47: Winery Weekend

Him Outdoors was off call for the weekend. This doesn't happen often, but we had not made any plans to do anything or go anywhere, so we fell back on our default option - visiting local wineries.

We walked along the Gibbston River Trail and then visited The Winehouse and Kitchen where the staff are almost unbelieveably friendly. They chatted with us about their wines and then lead us through to the 'secret garden' where we sat in the sunshine enjoying a glass of chilled 2008 Rock Ferry Viognier.

The next day we headed out to Mt Difficulty where we met some friends for a tasting and a long lunch. I had the 'Harissa rubbed pork belly on sumac bulgur wheat with a chickpea, eggplant, yoghurt, lime & coriander salad' which was utterly excellent accompanied by a glass or two of the pinot gris. Him Outdoors had the 'Duck slow-roasted in Pinot Noir with raspberry & cassis sauce, broccolini, gorgonzola cheese & cashew nuts' which looked sublime and was apparently perfectly suited to the pinot noir.

As we sat and imbibed, a helicopter buzzed over the vineyards looking down at the setting, before the passengers phoned down and asked if there was any tables free for lunch. They were accommodated and came down from the sky to join us. It really is that heavenly.

Week Seven: Entertaining Ma & Pa

We took a trip up to Skyline to admire the stunning views - Pa and Him Outdoors walked up the hill while Ma and I rode up in the gondola. Ma was very brave walking on the observation deck so we all rewarded ourselves with a bottle of rosé.

This is the America's Cup boat which takes day-trippers out for a spin (if yachts spin, that is) on the lake. Apparently it leans right over to one side so that you can dip your toes in the water. I don't like the feeling when boats lean over when tacking into the wind, although I have been reliably informed that this is a special feature of their design. I admit to snapping (as I looked out of port holes submerged under water that were earlier focussed on the sky), "Well, it's a bloody stupid design, then!"

I'm not saying that we're alcoholics or anything, but we do enjoy our trips to the wineries. The Lazy Dog through Lowburn is a winery restaurant with very tasty food and tasting paddles of different varieties of wine. Ma is happy with her selections.

Mt Difficulty was a special request so we headed back to Bannockburn. Once again, Ma and Pa were keen to get into the spirit of tasting.

As you can see, although we made a concerted effort to drink as much of their wine as possible, fortunately there is plenty more where that came from.

Another day; another winery - this time Mt Rosa, which is open at weekends if you phone ahead, but as they are a small operation, they usually only work during the week. Their wine was very tasty and the banter flowed equally freely.

Lunch at the Winehouse and kitchen was delightful. We were all particularly enamoured of the sweet treats platter for two: white chocolate and cherry truffles; individual Eton mess; maracroon bar; peach tea and chocolate truffles; and berry cream sable biscuits - yum!