Sun and fun in Paradiso

Our first night in Nelson was spent relaxing and having a few beers in our guesthouse (entitled Paradiso in case you are wondering about the heading of this trip report). We were lucky enough to be sharing a room with a Dutch guy who was as interested as we were in getting a good nights sleep so we were in bed by 10.30 pm! just like being back at school. Besides, we had our wine tour booked for the next day, so it was essential that we got our rest and up early to have a decent breakfast!

However, the much needed rest really was much needed, and so a decent breakfast wasnt quite what we had, and thus as you will see in the photos, we are looking a little too jovial! As we are aware of, its not often that Tim smiles for the camera with little convincing! That said, the real reason that we really did have fun in the sun, was that on our wine tour, we sampled around 25 wines in th space of five hours, and these tasters were often quite generous! If you think we were going to use the spitoons, think again!

The tour itself was very inforamtive and very sociable, it wouldn't be the type of tour you would choose if you are a wine buff. However, for novices like ourselves with a keen interest in wine, as we did pick up a few nice ones in Australia (where funnily enough its cheaper to pick up NZ wines!), the tour proved to be excellent in providing basic knowledge and understanding of fine wines and food, and was also a great way to enjoy the day. We visited a winery first off (Great Escape), and enjoyed a platter of finger food to appreciate what types of food go with which wines, and there was also an opportunity to sample various liquers. After, it off to Brightwater - a vineyard with its own winery where we got to see how the wine is made both the oak barrel methods and the steel barrels. Then we headed to the largest vineyard estate in the Nelson region - Waimea, where we sampled yet more wines, and finally it off to Stafford Lane, a vineyard and olive grove where we sampled various olive oils - tapas style and finished off with...yes you guessed it.....more wines. Homeward bound and it was time to finish our day with a Thai meal before getting some sleep!

Sun and fun in Paradiso

Nelson, New Zealand