Napa & Sonoma

We live in an area with twenty or so small wineries. They make some
pretty decent wine. However, the Napa and Sonoma areas are the big
guns of viticulture on this side of the country. If you were seriously
into wine, you could easily spend a week here, touring the wineries,
tasting the wine and overall soaking up the rural atmosphere. Most
of the wine was way beyond our price range, but we did enjoy driving
the area and looking at the vines, fields and really pretty scenery.

Meadowbank Estate

Tasmania isn't internationally known for it's wine, but it's an up and
coming player and we thought it would be a good idea to check out
one of the wineries north of Hobart. After doing some research, we
decided to visit the Meadowbank Estate Winery. It was set in really
pretty country that was rolling hill country with nearby bays.


It isn't a huge winery, which is not all bad, because it's what they
produce, and not just how much they produce is what matters.
Their facilities were pretty new and there was even a place where
you could have lunch while enjoying their wine.


We tasted about half a dozen of their variaties, liking one of
their Pinot Noir varieties the best. We were going to buy a couple
of bottles and ship them back home. However, we found that the
US is one of the countries that doesn't allow that. I guess it's to
protect local wine growers. Fortunately, we found out that they
sell their wine in about half a dozen states in the US, including
Colorado and Utah! We can enjoy Meadowbank Estate at home!

Wine Tasting

Tonight, along with our friends Anna, Heather and Pauli,
we attended a Wine Tasting at The Ground Culinary Centre
in Lyttelton. I don't know a lot about wine and have only
been to one wine tasting before, but it was a lot of fun,
trying eight different wines from Australia and New Zealand
as well as some really tasty finger food. I think I've decided
that I am more of a fan of white wines than red wines though.


Afterwards, we went to dinner at a quirky little bar down the
street that Heather and Pauli frequent called the Wunderbar.
The decor is anything from an odd chalk painting of a dragon on
the wall, to doll heads decorating the lights. Different...but fun!