I type). We love keeping doors and windows open, but here that comes with a price. What’s with the aversion to screens? I guess you can say they affect the view, but so do bugs in my wine glasses!
Honestly not sure. A lot of Kiwis appear to be mostly unbothered by flying insects in their house (not me!).
Quite lot of Kiwis use the automatic bug spray devices you attach to the wall. You see heaps of the refill canisters in the supermarkets here.
But my best guess is cost. Kiwis are too stingy to pay for screens. So this becomes a viscious circle. Small demand equals high prices which reinforces low demand. I can’t think of any of our friends who have screens.
When we lived in Texas everyone had them.
I did notice that every rental was stocked with an impressive assortment of insecticides! I personally avoid the chemical solutions in favor of mechanical ones.
My experience is that the fly and bug population is less dense and less persistent than we experience in Australia. Maybe that’s changing?
I think Brodie’s right. It’s probably also an imagination thing—most people can’t imagine the alternative. Until I lived in Germany, I didn’t reflect on alternative living configurations.
We live in Auckland and use automated fly spray. We find the bugs/flies etc are really only an issue in the warmer part of the year. That said, screens would make life easier.
I’ve enjoyed reading your reflections and seeing your pictures. So glad you’ve enjoyed some good times despite the challenges.
Warren @Warren_Taranow and Marybeth finally made to Auckland, after spending some time chilling out in Russell in the Bay of Islands.
We had them over for dinner and opened a couple of nice bottles.
The Egly Ouriet was then Nov 2019 disgorgement so it had some nice bottle age on it. I knew that Warren had a soft spot for the EO Brut Rose GC so it was an easy choice. I remember @Sarah_Kirschbaum saying the EO Brut Rose benefited from cellaring time.
I asked him about reds and he said he loved Red Burgs. I then asked him if he had ever had a Rayas, to which the answer was no. So an easy call. I opened the 2011 Rayas 36 hours in advance.
The Egly Ouriet was excellent, pale Salmon colour, heady exotic nose just starting show a bit of an oxidative note (which Warren and I both enjoyed). Deep intense and long, perfectly balanced with a perfect dosage (not sure but think something like 2g/l). Bright pinot fruit, layers of minerality and some brioche. Very much hit the spot
Te 2011 Rayas was an explosive powerhouse but with supreme elegance and an amazing light footed medium weight body. Pale red with some brick, Exotic spice and complex wild strawberry notes on the nose. More strawberry on the palate but then it just hits another gear and kept getting deeper and more powerful with great exotic spice notes. Long detailed finish. Such a beautiful intense balanced wine that always stayed elegant and balanced and medium bodied. It was incredibly fresh and bright even after 36 hours of being opened. I think Warren enjoyed his first Rayas!
The following day we showed around Auckland a bit taking them up Mt Eden for the view.
We had lunch at Gilt and the I introduced Warren to Leah the sommelier. He then proceeded to chat with her and ignore the rest of us. The Gilt wine list is really good, and Warren was engrossed. He wanted to order a 2016 Raveneau Foret but I told him to order the 2021 Bell Hill Chardonny (he was sceptical that a NZ chardonnay would be a better choice over Raveneau). After a brief consult with Leah, the Bell Hill it was. It turned out to be a great choice, probably NZ’s best Chardonnay made in tiny quantities in an abandoned limestone quarry in North Canterbury. Very rare and hard to find. It was lovely with a intense minerally nose, powerful tactile chewy mid palate with clean lemony fruit and a wonderful long finish framed with bright acidity. Warren and Marybeth both loved it .
I then too him to Cahn’s wine shop run by a good friend Martin. They had a bottle of the Bell Hill Chardonnay on the shelf which Warren prompted grabbed .
It was great to see them both looking well after their NZ adventures. Safe travels home
Love Cahn’s! I just snagged their last two ldh tondonia blanco on my way out of town. Martin tried to talk me into the Bell Hill- sounds like I should have let him
Hi Scott, you must have been there very recently. I only just got my LdH allocation from Martin Friday last week…
He still has some 2017 Gravonia and a few bottles each of the 2004 Gran Reserva Tondonia and Bosconia Tintos in the store
Indeed- was in Auckland briefly earlier this week after traveling the south island with my son- catching up on this thread is fun as it seems we were close to being in some of the same places at the same time as Warren. My son goes to U of A so will next be back in Auckland at graduation and will do a better job of connecting beforehand.
Not that anyone is hanging with bated breath, but will post some notes from our travels as well when I get a chance.
We’re back in Bellingham after a fantastic month. I’m still behind in posting but will catch up.
Brodie already shared our two days in Auckland. He was a savior on this trip, helping us figure out where to go after we had to cancel our tour and cruise. Then he and Raz invited us over for dinner when we arrived in Auckland for the final two days of the trip.
Before dinner, we walked from their house for a beautiful coastal hike.
Brodie then grilled skewers of chicken, beef, and lamb while Raz prepared an incredible delicious vegetable curry as well as peanut sauce for the meats . The food was every bit as good as the wine, and as you saw from Brodie’s post, he went over the top with the bottles.
We started with an Egly-Ouriet Rosé disgorged in 2019. He knows that’s one of my favorite rosé Champagnes, especially with some age. These earlier releases spent more time on the lees than recent ones. I didn’t take notes, but it was perfect.
He then opened a 2011 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve that he had decanted for 36 hours. It’s one of those “how on earth did they do that?” wines, several magnitudes better than any Grenache or Châteauneuf-du-Pape I’ve ever had. Incredible balance and complexity, with the fruit leaning toward the strawberry side of the spectrum. Utterly delicious and one of my WsOTY or decade.
