Greytown

Greytown is a small town on State Highway 2, over the Rimutakas in Wairarapa. We've driven through it numerous times on the way to Masterton, Castlepoint, and Napier, but never stopped to see what's there.

Thanks to a voucher in Treatme, however, all that was about to change. With a night's accommodation at the White Swan hotel, with dinner thrown in, we decided to take advantage of the offer over the Labour Day weekend. We set out with the plan to get there in time for lunch, and found ourselves in Bar Saluté, a tapas/pizza restaurant in the middle of town. We decided tapas was the way to go as we would be dining again in the evening, so had the asparagus, squid, duck prosciutto and halloumi. These were all very well presented – no ordinary tapas, each was a mini gourmet meal in itself.  We then ruined everything by being tempted to the pudding menu, and these turned out to be quite substantial – a vanilla crème and lemon fritters.

We checked into the hotel, then set out to explore the centre of Greytown, which has a number of shops of the variety that sell things that no-one actually needs, and admired the historic tree.

In the evening, we had dinner at the hotel – scallops followed by deconstructed beef Wellington, and duck liver pâté followed by risotto. We both had the lemon tart for pudding, and by this time were feeling completely stuffed.

The next day we went out to breakfast at the Main Street Deli before looking round the historic village artefacts at the Cobblestones museum, which included an old schoolhouse. This had the primary school curriculum with exam questions on the wall, as well as rules for teachers, both of which exhibited some quaintly old-fashioned values. There was also a typical cottage from the 19th century, which housed 10 people in less space than you'd normally reserve for feline oscillation.

We then drove up to the Waiohine Gorge for a walk which involved crossing on a swing bridge. There is a cautionary notice by the bridge which advises that it swings in high wind conditions. The breeze was beginning to pick up so we didn’t hang about but got across, and then back, without lollygagging too much. The views from the middle of the bridge were pretty spectacular, up and downstream of the Waiohine river. 

Tirohana Vineyard

Sunday, my birthday, was cold and rainy. Nevertheless we decided to execute a long-held plan to drive over the Rimutakas and go to Martinborough for lunch at the Tirohana Estate vineyard. We made the drive over in the rain, and went straight to the i-site to see which vineyards were open and pick up a map, as I mysteriously lose all the maps of Martinborough that I pick up each time we visit. We decided to go to three vineyards for tastings and to purchase some wine, including one of my favourites, Schubert, where I picked up some of their 2010 pinot noir; as well as Ata Rangi and Te Kairanga. Then, as it was still early, we went back into the town centre to Café Medici for a coffee, before heading out to lunch at Tirohana Estate vineyard.

Tirohana Estate (on a nicer day)

I’d booked Tirohana as we’d visited it before and noted that it had an indoor dining room. Whilst many of the vineyards provide al fresco dining in the summer, it was a bit chilly to be sitting outside in July! But with a log fire in the dining room, we were toasty, and enjoyed a good lunch with one of their chardonnays as accompaniment. After we’d had pudding, the waiter brought out a pancake and candle with a “Happy Birthday” message in icing, and also gave me a voucher for a free main course next time we visited (terms and conditions apply, natch), which I think we’ll use in the summer.

After lunch we tried to beat the weather on the way home, as snow was forecast down to 300m, a description which includes the Rimutaka road, and has been known to be closed in heavy weather. Fortunately it didn’t start snowing until we were almost at the top of the pass, and it wasn’t cold enough to freeze and settle, so we took it nice and slow until we reached the other side and the motorway.

After a full-on dining experience over the last two days, we stayed at home on Sunday night and I cooked some of our bounty from Moore Wilson – my famous (in our house, anyway)  steak stack. We also polished off some Schubert 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot which had been burning a hole in my wine cupboard. 

Over The Hills And Far Away

On Saturday, we hired an SUV and took the parents out to Martinborough, a town to the east of Wellington over the Rimutaka mountain range. Martinborough is based around a wine economy, and there are a number of vineyards within walking distance of the town centre, although we decided to drive so as not to wear ourselves out too much. It was a lovely warm sunny day, and possibly a little too hot for extended walking.

With no particular plan in mind, we first visited the tourist information centre, who provided us with a map of the vineyards which also indicated which ones were open to the public, and which had catering facilities.

First stop was the oldest vineyard in the region, and the one that bagged naming rights: the Martinborough Vineyard. We tasted several of their wines, and I bought a couple of bottles of their pinot gris. Most of the vineyards produce a range of varietals, but the standout wines are the pinot noirs.

After that we headed round the corner to Margrain, where we tasted their sparkling wine as well as the pinots, chardonnay and rieslings. They make two very different reislings, and I picked up some of the sweeter variety for drinking with Thai food. I also got a bottle of their botrytis sauvignon blanc, which has an unusual herby flavour to it.

It was getting on to one o'clock, so next place we headed to was Vynfields, which is an organic vineyard. Despite this, we decided it was worth going to! They have a slightly different approach to marketing, and provide you with a tasting tray of wines for $15/20 (depending on how much wine you want to drink), rather than the $5 tasting fees that the other vineyards charge (which is refunded if you buy any wine). We also had lunch there – a shared platter of antipasto and cheeses with bread. Together with the wine, it made for a very enjoyable, lazy lunch out in the sunshine.

At this point I handed over driving duties to Nicola, as she had been abstaining from the tastings. We headed back into the town centre to pick up postcards from tourist information, then drove back over the mountains to Wellington.

This was our first visit to Martinborough, but I’m sure it won’t be our last – there are plenty more vineyards for us to try, and we intend to work our way around them systematically (or haphazardly, which seems more likely). Then we’ll go back to the beginning and start again.

For those of you who are interested, Martinborough Vineyards wines are available from Majestic and Victoria wine; whilst Margrain wines are available in Oddbins. Go check them out, and enjoy!