things that make my day brighter: Easter weekend wine tasting

Yesterday (Easter Saturday - is that a thing? I don't know) I went wine tasting in Matakana with my good friends Liz, Chris and Geoff. I'd been meaning to go for a long time because I'd like to know more about wine, and I was stoked that it was finally happening. I've done wine tasting before; when I was in the States I joined the UVA Law School's wine club, and they held a wine tasting with a professor who was also a wine connoisseur, and that was pretty fun. But I'm still a total wine amateur, whereas my friends are rather experienced and knowledgeable re. wine (Liz even has a wine journal where she keeps notes of the wines she likes). Anyway, I had a really fun and very educational day.

The weather was fantastic at the beginning of the day. We got a little stuck in traffic on the way up to Matakana, but we made good time in getting there. Our first winery stop was Ascension (apparently one of Liz's favourite Matakana wineries).

The wine tasting counter at Ascension.

The wine tasting deal was that we got to try any four wines on the list for $5.00. I tried a white, the rose, a red and the port (I don't remember the names of the wines, I should've written them down), but I didn't like any enough to buy a bottle. Thing I learnt about wine tasting #1: you taste white wines first, then taste red wines, and only have dessert wines and port last; if you jump around you ruin your palate and that's not good. Thing I learnt about wine tasting #2: swirl the wine, smell it, then taste it. I never knew wine coud smell so phenomenal. Thing I learnt about wine tasting #3: the smell of a wine is called its nose. Thing I learnt about wine tasting #4: it's pretty quick - you taste wines from the winery's selection, then buy any wines you like. I had initially thought that you sit down with your posse and hang out for a while as you taste the wines, but it's all done standing up by the wine tasting counter. I felt like a noob next to my friends who clearly knew what they were doing and knew what they were looking for in the wines they were tasting, but it was neat. Thing I learnt about wine tasting #5: you don't have to finish all the wine in your glass if you don't want to. You can tip it out in metal vessels that wineries have on the tasting counter.

After Ascension we drove into Matakana Village to check out the Farmers' Market. We got there just before the stalls were closing up so we flagged the plan to have lunch there and instead just had a quick look around. It was still super fun.

Making our way down to the Farmers' Market.

It was a gorgeous day.

Famers' Market entrance.

A smoothie stall, where Geoff got a
banana, lime and honey smoothie.

The Farmers' Market was still packed with people
despite it being close to closing time.

This place had awesome
passionfruit jelly and quince paste.

This place had feijoa wine! I bought a bottle.

Pumpkins.

I'm now regretting not buying any fruit jelly from Windfall Foods, it was really delicious. Next time I'll be sure to buy a couple of jars.

Geoff suggested that we have lunch at the Pottery Cafe in Morris and James Pottery and Sculptural Ceramics, so we made our way there. It's a local family business that makes handcrafted pottery and art, and they also own a cafe that's known to have amazing food. I'd recommend a visit.

Making our way to the cafe.

The entrance.

While we waited for our meals to come out
we checked out the courtyard and pottery shop.

The pottery and ceramics shop. It was HUGE.

Some old school equipment.

After lunch (where I found out that brie cheese, salmon and salad make an excellent bagel filling combination), we headed over to Omaha Bay Vineyard. This place had an amazing view out towards the Hauraki Gulf and a really nice guy who helped us with the wine tasting.

Omaha Bay Vineyard.

Really tasty wine.

I enjoyed their pinot gris and flora (another kind of white wine that I'd never tried before), and I got a recommendation from the really nice guy behind the counter about a red wine for someone who doesn't usually drink reds. He gave me a cabernet franc/malbec/something else to try and it was surprisingly good. One of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan of red wine is the earthy grit feeling it leaves in your mouth, but this variety didn't do that. I rate OBV highly! Next time we go there I'd like to sit down and enjoy the awesome atmosphere and view with a platter. And the wine tasting was free. I left feeling like a winner.

Next we went to Brick Bay. This is probably my favourite winery in Matakana. It's really pretty (especially the outdoor area) and they have great wine and good food. I remember going there in the summer of 2009 during Compass and enjoying a delicious glass of rose with good company. I had a pleasant time there yesterday as well.

Brick Bay has its own pond. Picturesque, much?

Us.

The inside area of the winery.

The pinot gris was excellent.

At Brick Bay they had three wines on the tasting list: a pinot gris, a rose and a red called martello rock. I really liked the pinot gris (then again, I think I generally like any kind of pinot gris), the rose and the red were okay. We also got to have Brick Bay honey and olive oil with bread as part of the tasting, which were delicious. Thing I learnt about wine tasting #6: a part of the flavour of a wine is this thing called tannins, which has a bit of a kick and causes you to make a face where you pull your jaw. I can't describe it any better that that.

Our final winery of the day was Ransom Wines.

The entrance of Ransom. It's like a classy fortress.

Ransom wines.

The guy that took the tasting went into a lot of detail in explaining each kind of wine to us as we made our way through the list. He was obviously very passionate and knowledgeable about wine. He was very friendly as well. At Ransom my top picks were the pinot gris (I'm sensing a pattern here), a red wine called the mahurangi (a Bordeaux blend cabernet sauvignon with merlot, malbec, cabernet franc and syrah) and grand'mere (a very sweet pinot gris, it was so good). Thing I learnt about wine tasting #7: well, it's more like a thing I learnt during wine tasting and it's quite particular to me - I don't care much for port. It tastes like sticky raisins, and I'm not a big fan of raisins. At least I know now.

We made our way back to Auckland at around 4:30pm. I felt that we'd done a decent day's work, but apparently hitting 4 wineries is a pretty lazy day. Maybe next time we'll hit up a couple more. Thing to remember for next time: ask for tasting notes and write down the wines I like and why. After each winery Liz asked me to rank the wines I tried and say why I liked certain ones, and all I could say was, "It... was yum?" I think the more wine I try and the more I learn, I'll be able to taste the subtle differences, and figure out what I like and explain in proper terms why I like those. One can hope, anyway.