We made a day trip to Waiheke when we were in Auckland for
Christmas 2015, and decided this time to have a longer stay, and hire a car
rather than rely on the somewhat infrequent bus service around the island. We
caught the ferry over, and called our car hire company, Waiheke Island Motors. Which turned out to be a
guy calling himself Julian, although I suspect he was probably Juliano, as he
looked and talked South American.
Julian directed us to a rather old Nissan Maxima which
was, frankly, in a bit of a state. None of the big car hire companies operate
on Waiheke, as it’s too small, and there are just a couple of local operators
with a fleet of ageing vehicles. This particular one had the seat adjustment
bar broken off completely, so I couldn’t move it back at all, and spent the
weekend driving around like an idiot with my knees up by my elbows.
Nevertheless, we set off and found our accommodation in
Onetangi easily enough. We had time for a quick check-in before setting out for
the evening’s dinner, at The Shed at Te Motu, a vineyard that we’d noticed
passing on the way in. It was about five minutes’ drive away. They were doing a
set four-course dinner with wine matches, and it was all very tasty and well
presented. The wine waiter was a Californian chap called Brian, and he was very
knowledgeable about the wines he was serving, which included a 1999 Te Motu – a
blend of cabernet, merlot and cabernet franc. Not one that is normally
available to the public, so I made the most of it.
The next day we set out early for the beach and a morning
swim, before heading to breakfast at Charlie Farley’s, one of two cafés on the
waterfront. We weren’t in a massive hurry as most vineyards don’t open until
about 11am, so after a leisurely start we drove round to Passage Rock vineyard,
which is nestled above a little bay on the south of the island. Unfortunately
there’s no access to the sea as it’s all cliffs round that side of the island.
We tasted several wines and chatted with the winemaker, an English woman who’d
lived and worked in France before moving to New Zealand. We discussed England and
cheese, especially the unavailability of certain varieties. The wines were very
good, as they are the most awarded winery on the island – in retrospect, it may
have been a mistake to start there!
We hung around at Passage Rock taking photos, as the next
winery on our itinerary didn’t open until 12. It wasn’t a long drive to Poderi Crisci, which, as you might guess from the name, is an Italian-influenced
vineyard, growing some varietals which aren’t available anywhere else in New
Zealand – such as Arneis, which has a smell like burnt matches or gunpowder, and
is supposedly very good with fruit. We didn’t have any fruit. An acquired
taste, no doubt, and probably needs to be served in the right setting to get
people to properly appreciate it. The tasting room, La Locanda, is separate
from the Italian restaurant, which was soon filling up to bursting, as it was a
sunny Sunday lunchtime. We left them to it, and drove to Casito Miro, another
European-inspired vineyard that we’d visited last time we were on Waiheke. They
were full too, but managed to get us a table after a 10-minute wait. We had a
lunch of tapas there, but, given the crowds, decided not to try their wines
again. I seem to recall from last time that their tasting is a bit desultory as
well, with no real opportunity to discuss the wines with the maker, so I didn’t
feel we were missing out.
After a hard morning’s tasting we decided to head back to
Onetunga for a relaxing afternoon.
We still haven’t been to all the wineries on Waiheke, so
next year we’re planning to do two Shakespeares and spend more time on the
island in between.
