Guy Fawkes Night is a thing in New Zealand as we discovered last night. It was a warm evening and very pleasant to stroll around Blenheim, using our newly acquired knowledge about Art Deco Styles and enjoying some fireworks.
This morning we were up, packed and on the bus and heading south. Our destination was the furthest southern part of the Hawke’s Bay GI, which took us through the town of Waipukurau, and onto the Takapau plains. We stopped off for coffee and to pick up a packed lunch the Paper Mulberry coffee/craft shop en route, and enjoyed the lovely sunshine.
Though the sun started to go behind clouds and eventually we did get rain, our visit was filled with sunshine. John and Jo Ashworth, the parents of Leith Ashworth who owns Ash Ridge, shared their home with us to present their Junction Wines. John had played for the All Blacks in the 70s and 80s, and had a lot of stories, which he told with great understatement. We were surrounded by rugby memorabilia, and the evidence of a family who were proud of their long Kiwi roots – John’s families came to New Zealand from Lancashire, and settled in Canterbury, Jo’s dad had flown Spitfires in WWII but spent most of it trying to escape from German POW camps!
John and Jo moved to Hawkes Bay 40 years ago, to farm sheep and cattle, and to plant some vines. John had got the taste for Pinot Noir when touring in France. As Jo said, what was supposed to be a hobby “got out of hand”. In addition to Pinot Noir they have Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Flora (which we met yesterday, a hybrid of Semillon and Gewurztraminer) and Syrah.
Our tasting, accompanied by our packed lunch, was indoors as the heavens opened at one point. Over twelve wines we learnt about their adventures over the years, their love of wine, tending to the vines and wine making. They farm sustainably but not organically, and their sheep are closely involved in leaf plucking until the Sauvignon Blanc ripens (and the grapes become too tempting). Their property is at 250m above sea level, much higher than at Ash Ridge, and this showed in the character of the wines which were more restrained and elegant.
A recurring theme, not wanting to leave a winery. John’s rugby tour stories were very good, and Jo spoke poetically about different grape varieties – I did not know that Viognier was a ‘shy flowerer’, but the term made a lot of sense (and explains why they don’t make much of it as a windy spring will pretty much wipe out the delicate flowers). We very reluctantly said our goodbyes, and felt envious of the group that Tim will bring here in a couple of weeks. But we had to keep travelling south, heading for Masterton and Martinborough.
