Winetopia 2020

Winetopia came to town this weekend. More than 50 wineries offered 30 ml tastings of their products in our own takeaway Spiegelau glass. We explored some new wineries and also enjoyed listening to tales of wine and music with musician and composer Laughton Kora.

We're generally white wine fans (apart from oaked wines, chardonnay and pinot gris) and made some great additions to our yes list in 2019. This year we looked for more sauvignon blanc, sparkling wines, dry Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Albariño and Viognier. We quickly spent our tokens, bought a few more and purchased four bottles to take home of wines that aren't too easy to find locally. A very successful evening.

Take home collection

2020 yes list highlights

• Big Sky (Martinborough) 2019 Sauvignon blanc 
• Big Sky (Martinborough) 2016 Grüner Veltliner
• Dancing Petrel (Northland) 2018 unoaked Viognier
• Dancing Petrel (Northland) 2019 Sparkles
• Dancing Petrel (Northland) 2020 Sparkling Isla Rosé
• Decibel Wines (Hawke's Bay) 2019 Viognier
• Forrest Wines (Marlborough) 2019 Albariño
• Two Rivers (Marlborough) 2020 Sauvignon blanc
  

Christmas high tea at the Intercontinental

I set myself a Christmas watershed of 1 December 5 years ago as a way of managing the annual Christmas madness. For some reason I'm feeling quite festive this year so lifted it a day early, officially declaring the Christmas season open by celebrating Christmas high tea with friends today.

The Intercontinental puts on a spectacular high tea (or high coffee). This year they have a special Christmas high tea available every day until Christmas Eve. The menu is extensive (17 items!) and drinks include the usual tea selection or coffee and either a festive mocktail or a glass of Veuve Clicquot champagne.

An excellent start

Half the fun of high tea is matching the extensive menu with the food presented to you. Sure, it was explained to us by staff but 17 items is a lot to keep your eye on. And then a bartering system began. "I'll trade your asparagus roll for my ham slider" was followed by "you can have my eggnog cheesecake if I get your cheese scone." We all passed our pumperknickel with blue cheese to one person who declared that four was enough!

Christmas high tea

So what did we eat? The savoury tier included a cheese scone, asparagus roll, cucumber sandwich, smoked salmon blink, champagne ham slider and pumpernickel with blue cheese.

Sandwiches and savoury

Things started getting sweeter. Eggnog cheese cake, strawberry tart, white chocolate choux, mini gateau, Christmas pudding panna cotta, a Christmas fruit tart and a cute little gingerbread man. I needed to pause during this tier.

Slightly sugary

The finish was very sweet. Macarons, trifle slice disguised as a Christmas pudding, a welcome palette cleansing berry fruit salad and a fun chocolate and popping candy lollipop.

A sweet finish

I didn't make it all through the menu (although my friends did!) so took home a takeaway box of four items to have for dessert tonight. What a deliciously decadent start to Christmas 2019!

Psychological gastronomy high tea

Artisan at the Bolton Hotel hosts a great high tea. Their 2019 Wellington on a Plate event is Psychological gastronomy and described as "a not-so-traditional high tea" where savoury and sweet may not be as they seem. In fact, they're the complete opposite. Every item that appears savoury tastes sweet, and every item that looks like it should be sweet is savoury.

This was actually quite a challenge. Where do you begin? The high tea tradition of starting at the bottom savoury tier and working all the way up to the sweet finalé clearly wouldn't work here. We pondered the menu over coffee and a glass of Giesen Classic Cuveé.

Things are not how they appear

Here's how we played out our high tea strategy.

Savoury that looks sweet

• Duck pâté domes on sable biscuit
• Cheese profiterole
• Spinach and blue cheese cupcake with truffle icing
• Beetroot macaron with goat's cheese

Somewhere between savoury and sweet

• Compressed melon tartare with Chantilly cream

Savoury looking but actually sweet

• Brioche sandwich with chocolate and banana
• Rice pudding arancini with vanilla
• Chocolate pie
• 'Salmon' raspberry mousse with sweet blini and berry 'caviar'

This was a very fun high tea with a twist. The flavours were clever, delicious and beautifully presented. I hope Artisan holds another high tea event next year. We'll be there!

