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<\/a><\/p>\nWe were lucky enough to get the owner, Wayne, as our driver.\u00a0 His family has been associated with Waiheke Island since the 1840’s, so he knows the area better than pretty much anybody.\u00a0 I paid strict attention to his driving, since we are renting a car in two days, and I wanted to visualize driving on the wrong side of the road.\u00a0 Yikes!\u00a0 I visualized us dying at least twice!<\/p>\n
Wayne took us to 3 wineries, all very different from each other.\u00a0 The first one was Kennedy Point, which happens to be located at, you guessed it, Kennedy Point.\u00a0 That’s Wayne on the right.<\/p>\n
It’s a beautiful spot on a little peninsula with a pretty bay on each side.\u00a0 The wines were pretty good, but their Syrah was just ok, which was a bit dissapointing since they unabashedly talked about winning “Best Syrah in the World” in 2009 at the International Wine Challenge in London.\u00a0 I guess I’ve been spoiled by Paso Robles Syrah (Nicora in particular).\u00a0 Either that or the Brits have no idea what Syrah is supposed to taste like.\u00a0 They do drink beer at room temperature after all!<\/p>\n The tasting room is surrounded by 400-500 year old Pohutukawa (say that 3 times fast) trees.\u00a0 I’m particularly enamored with the 2nd photo, where I was able to get a slice of my finger in the shot….and this is just the first winery of the day!<\/p>\n These trees are also referred to as New Zealand Christmas Trees, since they blossom around Christmas time with bright red bottle brush flowers.\u00a0 Stock photo below.<\/p>\n We were then off to Casita Miro Vineyard.\u00a0 We liked nearly all of their wines, but again, nothing was OMG, MUST BUY!\u00a0 However, the owners visited Barcelona way back when, and loved Antoni Gaudi’s Park Guell so much that they want to replicate it here.<\/p>\n Love it!\u00a0 I also liked their wine presentation, along with the little bites of food to accompany each wine.\u00a0 The foccacia bread was so good!\u00a0 The owners wife makes it herself.<\/p>\n Casita Miro also runs a restaurant, and we came back for lunch after the final winery.\u00a0 Most of the dishes were good to excellent, with the exception of the paella, which was overcooked and needed some spice.\u00a0 Amazing to us that the best paella we have ever had was actually in Arles, France, with honorable mention to a food booth at a market in Cadiz, Spain, that only cost 2 euros.<\/p>\n The final winery was Obsidian, where we had the first wine that actually wowed me (a Pinot Gris).\u00a0 They also had a very nice Rose, but we didn’t buy anything as we are travelling light, and there are more wineries to visit.\u00a0 Very nice tasting area though, with winery dogs running around…always a good sign!<\/p>\n You get an excellent view of the Auckland skyline on your return trip.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n