Diwine inspiration
Truffles, chardonnay, rich cuisine, and a touch of healthy grub, too – what could be better on a foodie’s weekend away in the sun soaked Hawke’s Bay wine region, asks Sharon Stephenson.
An Irishman, an Englishman and an Australian walk into a bar. Anywhere else that would be the start of a bad dad joke, but at Napier’s Urban Winery, it’s just another lively Saturday night.
We’ve popped into the semi-industrial enclave of Ahuriri to check out this winery/bar where winemaker Tony Bish exclusively produces chardonnay (hence his nickname, the King of Chardonnay).
I don’t think I need to explain the joy of chardonnay to anyone. It’s creamy, buttery, crisp and all those other adjectives wine types like to throw around.
It’s also a great way to make friends with the Irishman, the Englishman and the Aussie sitting at the communal table, all of whom came to Hawke’s Bay for a season’s harvest and never left. We talk of past travels, of what makes the Bay so great, and the post-Covid topic du jour – how lucky we are to live where we do.
Surely everyone knows Napier’s backstory, but here’s a quick recap: one warm day in 1931, twoand-a-half minutes of extreme shaking came to define this city by the bay. The subsequent rebuild produced what is now one of the world’s best art deco centres, although these days Napier’s innovative cuisine and award-winning wines draw just as many visitors as the architecture.
The Urban Winery is one of those places. Housed in the art deco-inspired former National Tobacco Building, Bish makes wine in giant eggshaped barrels, including a stunning French oak variety that will change the way you think about winemaking. Next door is the bar where the stars include his Fat & Sassy chardonnay.
With respect to other New Zealand wine regions, you can’t go past the beauty of Hawke’s Bay’s wineries.
To the north of Napier is a roll call of famous names – Craggy Range, Te Mata Estate, Black Barn, and Villa Maria – every one more picturesque than the last.
Putting Mission Estate Winery at the top of that list is a bit like calling Lewis Hamilton a pretty good driver. The birthplace of New Zealand’s wine industry reclines across a few hectares of gently rolling land, where French missionaries planted vines in the mid-1800s. At some stage, they added the gracious Mission villa where Sunday lunch is in full swing when we arrive.
At first we feel underdressed but soon forget our sartorial gaffe as we hoover ricotta tortellini and caramel brulee, washed down with a delicious 2020 Reserve Chardonnay.
Figuring calories don’t count when you’re on holiday, it’s a short detour to Mister D where the stars of the show are doughnuts – big, fat, deepfried indulgences, which more than 12,000 punters annually inject with cognac, vodka and rum (though there are also child-friendly versions).
If, for some weird reason, doughnuts aren’t your jam, order the chilled sweetcorn soup or grilled octopus, and feel a little bit smug that your jeans will still fit tomorrow.
I’m not a fan of crayfish, not because I don’t like its taste, but because I’m supremely lazy and don’t want to have to work for my food. It’s the same logic I’ve used for never going on a truffle hunt, preferring someone else to find and shave the delectable little fungi for me.
But at Sacre Monte Truffles in Puketapu, near Hastings, Kees van den Munckhof is trying to convince me otherwise. It’s raining, we’re in a muddy paddock, and my gumboots aren’t as waterproof as I‘d been led to believe. We’re following Teddy, van den Munckhof’s black Labrador, as he sniffs his way around trees, trying to root out lumps of what’s been called black gold.
Van den Munckhof and partner Wendy Hutchins planted half a hectare in oak and hazelnut trees in 1996. Now, their trufferie is full of the expensive nuggets (in 2014, someone in the United Kingdom spent about $85,000 on a 1.8kg Italian white truffle, which is a lot to spend on a mushroom).
During our 90-minute hunt, Teddy uncovers three knobbly Perigord black truffles which, according to van den Munckhof, can often fetch up to $2500 a kilogram. Later, we have them shaved over scrambled eggs, one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had.
It’s been a few hours since we last wet our
whistles, so we head to Smith & Sheth’s uberstylish Heretaunga Wine Studio, which is easier said than done, thanks to a GPS that seems to have lost its mind. We finally find the studio, tucked into the back of Havelock North’s Porters Boutique Hotel.
The tasting room is the kind of place you would expect to find in California’s Napa Valley, with a flash barrel cellar, lounge, and theatre where we watch a beautiful film about the label’s winemaking across the country, before we sample the delicious drops.
A visit to Hapı¯ is a chance to bring some balance back into our diets. Homeopath Gretta Carney’s healthy kai caters for vegans, gluten-free and picky eaters, and does extremely clever things with local ingredients. That includes paleo toast smothered with cultured cashew cheese, washed down with a cold-pressed organic turmeric elixir.
The Irishman, Englishman and Aussie had told us not to leave town without visiting local institution Bistronomy, so we do. One smoked ku¯ mara soup and venison tartare later and I want to move into this award-winning eatery that will refresh even the most jaded palates.
There’s just time for the last stop to toast our weekend of eating and drinking – at cutely named Monica Loves. If hipsters and art deco had a child, this is what it would look like – an industrial warehouse, tucked down an alleyway where a big neon sign asks ‘‘who shot the barman’’.
It’s a well-known fact that the best places are off the beaten track and that’s definitely the case at this Tennyson St bar.
We nibble on fish tacos and wonder what the mystery ingredient is in our martinis (is it celery juice?)
Not that it really matter because, like everything else we’ve sampled this weekend, it’s pretty amazing.