Winetopia 2019

As an occasional wine drinker but keen wine sampler, I am pretty spoilt with the wine tasting options in my neighbourhood. Each month we are visited by a winery or distributor with 6-8 wines available to sample for a princely sum of $5. Add free Friday night wine tasting at Winesale.co.nz along with a few wine tasting trips and I have learnt a huge amount about what I like in wine, what I don't like and some surprising discoveries.

Winetopia hit Wellington this weekend. I hesitated to buy tickets. Other wine and food-type events we'd attended before either charged very expensive entry fees before any wine or food was consumed or were complete chaos. A very quick Twitter poll and last minute discounted tickets helped influence my decision: we'd give it our best shot.

With almost 60 wineries showcased, Mr Weka and I needed a solid strategy to maximise our wine tasting experience. Luckily we have similar tastes in wine and are also not averse to sharing germs on glasses (with each other - not anyone else), meaning we could share each 30 ml sample and try twice as many.

TSB Arena was helpfully organised into wine tasting regions. We decided to stay away from wineries we'd already visited or sampled. From there, our pecking order was sparkling wine (if available), sauvignon blanc and the occasional riesling or rosé. We set off for Hawkes Bay and Marlborough with wine glasses (real, not plastic) and five tokens each.

The next three or so hours were a flurry of 30 ml tastings and comparing notes. We added many wines to our yes list, one or two maybes and a couple of definite nos. It was good to see jugs of water available at every stand and some substantial food options. Crowds were well managed and, despite my initial hesitation, we had a great time.

How to maximise your Winetopia experience

• Check the programme and go to the talks you're interested in as they come with two extra tastings (if you're quick enough before they run out)
• Visit the Singapore Airlines Lounge and trading in your 'boarding pass' for a free sample of Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve Champagne. Delicious!
• Explore a region you know you like or you'd like to learn more about. 
• Pace yourself and drink plenty of water in between tastings. After a while it's gets hard to tell whether you like something or it's just blending in with something else you've sampled.

New additions to the yes list

• Junction Wines (Hawkes Bay) 2017 Persistence Brut
• Smith & Sheth (Havelock North) 2018 Cru Albariño
• Starborough (Marlborough) Sons of the Soil 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
• Dog Point (Marlborough) 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
• Jules Taylor Wines (Marlborough) 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
• Grove Mill (Marlborough) 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
• Grove Mill (Marlboough) 2018 Riesling
• Greywacke (Marlborough) 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
• Greywacke (Marlborough) 2018 Riesling
• Baby Doll (Marlborough) 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
• Astrolabe (Marlborough) 2018 Sauvignon Blanc
• Astrolabe (Marlborough) 2017 Farm Dry Riesling

Homegrown high tea at Artisan Dining House

Wellington on a Plate continued today with Homegrown high tea, an elegant high tea experience at Artisan Dining House in the Bolton Hotel. High tea featured a range of handcrafted gourmet teatime treats made with local ingredients and began with half a glass of The Griffin bubbles from Palliser Estate on arrival. The tables were set.

A bubbly start

The menu promised nine items sourced from locally produced ingredients along with a selection of teas.

High tea menu

 Thankfully we could exchange tea for coffee. Our high tea arrived.

Artisan Dining House high tea

Where to begin? The classic cucumber sandwich was actually on the top (dessert) tier, so we started there and then moved to the savoury bottom layer. You can see little venison pies, mushroom arancini, and lamb croquets. They're hiding a teeny tiny cheese scroll nestled in behind.

The middle tier had a range of sweet items, including citrus slice, almond friand and a Whittaker's chocolate coconut fudge slice featuring an elegant white chocolate shark with a pretty marbled effect. This was my favourite high tea treat.

We finished high tea with a tiny salted caramel macaron.

The Artisan Dining House is a lovely setting for an elegant Sunday afternoon high tea.

