An American Abroad: Sunday Funday

We have been talking about taking advantage of all of the things to do in the area recently, so Sunday we finally decided to check out some nearby vineyards. We started out thinking we would do a wine tasting or two. Who would have thought we would have found four wineries, a Buddhist temple, and a pub all in one afternoon?

We started out at Kahurangi Winery tasting their Delicious whites - Sav Blancs, Rieslings and Pinot Gris. We left with a better-with-every-sip bottle of Riesling. Down the same road was the Buddhist temple. It was so peaceful and beautiful, we just had to check it out. After spinning the prayer wheel reciting 'Om Mani Padme Hum' we headed into the temple and picked up some interesting free books (with a donation) about the ideals of Buddhism and how to live a fulfilled life. I'll let you know how they are once they've been read!

Then we headed to Woollaston Winery where we had the best red's of the day by far. They were over $30 each and we therefore did not buy any, but the 2008 and the 2006 were so good we were tempted. This was the only free tasting all day so we quickly scurried away before they convinced us to buy our favorite $35 bottle.

After that we headed to Waimea Winery. We had three tastings each and bought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Our fourth and final winery was Seifried's. We were greeted by a lovely German woman who chatted us up for about an hour while she made sure we tasted every wine that they produced! We bought a type of wine we hadn't had before, Gruner Veltliner, an Austrian grape. It was really nice and different from any other type we've had before.

We topped off a perfect afternoon at the Moutere Inn Pub with a glass of wine for me and a beer for Luke and a big giant bowl of fries/chips.