March 22

Lawrence to Cromwell

Lots of fog first thing but nothing like the same temperatures as in Middlemarch. Barbara supplies one of the village cafes with vegetables so I decided to take her and Stephen there for breakfast. This was good. Nicely poached eggs and good bacon. The slightly sub-standard coffee spoiled the effect a little.

The Wild Walnut and the fog	Good breakfast but mediocre coffee

We returned home, I packed and departed. The fog had cleared but it was still very cloudy.

There was a touch of sun at Beaumont, where I stopped to take a photo of the old bridge. Not for the first time, it is undergoing major repairs and is shrouded in plastic or similar.

I sped up the road in light traffic stopping in Ettrick for a few plums and continuing without stopping until I reached Alexandra. It isn’t an exciting town but the weather was brilliant. I found a café there for a cold drink and a sandwich before moving on again.

The road follows the hydro lake and is very pretty. I have taken dozens of photos over the years so just enjoyed the views and continued driving.

I reached Cromwell at about 2 pm and checked into the motel. It was very posh and only a couple of minutes walk from the town centre.

There, I bought a couple of bread rolls and collected a wine map from the Tourist Office. The mall is still beautifully designed, with a small stream running through the middle of it.

There is an industrial area, which plays home to a couple of wine making facilities and a couple of tasting rooms. Rockburn has a beautiful, river stone clad, building which they are soon to leave in favour of a more rural one nearer to the vines. The lady poured various wines, told me she was born and brought up in Porirua, and was beautiful. She also had a very elderly doggie asleep by her side. He was in the air conditioned tasting room as it was too hot for him outside. I fear that the wines, which were good, will be difficult to source in the UK.

I moved on to Quartz Reef, probably the ugliest winery in New Zealand but run by one of the nicest and most gifted winemakers in the country. I have met Rudi Bauer before and, whilst he had no idea who I was, he welcomed me like a long lost friend. He handed me over to Elaine, who has run the tasting room for years and who I have also met before. A couple of the house dogs inspected me. The larger one kept guard and the smaller one fled, before returning several times to see if I really was that fierce. I failed to take photos of them.
Carrick Motel - very posh	Central Cromwell
Rockburn tasting rooms	Quartz Reef

I tasted some very good sparkling wine and some very good pinot noir. All of the wines were served in Riedel glasses. There's posh.

They now make special ones for serving Central Otago pinot noirs. I wonder what the Dry River equivalent would taste like out of them? Luckily, the pinot noir is often available in the UK so I should be able to buy some more when my current stock expires.

I returned the car to the motel and walked towards the big fruit, Cromwell's most famous landmark and mission statement. The road behind the statue is very busy but I managed to cross it without any alarms and walked beside it for a few minutes before turning onto the Wooing Tree Vineyard driveway and walking a few hundred metres along it.

Cromwell's Big Fruit	Wooing Tree Pinot Noir
Wooing Tree tasting room	Otago skies

The vineyard has gone a long way since I first visited it nearly ten years ago. A very smart tasting room and restaurant is set in beautiful gardens overlooking the vines. Harvest was just beginning and there were lots of bangs from the bird scarers and lots of activity. I ordered a glass of pinot noir and drank it whilst looking over the vines.

I returned to the motel and prepared myself for dinner. This was a few minutes walk away. The café, No 7, only opened a couple of years ago, and has been under the current management for a few months. The food, wine and service were all excellent. I will happily eat there again.