A busy couple of days. From Taupo we traveled east to Napier on the Pacific coast and located in the Hawke’s Bay wine appellation.

Approaching Napier we stopped at Esk Valley for a tasting and lunch. Gordon, the winemaker for 25 years, gave us an excellent overview of the area and his winemaking strategy.

Arriving in Napier, 7 of us broke off for a guided birdwatching trip. Up to this point, between Tiritiri and casual observations we probably had seen 35 species. We got 43 on the guided trip - not withstanding the ubiquitous house sparrow, all lifers for me.

Monday we had lunch at Silenli, a winery making a wide range of quality wines. In the evening, we tasted and dined at arguably one of the best wineries in NZ, Craggy Range. The winery itself was of amazing design and stunning quality of construction. The restaurant was just awarded “two hats”, the NZ equivalent of 2 Michelin stars. It was obvious.

Napier is interesting. Historically located basically on an island surrounded by marshes and the sea, it experienced a massive 7.8 earthquake on February 3, 1931. The resulting damage and subsequent fires basically leveled Napier and some surrounding towns. Also, the surrounding land and most of the adjacent bay were raised over two meters. Downtown Napier was reconstructed in the Art Deco style which was popular at that time. The result was a beautiful collage of architecture and colors. 297 people died in the quake and another 4000 injured. There were 597 more aftershocks recorded by the end of February. A massive event!

Also of interest are the Gimblett Gravels in the appellation. A massive flood in 1856 permanently changed the course of the major river in the region leaving the original delta area as a massive alluvial plain composed of stones, gravel and silt. This composition is difficult for grape vines to flourish in, which is just what grape vines need to excel. The Craggy Range sommelier showed us that rubbing two Gimblett Gravel stones together produces a smell similar to recently fired gun powder. Interesting!