After putting in a full physical effort riverboarding in the morning, Rus and I did what any reasonable person would do on a sunny, warm afternoon: we went wine tasting.

After we found Christian and had a bit of lunch, we jumped in the car and were off.  The vineyards are located in a fertile valley (Gibbston Valley) between many mountains - about 20 minutes from Queenstown.  Central Otago, the region where Queenstown is located, is well-known for its fabulous Pinot Noirs; the grapes like the combination of the warm days and cold nights.

The first vineyard we went to was called Chard Farm.  In order to get there, we had to navigate a few kilometres down a one-lane, twisting, loose gravel road hundreds of metres above the Kawarau River (on which we riverboarded earlier in the day) - with no guard rails.  One slip or miscalculation, and we would drop straight down to meet our untimely deaths.  Combined with Christian’s aggressive driving habits, riding down this road was the most terrifying part of my day!  Not riverboarding down white-water rapids, not jumping 10m off a rock, or swinging out into a river…no, this road was by far the most extreme activity I did while in Queenstown (Rus likes me to point out that he was not at all scared.  Good on him!).

When we finally reached the winery (seemed like an eternity), we tasted some very nice wines, from sparkling all the way to a couple of lovely Pinot Noirs.  We tasted two Pinot Noirs, one meant to drink right away, and one meant to cellar for a few years.  Rus bought a bottle of each, with the condition that we put a “do not drink” label on the one meant to keep (Rus and I are new to the concept of cellaring wine; if we have it, we like to drink it!).  Anyway, I was hoping the delicious wine would help calm my nerves for the ride back up the scary road.  Since Christian was driving, he was spitting out the wines he tasted, but I was still very nervous.  As it turns out, I lived to tell.

Since the frightful experience of the “road to Chard Farm” was behind us, I could finally relax an enjoy the rest of the afternoon.  The next stop was Gibbston Vallery Winery, a commercial vineyard whose owner was one of the first to plant Pinot Noir grapes in the area.  It is also a popular tourist stop on the area’s numerous wine tours; thus, the vineyard takes full advantage and charges a fee for everything.  Instead of tasting, we each had a glass of white (a Chardonnay for Christian, a Pinot Gris for Rus, and a Sauvignon Blanc for me) on their grape vine-covered pergola patio.  Christian was determined to see their cave cellar (for which the admission was $10 per person!), so he introduced himself to the winemaker and managed to have him escort us through a back door to see it.  I saw a couple of cave cellars in Napa when I visited there, and this one was not particularly large or special; however, it was still cool to see, and even cooler that we did not have to pay the ridiculous fee to see it.  Sweet as!

Next up was the Peregrine Winery, a secluded vineyard down another loose gravel road (this one was at the bottom of the valley and very flat - no danger here).   We went in and tasted several of the nice wines at Peregrine.  One of the winemakers had been in Christian’s restaurant a few weeks prior, so Christian wanted to meet up with him.  While he was unavailable due to holiday, his partner, Jude, was happy to show us around.  We took a walk through the aesthetic barrel room and back through to the stainless steel fermenting vats.  We also peaked into the actual barrel warehouse (they had just sprayed the sulfur, which makes the wine clear, so we were unable to tour it).  Then, Jude took us to their awesome, modern, covered patio.  It is sheltered from the weather and the sun and is an area where they hold events and local concerts.  The backdrop is the untouched mountains and trees.  With the breeze blowing through and the stunning scenery, it felt like we were part of the landscape.  When we were done, we went back to the tasting room and tried a few more wines before buying a couple of bottles and continuing on our way.

Our fourth and final vineyard of the day was Arcadia, housed in a cool stone and wood chalet with an open floor plan and huge exposed beams.  We tried a couple of wines and bought a couple of bottles here too.  They charge for tasting and were quite stingy with the tastings, especially compared to the other vineyards (this irritates Christian, and I find it annoying as well).  There was a couple from Oregon tasting too; they were in New Zealand for a wedding in Auckland (way up in the North Island) but decided to check out Queenstown while they were here.  Cool!

By the time we finished up at Arcadia, the rest of the vineyards were closed for the day.  We were hungry again, so it was time to eat!  The young woman operating the tasting table at Peregrine recommended we go to a restaurant called VKnow for dinner; they have a great wine list and excellent food, she told us.  We drove back to through Queenstown into one of the residential areas down the road from the town centre.  The restaurant was plain from the outside and had just opened for dinner.  There was no one there but us, and the owner, Danny, (who pulled up right when we did), sat us and was our server.  He looked Italian and in his early 50s, with a dark tan.  Some chest hair and a gold chain could be seen where his tropical-print Bermuda shirt was unbuttoned at the top.  I might have seen him on the Jersey shore any given summer, but his Kiwi accent told me he had been here awhile.  He was pleasant and accommodating.  We ordered our meals:  Christian, seafood linguine; Rus, Mediterranean pizza; and me, venison with mushroom risotto.  All of the food was superb!

While we were finishing up, a few age 50-ish Americans came into the restaurant.  They said they were part of a group of six, and they thought the walk up the hill from their hotel to the restaurant was too long - could (Danny) please go and pick the rest of them up?  Danny actually drove to go get the rest of their group (Kiwis are so damn nice!), but they were apparently able to walk up the hill after all since they showed up just after he left to go get them.  Then, when ordering water, they had the audacity to ask the man if it was safe to drink!  The water here is actually some of the best drinking water in the world; they do not “treat” it with chlorine or fluoride, and there are no traces of pharmaceuticals.  Danny reassured them that he has the water tested monthly, and it is 99.9% pure.  Not sure if this was true or not, but I was disappointed that these people were behaving so poorly; hopefully, most Kiwis do not encounter Americans (or others) like these often.

We paid our bill, thanked Danny, and went back to hotel.   Then, we showered and watched “The Departed” on TV.  After everything we did, we were all exhausted and slept hard.  In the morning, we would be leaving to go back to Christchurch.