The next day, Raz and Brodie took us on a tour of their fair city. We started with a hike to Maungawhau / Mount Eden. It’s a volcanic crater that is a Maori holy site (wāhi tapu).
They took us to a neighborhood full of personality and antique shops so I could track down an antique map of New Zealand. We’ve taken to buying these when we travel. I have a wall outside my wine cellar with framed antique maps from places we’ve visited.
Back downtown for lunch at Gilt. A fantastic meal with an amazing wine list. I was deciding between white Burgundy from Raveneau, Roulot, or Caroline Morey when Brodie, and then the sommelier, talked me into the Bell Hill, that rare bottle of New Zealand Chardonnay.
Any skepticism I had, despite Brodie’s and Leah’s assurances, vanished with the first swirl and smell. This wine can compete with almost any Chardonnay. It had that smoky flint reduction I love in some white Burgundy, along with perfect acidity and balance, and a minty lemon confit character. I loved everything about it.
New Zealand, dinner from Raz, and a visit to Brodie should be on everyone’s bucket list.
Later this week, I’ll post a few more adventures from Russell, where we stayed before visiting Auckland.
Here are some more photos an wines from our week in Russell, in the Bay of Islands.
We took a half day boat ride to (and through) Hole In the Rock, with stops on two islands.
A great hike on Motuarohia (Roberton Island)
Hole in the Rock, another sacred Maori site.
We saw fur seals, which are coming back after being hunted to near extinction.
then on to Motukokako (Piercy Island) for another hike.
These are mostly New Zealand snapper (tāmure), a plentiful and delicious fish.
Another oyster catcher for @Charles_Weiss
I liked the local wines. We had a really fun Albariño from 144 Islands. Simple but simply delicious. Fresh, balanced, perfect food wine.
More beautiful pics. When I get back to NZ, the Bay of Islands–which I didn’t get to in my 3 weeks in 1998—will be first on my list to see.
Loved Gilt. Such a great wine list and the domestic wines are so carefully selected.
Probably my last post from the trip. Another great beach walk, this time on Long Beach in Russell.
Amazing lunch of fish and chips (snapper and gurnard) and fried oysters from Russell Fish Company. A small takeaway spot serving incredibly fresh local catch, wrapped in paper and perfect for carrying down to the beach.
During this trip I kept trying to put into words what it was about New Zealand that affected us. By the end of our time there, we were so taken that it rose to the top of our list of places we might consider expatriating to. Only when we thought about the reality of living so far from the rest of the world did we hesitate. It is a remarkable place, but also very remote.
What struck me most as we traveled was how different New Zealand feels from almost anywhere else we have been. I kept searching for the right word. Pristine came to mind. Beautiful certainly fits. But the word I kept coming back to was unspoiled, especially on the South Island.
Again and again we found ourselves driving past vast stretches of coastline, enormous lakes, and sweeping landscapes that seemed untouched. There would be miles of beach with nothing but the two lane road we were on. No houses. No marinas. No rows of vacation homes.
The lakes made this even more striking. We passed half a dozen huge, stunning lakes that in the United States would almost certainly be ringed with neighborhoods.
Beyond the lakes, the natural variety of the landscape constantly awed. In a single day’s drive we might pass through wide plains dotted with farms and grazing sheep, follow along clear river and streams, pass a turquoise glacial lake, and then suddenly find ourselves looking out over a broad bay or the open ocean. Mountains seemed to rise everywhere, sometimes abruptly from farmland, sometimes plunging straight down toward the sea.
Part of that feeling comes from how much land has been preserved. New Zealand has a remarkably high concentration of national parks and protected areas, and unlike in the United States there are no entrance fees. These places feel accessible and genuinely protected at the same time.
The wildlife added another dimension. The flora and fauna felt completely different from what we are used to. On the water we saw dolphins, penguins, and fur seals. In the air there were all kinds of birds, including several species of parrots. The endangered kea were particularly memorable. Curious, intelligent, and sometimes downright belligerent, they have the personality of mischievous street toughs. I swear one of them looked at a group of pedestrians and essentially told them to get the f*ck out of its way as it walked across the road.
Another thing that stood out to me was not the lack of rules, not anarchy, but more of a general trust for people to do the right thing. There are surprisingly few stop signs. Instead, yield signs dominate, trusting drivers to be cautious and considerate rather than governed by strict controls. The frequent one lane bridges, even on what would be considered major highways on the South Island, were also unique. You simply slow down, look, and take turns crossing.
If you decide to road trip there, be prepared for a slower pace. You will inevitably find yourself behind long lines of trucks and RVs on winding two lane roads. Traffic circles are everywhere and work beautifully when traffic is light, though they can become surprisingly jammed during busy travel times.
That sense of restraint, and of trusting people to do the right thing, contributes to a feeling that is hard to describe but impossible to miss. New Zealand does not just look beautiful. It feels preserved.
The lamb and fresh seafood were abundant throughout the trip. I also enjoyed the local wines far more than I expected and even discovered one that has become a favorite chardonnay. In truth, I can’t take the credit for finding it. @brodie_thomson introduced it to me.
Here are my favorite wines of the trip:
Nearly every other bottle we opened deserves an honorable mention. And despite the rather inauspicious start, this turned out to be one of our best trips yet. Thanks again to Brodie for helping salvage the vacation.
Cheers!
Thanks Warren for wonderful travelogue and prose. I think that you have encapsulated NZ very well. I left in the mid 70s but love returning. They really look after visitors and the food and wine offering is top notch.
Warren, your travelogues are great stories. They’re a pleasure to read.
Things that often have a more permanent impact then some more elaborate restaurant meals. Love it!
