New Zealand, Vol. 5

We left Nelson and headed towards Hanmer Springs, home of the thermal pools and the not so world famous Heritage Hotel. While sitting in thermal pools is someones else's idea of fun, the scenery alone is worth the trip. The fact that Hanmer Springs is about 40 minutes from the winegrowing area of Wiapara also adds to its interest.

After spending an afternoon seeing the sites of Hanmer Springs, we headed to Waipara and  pitched up at Pegasus Bay, a beautiful family owned and run winery in the heart of Waipara. We were greated in the tasting room Edward who is a family member and the marketing manager.  Edward tasted us on all the wines and we fell in love with the Riesling. It is amazing that nearly every winery produces Riesling and some delicious ones at that. I rarely found the minerality that you associate with Riesling in some areas, but the wines are full of great fruit and floral aromas.

Pegasus Bay is a beautiful winery in the heart of Waipara and besides making some nice wine, they have a fantastic venue for lunch. In fact, I would have to say that the lunch at Pegasus Bay, was one of our nicest meals in New Zealand. We selected the lunch platter for two with a glass of 2004 Pinot Noir and a glass of the Marlborough Savvy. The platter was as beautifully presented as any food we have had, with oysters, a great country pate and beautiful greek olives to name a few. We sat outside overlooking the small lake and the most difficult thing about having lunch here, was getting up to leave. It was really easy to forget time at this place as we sat in the garden and enjoyed the fresh oysters, the view and the delicious wines.

But leave we had to as we wanted to visit one more producer on our way out and it was nearly three by that time. We would have loved to visit Bell Hill, a small producer in the Weka Pass area heading into Waipara, but we had no way to contact them at that point and Bell Hill is an appointment only producer. There wines are highly sought after and their production is small. Instead, we decided to visit a producer named Daniel Schuster on our way back to Hanmer Springs.

Daniel Schuster sits on a hill with clay and limestone soils, not far from Bell Hill. The vineyard is beautiful, reminiscent of some our our own vineyards in the Northern Willamette Valley. We were greeted by Danny's wife Marie, who not only tasted through the wines with us, but sat with us on their beautiful deck overlooking the vineyard and told us all about the vineyard, their work in putting it all together and about Danny himself.

I liked the wines and I thought the 2006 Omihi Hills Selection Pinot Noir was one of the best Pinot Noir's yet, certainly the most concentrated we had tasted. After some time with Marie, Danny pulled up with a young Italian who grows Pinot Noir in Tuscany and was working the vintage with Danny, learning. And what a teacher he is. There are just times in the wine business where you feel lucky to be in the right place in the right time because you meet people that drive this business and make  you feel lucky to be a part of it.  Thas Sunday in Waipira was one of those times.

Danny Schuster is one of the more interesting people I have met in the wine business. There we were listening to Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, drinking 2006 Omihi Hills Pinot Noir, soaking up some delicious bread with olive oil and just enjoying the beautiful setting. Danny is a big Bob Dylan fan and he even had a chance to sit and have dinner with Bob Dylan. What impressed me most about Danny is his passion for wine, Dylan and just life in general. He had perspective, talking about what he had built, that it was small, but now a vineyard sits where there was nothing before.

After a bit, Danny took us into the cellar and tasted through some of his 2007 Pinot Noirs and gave us his perspective of what makes a complete wine. We tasted three different Pinots and then blended them to get to that complete wine. When we finally left, four hours after we arrived, I felt a sense of home here. The size of the vineyard, the people running it and what they had created,  all made me think of Lenné and what we have done and are trying to do. I felt a real sense of connection to growing Pinot Noir and a little homesick as well.

Danny left us with a bottle of his 2006 Ohimi Hills Pinot Noir and a bottle to share with his friend Tony Soter. I have never met Tony, but he is recognized as one of the top producers in our area after having created Etude, a very succesful brand in California. Danny also left us with more than wine, a real sense of place and the people who make it so.