Day 2 of Our Napier Winery Tour

Lyn from Tauranga Tasting Tours & Charters

Day 2 of our Napier Winery Tours started at the prestigious CRAGGY RANGE. An impressive venue. Matthew showed us around the exterior of the venue & told us its history. We had a tasting outside before moving into the venue & having a further tasting in the barrel room. The wines here have a proven international track record & were partaken of enthusiastically!
At mid-day, we had an excellent tasting & lunch at BLACK BARN. We had the tasting on arrival & enjoyed the award-winning wines, The lunch choices were many & varied, on the first trip but the service, though good, was slow., because of the school holidays We had a schedule to which we had to adhere, so we were very grateful that, on our second trip, things were changed & we were given a delicious 2-course menu ( Entree & Main),
SMITH & SHETH is a venue of which many have not heard. Each year since 2008, the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association has hired Sydney-based Master of Wine, Andrew Caillard, to choose his top syrah and blended red wines from a single vintage. His latest selection features wines from the 2018 vintage.

Of the 6 syrah chosen for the 2018 Vintage Selection, two were from Smith &Sheth - The CRU Heretaunga Syrah & the S&S Cru Omaha Syrah. The presenters here were a wealth of knowledge & had been sommeliers. It waswas an outstanding presentation.

We had green olives provided & were told that they make you salivate, which improves your tasting.

PARITUA WINERY has only recently opened its cellar door.Their greatest strength is in Bordeaux-style red wines.With the help of a high-tech digital sorting machine that photographs every berry, rejecting those with imperfections, Paritua seems to be able to make good wines from challenging vintages such as 2018 and 2016, from which others would quail

It was worth visiting this stylish, modern winery’s recently-opened cellar door and many added their name to the mailing list. The bus was a bit heavier when we left this venue.