Wine Tasting

The rain the next day kept us from biking around to the wineries as I had planned. Instead we drove to a number of wineries for tastings, buying a few bottles for the rest of the trip. My favorite, by far, was a Riesling from a winery called Framingham. This was apparently one of the wines featured in the book 1000 wines to try before you die. From the wine tour, we went up the coast to Picton, a tourist trap and the main town with ferry service to the north island, where we caught a ferry to Lochmara Lodge, an artists retreat/resort in Lochmara Bay. The first thing we did after landing and checking in was to wander the dozens of hiking trails within the resort grounds, which were lined with interesting art sculptures, sheep, chickens, parakeets, and other assorted wildlife. Some of the more interesting sculptures were the punga people -- people carved into the base of various punga (fern) trees. We had a European style dinner of brie cheese, fermented venison & beef salami, apples, gluten-free corn crackers, and wine. So simple, yet so delicious.