Napier Update number two

The divinely splendid weather continues again. It is going to be very very hard to return to Auckland after all this brilliant sunshine and local hospitality. Not to mention having to return to a working 5 days a week!

Day 3 Continued:

• Dinner at The Old Church - this had come recommended both by a friend of Simon's and also by our Hotelier. And oh my word I am so pleased we acted on those recommendations. What a fantastic place! The church has been lavishly, even decadently furnished, with a great attention to detail. It felt quite medieval, especially drinking out of beautiful, big, slope sided glass goblets. The service was friendly and very professional, and the food quite exceptional. I had a goats cheese salad to start, while Simon had oysters 3 ways. Both were great. For mains - Roast Eye Fillet for me and Duck for Simon - again, both were lovely, and the Cauliflour Gratin side was delicioius. Dessert - 'St Mary's Sin' - a decadent chocolate ensemble for Simon and Lemon Curd Tartlet with Raspberry Semifreddo and Aloe Vera jelly for me. Again, both were wonderful. Do NOT miss this restaurant if you are in the region!

Day 4:

• Brookfields - John was so welcoming, so genuine and so passionate about his wines! And continually reaching for something from the shelves and saying, 'ooh, yes, you have to try this too, this is quite special' - and usually he was right! "Good friends deserve good wine". Thanks John!
  
• Park Estate - only 4 wines on tasting, not an especially memorable cellar door experience, however Simon appreciated tasting another Gamay Noir here.
• Black Barn for lunch - tasted the wines, but didn't buy. Lunch was lovely - we'd had a late breakfast and the heat was enormous so we both had the prawn and melon salad entree for our lunch - it was beautiful and perfect for the day. I then had the Lemon Tree - a trio of lemon desserts - Lemon Semifreddo, Lemon Z Jelly and lemon tartlet - all nice and zesty.
• Ngatarawa Estate - met a lovely couple travelling through NZ from LA here. Cellar was kind of like a rustic barn setting which was really nice! Love their Farmgate series - not necessarily for the wine, but for the stories behind them and their great labels. Loved their lily pond too - picture for your viewing pleasure below.
  
• Finally Matariki. Trevor welcomed us in like old friends and continued in that vein. another interesting sweet wine here.

And based on recommendations from friends on Facebook, we're booked in to Craggy Range's Terroir restaurant for dinner tonight. May yet update on that once we get back.