Off to Martinborough 29th March 2023

 Gosh, we had to have the electric blankets on last night! but we got off to a good early start to Martinborough via the Desert Road.

Yes there was a good dusting of snow on the hills and the odd snow flurry brushing the car. It surprised us that there were so many road works and detours on this route. Soon the winds came up, making the driving with a caravan very trying.

We had expected it to take about 5 1/2 hours but it was 7 hours before we made it to Martinborough. Fortunately we know the camping ground well, and had booked a very good site, and were set up in no time, and ready to go out for dinner in the Square. We chose Cool Changes as the restaurant to go to, and the meal and service (a german lass) was very good, but the stand-out was the wine. A great Martinborough Pinot Noir from Dusty Road. The vineyard doesn't have a cellar door, so we had to buy it at the Wine Centre the next Day.

After our visit to the Wine Centre - and a VERY chatty shopkeeper we headed off to Luna. The young man at the cellar door thought he knew it all, and we were disappointed with the wines. Later on we came to the realisation that Martinborough had had two very light vintages. I think they were releasing some wines too early, and we were shocked at the prices!!

Then we went to Poppies for lunch.  The Reisling had tartrates, and I asked was this usual. He offered me a new glass, I said, no, there's nothing wrong with tartrates, but we would choose to decant it ."I'll go and ask" he said. He never came to our table again.

Because it is still vintage, not all the cellar doors are open. But we went to Palliser, (liked the Pinot Noir and Riesling) and then to Nga Waka. We talked to the lady there about Mendoza Chardonnay - which we had. Their Chardonnay was a blend of clones, and we told her that when you go to Mendoza (Argentina), there is no chardonnay because of Phylloxera. She said we should try Tiwaiwaka, who still did a Mendoza Chardonnay. We went to Hawthornthwaite, which was an excellent lesson to us about not leaving selling your property too long. The elderly wife came in, and puzzled, says I don't know where my husband has gone. She goes to the toilet, and says "Are you in there???" He still does not appear. We like the gewurtz from there. and very late in the piece, the husband comes in with his sandwich which he has toddled off and made when he was supposed to be minding the shop!

The winds were very cold in the camping ground, and we were pleased we weren't under any of the trees as lots of twigs and leaves came down.

A bit of housework next morning (31st March) before heading off to Colombia for pizza and a tasting.

The pizza oven was just outside, making thick fresh bases, so we just had simple toppings to go with our shared selection of Chardonnay, Rose, Pinot Noir and Syrah. A young french couple where in charge of the cellar door, good jazzy music, and the weather was finer, although still cold. A good start to the day. Schubert was next, where we picked up a very distinctive Rose

 Next stop was Grava, and I got chatting to a group of Australians (who were also in the Motor Camp). They were from Perth "..well up the coast a bit at Mindarie" which is where Andrea, Duncan's cousin lives - in a distinctive round house, which they also knew. (We have stayed there)  So a very enjoyable stop, and the staff gave us a little tasting of local salami on toasted sourdough.

Our last stop was at Tiwaiwaka, where we had a very chatty lady. It was only about 5HA and she and her husband did the lot, vine to bottle. They had worked with Steve Smith who set up our vineyard (now owns Craggy Range).

Next morning Duncan found a wallet in the toilets. He flicked it open and saw it belong to one of the Australia men, but we didn't know which campervan was theirs, and it was too early for the office to be open. I saw them a short time after in the kitchen, and asked if they had found the wallet. "Yes, but it was empty - they'd taken all the cash, but fortunately left the cards" I was aghast to hear this, and was searching around for something sympathetic to say - I'm not sure that it was entirely appropriate "When I went to the toilets this morning, I found a Durex Condom packet.. and it was empty too." Well we all had a bit of a laugh anyway.