Renwick, New Zealand

. . . So the grapes will grow and they can make more wine. (Apologies to Dean Martin)

Yep, we did it – toured the vineyards around Renwick by bicycle today. We did about 20 kms (about 12 miles). And it did indeed rain while we were out, but not continually nor very hard. The temperature wasn’t too bad, some wind and so we had a good time.

Check out the video of Judy on her bike in the pictures.

We ended up visiting five wineries, sampling the goods at each. We took it easy on the quantity each time so we only weaved across the highway just a wee bit. Some of our route was along two-lane roads with no bike lane (some did have a bike lane) with the standard NZ rural speed limit of 100 km/hr (about 60 mph). But the locals are used to crazy Bike-2-Wine tourists so it wasn’t too scary.

In travel there are some constants, things that work the same no matter where you go. Today’s vineyard visits were just like those in California, New York, Virginia, South Africa and other places where we’ve tasted over the years with the exception that only one charged us a fee. Of course the wines are different. For one thing, the wines in this region are mostly whites. Pinot Noir is about as far red as they go and those are generally on the lighter side. But the souvignon blancs, pinot gris and Rieslings are quite nice. Judy had no problem finding several on the sweeter side that she liked.

There is one type of creativity (actually many types) that I’ll never master: picking out descriptions for wines. You know, “hints of mackerel, overtones of moth balls with a delightful compost heap finish.” That kind of thing. Where they come up with those descriptions is beyond me. It ranks right up there with names of paint colors. Every paint company has a never ending palate of colors, each with a name that suggests some feeling or taste that the color is supposed to invoke.

We’re off to dinner at a vineyard this evening, one we didn’t visit during the day. It’s supposed to be good (and having just returned, it was very good). Last night we had a fun dinner at the Keg and Cork British Pub right here in town. The service was terrible – it took over 40 minutes to get our lamb shank dinners. But the food was great and we really didn’t mind the wait since they had the Maori All Blacks (not the top All Black team – this team’s members are all Maori, some of whom play for the All Blacks) on the telly. They were playing a US team in Chicago. The USA team got whummped. Badly. This was apparently a demonstration match to garner interest in rugby in the US. We’ve got a long way to go to make it through test matches some day. We watch it every chance we get and it’s a sport that grows on you. I wouldn’t like my little grandsons playing it, however. Far too violent!

Tomorrow we’re going seaside – Kaikoura and the Albatross Encounter boat trip. The forecast is for sunny skies, cool (60 degree) temperatures and not too strong winds. Should be fun!