Thank you to all the people who responded to my original email wanting help with long-haul reads and films. You will find their suggestions (and my own strategy) below. Some friends had only good wishes but no inspiration, while others could barely contain their excitement: ------------------------------------------------------------------- JW: Have you seen Boyhood? It's terrific and would … Continue reading What would you read or watch on a long haul flight?

Queenstown is a long way from home, as this much photographed sign indicates. The flight from Christchurch in a medium sized plane - but with propellers - gave us fantastic views of the southern half of South Island. The colour of the ground water was exactly as shown - testimony to the clear air, the … Continue reading Gorges and Gold: Central Otago

The three great advantages  of Central Otago for wine-making were all there for us to see (and feel): clear, clean air, bright sunlight with a very high ultra violet count, and terrific day/night temperature variation (29.2 deg C in the day time down to 0.2 deg C at night had recently occured). The clarity of this … Continue reading Central Otago – Felton Road

Christine Donaldson has a lot to answer for! It was her Christmas present in 1966 (Hugh Johnson's Wine) to her husband Ivan that sent them on a life's journey making wine; it was her love of opera which has resulted in some very original names for their special bottles (Bel Canto, Prima Donna, Aria, Maestro, … Continue reading Fabulous Pegasus Bay

From Blenheim and Renwick we drove due north on highway 6, along the Kaituna river valley towards Havelock, sorely tempted by the Marlborough Sounds to the north east, but resisting them in favour of the Pelorus river valley to the west, and then north again towards Rai, and over the Bryant range to reach Nelson, … Continue reading Beyond Nelson to Neudorf

I can't help thinking that Sion Barnsley, the general manager at LDH, seen below, is looking a little warily at that bottle of Syrah from a neighbouring winery. The issue may be the closure.... And we were late. But Sion was charming none the less, and took us into the cellar door to meet Marcus … Continue reading Lawson Dry Hills

Names matter. 'Nautilus' no doubt speaks to this winery's founder. It's the name of a very ancient sea creature, sometimes referred to as a living fossil, whose shell exhibits a mesmerising and precise pattern, sometimes referred to as a logarithmic spiral. The illustrations below show a hemishell with camerae in a logarithmic spiral; and the … Continue reading Nautilus – an orderly miracle of nature

Will Hoare, chairman of the Family of XII, and father of three little girls under five one of whom is a matter of weeks old, met us on Saturday morning with a broad grin and a scarce ticket for the Sauvignon Blanc conference before bundling us in his Land Rover, and heading for the hills. … Continue reading Fromm – doing things a different way

We left Ata Rangi on Friday afternoon keen to catch a glimpse of Wellington (about which everyone spoke so positively) but more intent on returning the car and making the 17.00 flight to Blenheim on time. The roads were busy but traffic flowed, right through the city and along the waterfront and round the far … Continue reading Island hopping – over Cook Straits

    'Martinborough is a quirky little village with a majestic square at its heart.' Highway 53 ends here, as it runs into a square whose roads and paths are said to have been organised along the lines of the union flag. And couldn't be safer, making one's way from the zebra crossing into the … Continue reading Quirky Martinborough?