Staying in luxury at the Langham Hotel gave us a good vantage point to explore what the city had to offer.
The Auckland Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.
We were pleasantly surprised by some of the unique speciality food and drink venues that the city has on offer.
This must be one my favourite places for lunch and judging by the lunchtime crowds the locals must agree. Elliott Stables in Elliott Street is a fantastic collection of little cafes and restaurants. It is organised with restaurants and cafes around the edges of a seating area. While you order and pay at each place, meals are delivered to your table. There is even a bottle shop and a well stocked whisky/whiskey shop. An added bonus is the Kapiti Dairy shop on the corner for some ice cream or cheese.
For such a petite city the nightlife had some surprising atmosphere we enjoyed having a few drinks at the Northern Steamship Co. Brewbar which is located in the 130year old headquarters of the Northern Steamship Co. Of particular interest were the upside down floor lamps(real retro) which made it even more funky not to mention the fabulous Macs beer. They even have pots of hop plants growing, very apt for a brew bar.
Vulcan Lane was another great place to spend time when you are hungry and thirsty. All manner of food and drink is available in this heritage lane. With the establishments also retaining the heritage feel in their decor. Laneways such as this is something that Sydney desperately lacks. Even the adaptation of heritage bank buildings in to restaurants was a great reuse of spaces. One such example that we stumbled upon was O’Connell Street Bistro. Ambience is as important as the food and O'Connell Street Bistro does both really well.
The highlight of our holiday was definitely a private tour of Villa Maria Estate’s Auckland Winery. The winery was founded in 1961 by George Fistonich who, through his dedication to quality, has led Villa Maria to become the New Zealand wine icon it is today. Villa Maria Estate is New Zealand's most awarded winery and remains proudly family owned.
The winery is not far from Auckland airport so we hired one of the cute Langham cars (Toyota IQ) to get there.
The Auckland vineyard is situated at the winery site in the base of an extinct volcano, on the Ihumatao peninsula in Mangere.
Twenty hectares of vines are planted. Auckland enjoys a warm coastal climate without extreme temperatures.
The vineyard park with its volcanic soils, is planted with Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Verdelho. The vines are predominantly Gewurztraminer as the variety has a history of producing excellent examples of this style in the region.
We met Mary Winstone, Ville Maria’s guest co-ordinator who took us through to meet Mark Polglase(cellar door manager) and Ian Clark(export and PR manager). We left Mark to organise the wines for us while Ian took us on a tour of the Villa Maria production facilities. Villa Maria’s very modern and efficient facilities were amazing to see. The use of eco friendly systems for lighting, heating and cooling was very interesting to observe.
Bottling was exciting sight to, even more so given the focus on sustainability. Rather noisy in the bottling room as they fill and cap around 12,000 bottles per hour.
Now we turned to the serious side of the visit, the wine tasting and we weren’t disappointed. We arrived at the tasting table to be confronted by 12 bottles of wine lined up ready for us. Unfortunately Vikki was driving, so she could only taste and spit while I got to really enjoy the selection chosen for us. The wines we tasted were:
Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Villa Maria Cellar selection Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Villa Maria Reserve Wairau Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Villa Maria Private Bin Pinot Gris 2010
Villa Maria Cellar Selection Pinot Gris 2010
Villa Maria Private Bin Chardonnay 2010
Villa Maria Reserve Barrique Fermented Chardonnay 2009
Villa Maria Private Bin Pinot Noir 2009
Villa Maria Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2009
Villa Maria Private Bin Merlot 2009
Villa Maria Private Bin Syrah 2008
After our tasting session we were invited for lunch in the Villa Maria restaurant. Set in the cellar room which opens on to a broad terrace, it has a spectacular view of the vines. Not only do they operate the restaurant but there are also several options for functions depending on size. Vikki had wild pork and game rillete with plum, apple and ginger relish, poppy seed toast and micro salad, while I had seared tuna pepper crusted with anchovy, basil, roast capsicum and caper salad followed by oven baked lamb rack with crushed new potatoes, bean, olive and truss tomato salad,
tahini dressing, we ended with lemon tart. All very delicious and enhanced by the beautiful views and wines. After that it was back to the hotel for a much needed afternoon nap.
We had a relaxing, slightly wet, but quick week of enjoying some of what Auckland had to offer. We will definitely be heading back again to explore more of Auckland and New Zealand.
As the Maori would say: Ka kite anō (see you again!)
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