The Dynamic Trio - Blog

Yesterday hubby and I visited Villa Maria Estate, which is a hop, skip and a jump away from central Auckland. I hadn’t visited before but they have a small vineyard (the main grape crop is grown elsewhere in New Zealand) along with a restaurant, wine tasting, a conference center and during the summer they have concerts. Joe Cocker is appearing there later this month.

The view from the restaurant area is beautiful and it’s difficult to believe how close to the city we were. The acutal estate is built inside an old volcanic crater. Auckland is built on a field of dormant volcanoes. If you’ve visited my blog before you’ve probably heard me mention this since volcanoes fascinate me.

The wine was pretty good, too. I sampled the Pinot Gris, which is my current favorite, while hubby tried the Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot.

Villa Maria was the first wine company in New Zealand to use screwcaps. These days all our wine in New Zealand (and Australia) is bottled with screw tops since this makes for consistent wine with no loss due to corkage. If you live in the States and see a New Zealand made bottle of wine with a screwcap don’t disregard it as cheap and nasty. It’s the modern way of bottling wine from Downunder. Personally, I find the screwcaps very convenient, especially to take on a picnic. If you’ve ever forgotten the corkscrew, you’ll immediately see the benefits of a screwcap. I know I’ve spoken to wine waiters in restaurants who prefer the corks because they can do their whole showy opening act but they are a decreasing number.

Villa Maria Estate is a beautiful spot. We found it quiet but hear that things liven up in the afternoons during the weekend. There’s plenty of room for kids to run around, although you need to keep an eye on them because of the water features. I loved all the trees and the native plants they’d used in their gardens. It was a lovely outing and I hope to make a return visit soon.