Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

There is one thing very unique to New Zealand that one does not see in Tennessee. That is sheep shearing contests at local bar/pubs. As in the British Isles, rural New Zealand has public clubs in small villages that are still the gathering social centers for the locals. In Matakana Valley the place for fun and gossip has been the Matakana House Bar since 1903. In the photo of the front of the place enlarge the photo and you can see the little sign that says "est. 1903" located just under the word "House". Also note when you enlarge that photo that today is featured a red letter sign "shear a sheep, drink a pint, and eat a pie" For Kiwi's, a pie is not dessert but a meat or lamb pie. That is the local version of a burger and has been the meal of choice for local blokes countrywide forever!!! In the next photo you can see every one with their pies and pints watching a sheep shearer on the small stage. (Speights is a local "man's beer" who sponsor these events) This is sort of like Jack Daniels hosting barbeque cookoffs!!!

A good shearer can shear a sheep in under aminute. The record for one man working all day shearing sheep is 770 sheep. This is all by hand but with electric clips. Oh man, what a back breaking job. (30,000,000 are a lot of sheap to shear twice a year when you think about it!!!!!)

Anyway it was a fun way for us to get some local color over the NZ Labor Day start of summer holiday. From now on the locals will be outdoors a lot boating, diving, tramping, and hopefully drinking a lot of good wine such as Hawks Nest!! In the final photo you can see how we siphon off some of our barrel red wine to use for making Sangria punch which was a big hit over the weekend at our favorite cafe-Cosi's If you look closely at the end of the barrel you will see I have labeled it "Cosi's cooking wine" It is our left over last barrel of our 04 Merlot that we did not use to blend into our first release of Hawks Nest Orchard Block Red. We are glad that the last lonely barrel has now found a home in Matakana. The sangria that was made with it was very yummy and a big hit with all the sheep shearing crowd for sure!!!!

More soon;

Dr JIm -having fun down under