Blog

Sunday, May 4th:  Rain, rain...go away!  We arrived today in a very beautiful city...Auckland, New Zealand.  On the outskirts of town, between the airport and the city, is very country-like.  People who were riding with us in the airport van said just a few short years ago the airport was a cow pasture where people would drive up and park their cars on the grass.  Things have changed!  Auckland is a bustling city which houses the University of Auckland.  We started our touring there today because the grounds look like an arboretum.  Jim just couldn't stop talking about the trees.  Some must be several hundred years old. As you can see by Jim's umbrella, it was raining.  Tomorrow we are signed up for a wine tour.   

Monday, May 5th:  Today was a very beautiful, sunny day!  Our wine tour guide, Phil Parker who is the owner of Fine Wine Tours, has a website www.insidertouring.co.nz .  He has a new book coming out soon from Random House called Weekends For Mad Keen Wine Buffs.  Phil took us to three wineries.  The first one was Kumeu River Wines which sells about 15,000 cases of wine a year and the wine was great!  The second winery was called Nobilo which sells (hold on) three million cases a year and the wine was very good.  The third winery was West Brook which sells 50,000 cases of wine a year and the wine was light in taste.  In this wine growing area they do not irrigate their vines because they have an annual average rainfall of 36 inches. We are bringing wine home for the winemakers to taste.

Wednesday, May 7th:  Welcome to Melbourne, Australia!  This is the city of the old and new together.  There are beautifully preserved buildings of the 1800's and older surrounded by new skyscrapers.  Our hotel told us we could ride the local transit system for free... we wanted to see the city.   We hopped on and rode across the city and back until the driver noticed we were still on the trolley.  It turned out it wasn't free and they don't take cash, so we got off.  As you can see by the red tree, it is fall in Australia.  It really is pleasant here and the weather is mild.  The church in the picture is 150 years old.  More pics in the photo gallery.  Buy the way, we are a day ahead of you because we crossed the international date line.  Tomorrow we are taking a tour of the countryside.  Hopefully we will get to visit wineries.  Just wanted to mention that even though we are having a wonderful vacation of a lifetime, I really miss the USA!  Home sweet home.

 Thursday, May 8th:  Hi Everyone!  Hope everything is going good where ever you are.  Today we took a tour of the Beach Road.  It was the best!  The above picture is an area we saw today called The Twelve Apostles located in the Tasmanian Ocean.  It was inspiring and very beautiful.  We visited several surfing beaches which is most of the beaches.  Tomorrow we will tour wineries, ride the train, and have a delicious lunch.  Take care!

Friday, May 9th:  Fun day!  Took another tour and visited three wineries.  We had lunch at the first winery, Fergusson Winery,  which was included in the price of the tour.  The lunch was really fantastic!  It was sliced roast beef with roasted veggies.  It was the best food we have had on our trip.  Everyone enjoyed wine tasting and shopping in their gift shop.  Our favorite winery of the day was a champagne house called Moet-Chandon.  We had a tour of the facility with sampling of the champagne.  I chose their sweet champagne and Jim had the Brut.  Very good!!!  On the way back to Melbourne we saw quite a few kangaroos.

There are many things happening at the winery.  Jim and his son Joe are preparing acreage for a new vineyard.  They are ripping, bulldozing the soil, and using the earthmover to smooth it out.  It takes alot of time and work to prepare for a vineyard.

On Sunday, April 27th, a good time was had by all of our 200 guests and wine club members who attended the "Blessing of the Vine."  We had a delicious lunch with BBQ ribs and chicken plus cranberry and apple cobbler topped with french vanilla ice cream.  Our favorite priest was on hand to bless the vines.  There was a tractor-pull tour with our antique 1922 John Deere tractor.  The trailer that everyone sat in was once owned by the original Callaway Winery.  It was used to take the farm workers out into the field everyday to work the vines.  The guests toured our sparkling wine facility. We enjoyed beautiful music which included one of my favorite violinists, Diego Mondragon.  You may view pictures of the party by clicking on "Gallery of Friends."  Be sure to watch for our next party "Blessing of the Wine" in late summer.  Last year we did grape stomping!

We had a special event on Wednesday, Apricl 16th for the wine club members.  It was all about our new sparkling wine 'Muscato Spumonte.'  It is delicious...sweet and fruity!  Yum!  There were many delicious desserts to taste with the new release.  You may see a photo of yourself and others who attended the special event on our 'Gallery of Friends' page.

On May 16th there is a wonderful event going to happen at the winery called the 'Spring Fling' put on by Michelle's Place.  This event is very near and dear to my heart because it raises money for breast cancer.  There will a dinner, silent auction, and entertainment.  You can dance the night away.  

Have you come by to see the spring flowers at the winery?  They are beautiful and fragrant!  Everything is blooming. 

Maggie Carter