Exploring the Martinborough wine trail

The plan was to cycle around the Martinborough vineyards and taste wine at a leisurely pace. We'd stay in the town centre, pick up a wine map and head out on two wheels each to explore the best of Martinborough's wine trail. The weather forecast had other plans, though. Heavy and steady rain was forecast all day - and if the early morning downpour was anything to go by, it wasn't going to be fun riding in the rain. We'd experienced soggy wine tasting before, but this was looking to be much worse. Plan B was devised.

We decided to replace two-wheeled transport for two sets of four wheels. This meant we could head out to some of the wineries that were slightly further away than the ones we'd managed to cycle to before. After two or three tastings, we'd return to our accommodation and walk to nearby wineries until the rain got the better of us. Luckily, our drivers were happy with this arrangement.

Te Kairanga Wines

Making the most of our transport, we started furthest away at Te Kairanga Wines. The cellar door is in The Cottage, a classic farm house cottage built in the late 1800s. The picturesque grounds were resplendent on an autumn morning. Our host was welcoming and informative, giving us the background to each wine we tasted. Given that 70% of Te Kairanga's vineyard is pinot noir, three of these vintages were included in our tasting, something which is lost on those of us who are white wine drinkers.

Te Kairanga wines

White wine tasting notes

• 2016 Sauvignon Blanc. Although I'm usually a sav drinker, I found this style particularly forward and acidic, overpowering the tropical fruit palette. Maybe.
• 2015 Riesling. This very dry wine gave off a kerosene smell. I learned that this isn't offensive to note; it's a result of the terpene produced while on the vine. This is more prominent in New Zealand and Australian wines as there is a higher concentration of UV rays on the canopy. Too acidic for me. No.
• 2016 Chardonnay. Barrel fermented on 15% new oak for 10 months, this chardonnay blend was not too forward or oaky. Maybe.
• 2014 reserve Chardonnay. A much fuller flavour - far too oaky for me. No.

Poppies

The sun had started to shine and more people were venturing out for wine tasting. We made a smart decision to visit Poppies before the crowds and rain arrived. Poppies is phenomenonally popular in summer. Their wines are only available from the cellar door and the venue is simply beautiful.

A warm welcome from Poppy

We started with wine tasting by the roaring fireplace. It was hosted by winemaker Poppy Hammond, while husband Shayne Hammond (viticulturist) prepared an outdoor table for our lunch.

Wine tasting notes
We were served teeny tiny samples, which made it a hard to get the full flavour of each wine, while Poppy explained her tasting notes.

• 2016 Rosé. This rosé is 100% pinot noir and its pinkish colour came from two hours of contact with the skins. Maybe.
• 2016 Riesling. I didn't quite know what to make of this Riesling. It was extremely dry with a limey aftertaste, which some of our group loved. Maybe.
• 2016 Sauvignon blanc. This very smooth wine is the last time Poppy will make a pure Sauvignon blanc. In future, it will become a Sauvignon blanc and Semillion blend. Not overly sweet. Maybe.
• 2016 Pinot gris. Very smooth and sweet. Maybe.
• 2016 late harvest Riesling. These grapes were harvested 6 weeks after the regular Riesling. Usually I find late harvest or dessert wines far too sweet but, surprisingly, I kind of liked it! Maybe.

By now the sun was well and truly out and Poppies was almost full. We were enticed to a table outside and offered warm blankies to cuddle up with (it is autumn, after all). Poppies is not a restaurant but is known for its excellent seasonal lunch platters, which offer all sorts of goodies including rosé poached salmon, pork belly slices, stuffed peppers, mushrooms, olives, brie, pumpkin hummus, rare beef, crostini ... the list goes on but our vegetarian was also happily catered for.

Lunch platter at Poppies

Luna Vineyards

No sign of the promised rain - far from it, in fact. We moved on to Luna Vineyards. Situated on the former Alana Wines site, Luna Vineyards has a lovely cellar door setting and restaurant.

