Wine and Art Day

Monday February 18 was a stellar day in Nelson.  Blue sky and sunny all day with a high of 24C.  We got up early, had breakfast and then went for a walk into town prior to getting picked up at our Airbnb for our wine tour at 11:00 a.m.   We found a lovely little street (Church Street) about five minutes away that had two coffee shops, a jewellery store and a book store.  We stopped for a coffee at Flock.

Great sign outside coffee shop

 We had our coffee outside.

Inside- busy at 10:15 a.m.- coffee, pastries and food

Around the corner was another small street (with no exit), called South Street.  It is New Zealand's oldest fully preserved street consisting of cottages dating from 1863 originally built as homes for local tradesmen.  The restoration of the street took place between 1998-2001 by the Nelson Civic Trust in partnership with the residents, City Council and some businesses.

Signage at one end of South Street

Looking up South Street

Alice Cottage

Clovers

Sojourn Cottage 1865

Alain in front of another restored cottage on South Street

We went back to our Airbnb, where we were picked up by Jim from Day Out tours.  We were the only passengers and Jim had a number of options for our wine tour.  Jim was born in Argentina to UK parents; moved to the UK in the 1960s, spent some time in the US, and emigrated to Nelson about 20 years ago.  He is retired from the oil and gas industry and is doing the tours for the summer months.  Very interesting and engaging guy.

There are two terroirs near Nelson-- the Waimea Plains and the Moutere Hills.  We ended up going to three wineries in the Waimea Plains as there have been serious fires about 30 km south of Nelson and some of the roads were closed to the wineries in the Moutere Hills.  We started at Brightwater Vineyards run by Gary and Valley Neale.  They have had many award-winning wines and recently had their 2018 Sauvignon Blanc carried at the LCBO!!

Vineyard at Brightwater--- gorgeous setting with Moutere mountains in the background

Valley Neale, one of the owners

Sauvignon Black- 5 Stars

We liked all the wines, especially the Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé and Pinot Noir.

We tasted the Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Sophie's Kiss Rosé (named after their daughter) and a Pinot Noir

We showed Valley the LCBO app and looked up her wine.  It was all sold out!  She had shipped the wine in November, so not a surprise that it had sold out by February.

There was a wine glass in a case with a lipstick mark--- Camila, the Duchess of Cornwall, had sampled Brightwater's Pinot Noir.

When Royalty sips...

After Brightwater Winery, Jim drove us to Royce McGlashen's pottery studio.  Royce is one of New Zealand's leading Potters qualified as a Master Potter in 1971.  Royce is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (Geneva) and in 1989 received an M.B.E. for his services to pottery in New Zealand.  His current focus is to produce a range of functional ware that is evocative of New Zealand shells and flora and fauna.

Alain deciding on a coffee cup for his collection

Beautiful pod shapes

The studio 

Royce McGlashen with fans

Wonderful shapes

We got a Pipi Bowl (cockle shaped)

We next went to Kaimira Wines, an Organic Winery since 2013.  We tasted a Sauvignon Blanc, a Gewürztraminer, and a Pinot Noir.  All were very good.

Cellar Door- lovely tasting room

Pouring our wine

Vines at Kaimira- another gorgeous setting

We then stopped for lunch at Jellyfish on the Mapua Wharf.  The Mapua Wharf used to be the hub of the local apple growing industry, with orchardists bringing their fruit by horse-drawn carts to the Wharf, to be loaded into boats and transported to markets overseas.

The wharf area has been recently developed to house a number of restaurants, coffee shops and stores.  Great chocolate, jewellery, coffee, a brewery and place to get fish and chips.  Mapua means plenty in Māori. The motto of the area is "Mapua Wharf- Wish You Were Here".  Lovely locale for our lunch stop.

Outside of Jellyfish

View from our table

Lovely setting on the Waimea Estuary

Paradise at Jellyfish

Alain marking the map

Enjoying our mussels and green salad

We made a stop at Rabbit Island Coffee across the street from Jellyfish.  The store was selling their beans and coffee gear.

 Rabbit Island Coffee

Beans

Their coffee was served by a neighbouring restaurant called Alberta's.  Alain ordered us coffee and I went to a nearby jewellery store that the person working at Kaimira had told us about.

Jeweller from Forest Fusion Functional Art

Jim then took us to Höglund Art Glass.  Beautiful shop and glass made by two Swedish born artists- Ola Höglund and Marie Simberg-Höglund.  They have been in New Zealand since 1982 and their glass has been exhibited world-wide.  There were some stunning pieces and a wide range of prices.

The gallery was beautiful

Glass penguins

A masterpiece for $10,000

Beautiful pieces- $95

Lovely designs and colours

Outside of glass gallery

We then went to Te Mania and Richmond Plains wineries which share a tasting room and a winemaker, but are owned by two families.   Richmond Plains produced New Zealand's first certified Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.  Te Mania is working towards certification.

Alain kicking the world's biggest grapevine rugby ball outside the winery

Another small lovely tasting room.

Outside of Tasting Room

We tasted a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay and a Red Blend.  We really liked the Richmond Plains Chardonnay and purchased a bottle.  It had won a gold metal in a New Zealand organic wine competition.

Jim then drove us back to our Airbnb taking the picturesque route past the Nelson beach (too far to walk from town).

Nelson beach

We were back at around 3:00 p.m.  It was a wonderful 'Day Out'.

Jim with Alain

It was such a nice day that we wandered back to town.  We stopped and bought a few rabbit cards done by a local artist, who moved to Nelson in 2008.

Barbara Franklet- artist

We went back to Church street to check out Volume Books--noticed a sign that said Church Street Bohemian Quarter.

Very nice bookstore

Then we went back to Flock, the place we had coffee this morning and shared a delicious boysenberry sorbet.

Outside of Flock

Boysenberry sorbet- very good

We took one more picture of the park with the Cathedral and bell tower- about 5 minutes from our Airbnb.

Very beautifully landscaped park

We started our pack and then had a pasta with fresh tomato sauce, green beans and a salad and the last of the bottle of Merlot.  A cyclone is forecast for Nelson on Friday.  Glad we will miss that, but the locals are hoping for a heavy rain.  Nelson is a very special place. We have really enjoyed our time here.  We leave for Kaikoura on Tuesday February 19.