Luna Vineyards tasting bar

Wine tasting notes

• 2015 Riesling. This off-dry Riesling had around 30g residual sugar and a pleasant finish. Maybe.
• 2016 Sauvignon blanc. Very smooth and not too fruity. Maybe.
• 2015 Rosé. This orange-tinged rosé is made from 100% pinot noir grapes that had spent five hours on skins. Maybe.
• 2015 Chardonnay. Not too oaky. This chardonnay spent 10 months aged in 40% new French oak barrels, leaving it with a smooth finish. Maybe.

Non-events

We drove out to two final vineyards on the way back to our accommodation. Both are slightly off the wine trail but we stopped at neither before calling it a day. Here's why:

• Colombo Wines. Only four wines available for sampling but still with the usual $5 tasting fee. This usually gets 6-8 samples elsewhere.
• Cambridge Wines. $10 tastings. Enough said.

Back at the bach, I checked the weather forecast status. Still no sign of the heavy rain we'd apparently had all day and were currently experiencing, so we could have cycled after all. Oh well, next time!

Pure fiction

Wine and liqueur tasting at Purangi Winery

Although the climate in the Coromandel is warm and sunny, it's not really known as a wine growing region. Purangi Estate winery is a great place to stop for food and drink on the way to nearby Cooks Beach.

Established in 1985, Purangi Winery uses traditional methods to make wines and liqueurs based on organic principles. There is something really refreshing about a relaxed countryside winery that presents itself without the frills and grandeur of many modern vineyards set up to mass produce for overseas markets.

For a gold coin koha (donation), you can sample your way through their cellar list. We tasted several fruit liqueurs including boysenberry, plum, rhubarb and guava, feijoa, passionfruit, persimmon and ginger, as well as limoncello. Most were too sweet for my palette but we did like the aged port and bought a small bottle to take home.

If you're after some lunch, there is a quaint, rustic style bar and restaurant serving wood fired pizza, along with a games room and outdoor picnic tables.

The Dairy Made

Wellington on a Plate 2016 has started. Two and a half weeks of endless food and local foodie events lined up. Wellington's food scene really comes alive at this time of year.

Our first event was hosted by one of my favourite foodies, Ruth Pretty. The Dairy Made was a celebration of all things dairy. (Think milk, cream, butter, cheese ... mmm.) Fittingly, the event was held at The Milk Station in Otaki, an old 1900s milk station converted into a beautiful venue and function centre. Check out the decor.

I'd love a chandeleir like this
(and a house big enough to hang it).

'Old school' milk and dairy memorabilia

This copper milk jug used to carry 5l of milk at a time.

We were warmly greeted by Ruth and treated to coffee and cheese scones. The tables were beautifully set and decorated with daffodils, reminding us that spring is just around the corner.

I love the huge wooden doors in the background.
They led through to an interior courtyard.

A touch of spring.

I confess to not having read the event description properly before we arrived. Imagine my surprise to discover a menu for a four course meal with wine matching! Each dairy-inspired dish was preceded by a speaker talking about various related topics (an introduction to the venue, the chemical constructions of dairy products and a talk about the free range pork we ate for the main course). This spread the meal out, meaning we could take time to enjoy each course before the next.

We began with the first course of smoked fish pie with walnut and Colby crumble and fennel lemon salad. The wine match was 2014 Soho Jagger Pinot Gris from Awatere Valley.

First course

As if one entree wasn't enough, we had a second! Double baked cheddar, mushroom and bacon soufflé served with a refreshing sorrel and radish salad. I hadn't eaten raw sorrel before. On its own, it would taste quite overpowering but the radish complemented the flavour. The wine match was Tietjen Witters Gold Chardonnay from Gisborne.

Second course

Even the palette cleanser between courses was a noteworthy dish of its own! I could easily have eaten this kaffir lime sorbet with poached pear and frozen yoghurt for dessert. Note the original 1930s parchment paper (a butter wrapper) place mat.

Palette cleanser

The main course was all about pork cooked three ways (plus crackling). Woody's Free Range Farm founder Daniel Todd talked about the challenges of feeding quality food to around 200 free range pigs to produce a quality pork product. We enjoyed pulled pork, pork belly and pork braised in milk with apple and pork jus. The creamy Swiss style cheese potato gratin was absolutely delicious. Note the token touch of green (broccoli)! The wine match was 2012 Georgetown Pinot Noir from Central Otago.

Main course

Finally, it was onto dessert. I hadn't tasted junket before but apparently it was a staple dessert before my time. I didn't care much for this rum junket but did like the crumble on top, along with the other dessert dish of Esther's gingerbread with poached quince and vanilla whipped cream. The gingerbread would also have tasted great slightly warmed.

Dessert

After dessert, we got to walk through the impressive wooden doors into an interior courtyard, where Milk Station owner Lindia Wood had opened some of the accommodation rooms for us to explore.

European style interior courtyard.

Thank you to Ruth, Lindia and the team for a delightful long lunch. Needless to say, I don't need dinner tonight!

Brown Brothers wine tasting

Two wine tastings this month! This time, the esteemed Brown Brothers were in town from Australia for a short window of time and so we were lucky enough to try their wines on our home turf. Our host for the evening was the loquacious Andrew Harris, Wine Ambassador for Brown Brothers. What's a wine ambassador? Basically, it means he's done a little bit of everything to do with wine and knows a lot about it!

The evening began with a presentation about the company itself and we were introduced to the four generations of Browns who have owned and operated the winery for the past 125 years in Milawa, about two hours north of Melbourne, Victoria. Innovation is the name of the game with Brown Brothers, who have constantly developed and experimented with different methods and styles of wine making throughout their history, producing multiple ranges across their various vineyards. Their business model involves setting up cellar doors in collaboration with other local businesses and constantly looking for new ways to experiment with wine. It works!

We got to taste nine samples during the evening. Some were variations on a theme and several were additions to our wine list.

Yes yes yes!

• 2015 Moscato. My favourite wine of the evening came in several different iterations. Moscato is to Australia what sauvignon blanc is to New Zealand wine. Its very sharp, fresh and crisp flavour actually only has a 5% alcohol count as less sugar is extracted during the fermenting process. I bought a bottle of this for our wine rack.
• 2015 Moscato Rosa. Similar to the plain moscato, this rosa has a pale pink colour while retaining a similar palette. Very light and refreshing with 7% low alcohol content.
• 2014 Cienna. I had to get my head around several ideas to enjoy this wine: it's a sparkling, sweet red that is served chilled and its name was constantly mispronounced. (Apparently the spelling makes it different from Italian town of Siena, meaning they can get away with IP issues, even Brown Brothers say it the same way ... but this spelling should mean it's pronounced chi-en-na.) Once I got past all this, I really liked the Cienna and bought a bottle for my family to enjoy on Mothers' Day. We had the same conversation about pronunciation (can't argue with an Italian mama), that it could be sparkling, sweet, red and chilled ... a winner with the family.

Maybe

• NV  Prosecco. I do like a good prosecco but couldn't warm to this one. It was light, clean and crisp but a tad too sweet.
• NV Sparkling  Moscato Rosa. Another variation on the moscato theme, this sparling wine had a very crisp, fresh flavour and a litle pink colour. 

No

• 2014 Devil's Corner Pinot Noir. A lovely mid-red colour but the flavour way too rugged for me.
• 2015 Devil's Corner Pinot Grigio. One word came to mind for this Tasmanian wine: asparagus.
• 2014 18 Eighty Nine Shiraz. A smooth finish and a lovely mid-red colour, this shiraz spent 14 months on French and American oak, with 10% new oak.
• 2009 Patricia Shiraz. I know it sounds wrong to say that I didn't like the best quality wine of the evening produced under their esteem flagship label, but I'm still not a shiraz drinker. A much smoother finish than the 18 Eighty Nine shiraz but still far too rich and heavy for me.

Unison Vineyard wine tasting

This month's wine tasting featured a selection of wines from Unison Vineyard. Unison is a family estate winery in the heart of the Gimblett Gravels winegrowing district in Hawke's Bay. Owned since 2008 by Terry Horn and her husband, Philip, Unison was established back in 1993 and specialises in producing small batches of fine wines.

Unison Vineyard grows mostly red grapes on their almost 8 hectare block but have diversified by starting to make some white wines from grapes grown on other vineyards. Each small batch may be just 200-300 cases, bottled on site at their own bottling plant which they also used to bottle for other boutique wineries.

Onto the wine tasting. There was a clear winner, a maybe and several nos for our wine list.

2012 Pinot Gris. Pinot gris was the first white wine grown at Unison. It's slightly fruity up front then gives way to a softer taste than its smell, making its way onto our yes list.

2013 Reserve Chardonnay. This chardonnay is half oaked (just six months on French oak), which leaves it with a subtle, smooth finish. Maybe.

2013 Rose. This wine is one of four roses produced at Unison. The merlot-cabernet-syrah blend gave it an orangey-red colour (after being left on skins for 24 hours) but left it with a taste too similar to altar wine for me. No.

2010 Reserve Merlot.
2010 Classic Blend. Merlot-cabertnet blend.
2010 Selection. Cabernet-merlot blend.
2012 Syrah.
None of the above. We're still not red wine drinkers, no matter how alluring the deep red colour looks.

Mr Weka did very well tonight by winning the wine club birthday draw, giving him a choice of any bottle from tonight's tasting (he chose the pinot gris) and scoring a bonus prize of a $50 voucher to spend at Unison's Unwined Cafe. It looks we'll need to have another Hawke's Bay wine weekend next summer with Unison Vineyard at the top of our list of wineries to visit.

Ōhau Wines tasting

Set against a backdrop of the Tararua Ranges not far from Levin is the small town of Ōhau [pronounced Or-hoe (not owe-how)]. Now, this may seem an unlikely location for a vineyard but apparently the quality of what gravels at the Ōhau river leave behind and the same number of sunshine hours as sunny Nelson makes it an ideal place to grow grapes and establish a winery. Who knew?

Last night's wine tasting session featured Ōhau Wines. Our host for the evening was Chris, a rather animated storyteller and loquacious spin doctor. I imagine he could sell ice cream to proverbial penguins and have them believe it was the best thing since sliced bread. He certainly kept us entertained.

Onto the wines. Ōhau Wines is know for two main varietals across five ranges: sauvignon blanc and pinot gris (which suits us just fine). We sampled three vintages of each and a pinot noir to finish. The sauvignon blancs had a different quality to the up front Marlborough styles. Chris tried to tell us that a good enough 2011 sauvignon blanc is still ok to drink in 2016. The samples we tried didn't convince me of this at all, but at least I now know this for certain.

Here are my picks:
Yes

• 2015 Woven Stone sauvignon blanc. A dry finish with just two grams of residual sugar. This sav was a clear winner for us and we ordered two bottles.

Maybe (not too bad)

• 2014 Woven Stone pinot gris. Smooth to drink with full bodied flavours but I didn't like the acidic aftertaste.
• 2014 Ōhau Gravels pinot gris. Sweeter than the Woven Stone pinot gris and with a slightly oily finish. 5% oaked - interesting for pinot gris.

No

• 2014 Ōhau Gravels sauvignon blanc. Very strong with 5% oak - also unusual for sauvignon blanc. May contain traces of cat's pee.
• 2011 Ōhau Gravels sauvignon blanc. Definitely contains traces of cat's pee.
• 2011 Ōhau pinot gris. As above.
• 2014 Woven Stone pinot noir. I liked the dusky red colour, but that was about it.

Wellington Wine, Food and Craft Beer Festival

The third Wellington Wine, Food and Craft Beer Festival was held last weekend. This year, the festival moved venues and expanded to include a focus on locally produced craft beer. Waitangi Park is better suited for this festival than last year's Frank Kitts Park, offering a more space and a less cluttered layout. A calendar shift from autumn to summer also made for more pleasant weather. Inside, there were fewer food vendors but more space at each stand. More seating, sheltered tents, picnic blankets and bar areas made it more comfortable to come and go in between snacks and drinks.

We arrived for the Saturday evening session and joined the long queue for entry. Although everyone had already purchased tickets, it took a full 15 minutes of waiting until an organiser finally opened all four entry points to speed up the process, rather than insisting on everyone waiting to shuffle into just one lane. Apart from this slow start, this year's festival was far better organised and more streamlined than last year's event.

As Round the Bays was a mere twelve hours away, I chose Doris plum cider from Good George Brewing for my one and only drink. It was a great choice and I've found a new cider to enjoy.

So, onto the food. It was great to have each vendor's menus and prices printed on an A5 leaflet, meaning time spent in queues was for ordering and collecting food rather than deciding what to purchase.We started with Moroccan spiced calamari and a Rattle Ya Daggs lamb rump burger with beetroot chutney and feta and rocket pesto from The Crab Shack. Both were excellent and well worth the wait. The venison kofta pita with tabouleh and cucumber mint yoghurt from Foxglove was also very good, especially when topped with their house made barbeque sauce. Preventing tabouleh from escaping out of a pita pocket proved to be quite challenging; it's not a first date food. The bao burgers on soft steamed buns from Arborist Rooftop Bar were in hot demand. The chicken, chilli and garlic burgers had sold out by the time we ordered so we tried pulled pork, honey and ginger instead.

For dessert, we had a salted caramel rum cookie (gluten free, so it must be good for you) from Sweet Release Cakes and Treats, then finished with an incredibly decadent white chocolate buttercream doughnut muffin (vegan, so it must be even better for you). Who knew doughnut muffins were a) a thing and b) so good? Oh my!

A big huge MASSIVE thank you to Sweet Release for the tickets to this event. It's good to see the festival getting better each year. I'm looking forward to seeing how it evolves in 2017.

Mission Estate Winery

No wine or food trip to the Hawke's Bay region is complete without a visit to Mission Estate Winery in Taradale. After our wine tasting evening in October, we decided to take up Cellar Door Manager Trevor Mason's offer of a guided tour of the homestead and cellar if we visited. Trevor had already told us some of the history of the homestead and how it was constructed then moved to its current site. It was wonderful to be able to see it first hand and also look through the much more recently built cellar.

Mission Estate main entrance

The rain was just about to fall but this didn't put a dampener on our arrival at all. We meet Trevor in the tasting room and went straight downstairs to the cellar. There weren't too many cases being cellared when we visited but I really liked how the displays were set out.

Cellar display

This well is a tribute to the French missionaries who built the original homestead and established the vineyard in 1851. It also provides hydration for the wine being cellared.

Cellar well

From the other end of the cellar, you can walk out to the back courtyard of the homestead and look over the rows and rows of vines. It's no surprise that weddings are continuously held on the grounds as it's such a beautiful venue.

Mission Estate back courtyard

This is the view across the vines, moments before the rain came down. This part of the vineyard has no artificial irrigation system due to a river flowing to the right of this picture that keeps the vines permanently hydrated, even during drought-like seasons.

Vines

The former chapel has been deconsecrated and can no longer be used for weddings. It is now an elegant stand-up function room. Staff were busy setting it up for a large function when we arrived, so we moved back to the cellar door for a wine tasting.

Former chapel, now a function room

Wine tasting costs $5 and you can choose whichever wines you want to sample. You also get to take home an elegantly boxed Mission Estate-inscribed wine glass as a keepsake.

Wine highlights:

• NV Mission Fête. There's a lot to be said for wine tasting in situ. This non vintage sparkling wine was a maybe during our earlier wine tasting but a definite yes at the Mission. We came away with a bottle of it for Christmas Day dinner, where we absolutely loved it.
• 2014 Mission Estate Riesling. Once again, this aromatic riesling was a delight. We already had a couple of these bottles in our wine rack so didn't buy more but it's now a definite favourite.
• 2015 Low Alcohol Pinot Gris. Who knew low alcohol wine could actually taste good? This light pinot gris is unexpectedly fruity, tangy and smooth.
• 2015 Mission Estate Rose. A refreshing and fruity Malbec Merlot rose. This would make a great summer wine.

And then there is the award-winning Mission Estate Restaurant. Being a busy time of year (first weekend in December), the restaurant was fully booked for two of the nights we were in town. We returned for a fabulous Sunday dinner two days later, which I will eventually review on Zomato.