It is the end of summer here in NZ and this weekend Matakana had a small wine tasting festival in the village. It was my very first time to participate in such an event and it was a lot of fun. We poured 150 cc glasses and we used over a 30 bottles of wine over 4 hours on Sunday afternoon. Here with me in our small booth is Steve Horriwitz who is a doctor friend of ours from South Africa who now lives in Syndey, Au. Steve and his wife were over visiting for the weekend and he was helping out. ( Steve turned out to be a good salesman-one guy wanted a very light white wine and Steve sold him a glass of water!!)

The other shot is at our new very nice wine bar in Matakana called the Vintry that just opened in Jan. This shows a "line up" of only local Matakana Valley grown wines which are offered there for a glass or to take away a bottle. Our bottle is second from the left and the label stands out pretty good against our neighbours bottles I think. Our little village is really gettting upscale now. Movies, wine bars, gourmet bakery, tea room, fine dining--we are well on your way to replacing Napa Valley as "the place for a day trip to experience wine country"

This will be my last post from this side of the pond as in 3 days we fly back to Nashville to get ready for spring, Easter, grandchildren and to host several wine events. If you live in Nashville look for info on upcoming wine dinners with our Hawks Nest Wine at Watermark on April 12th and then at The Red Pony in Franklin on April. They should both be a lot of fun.

More soon.

Dr Jim -about to leave downunder!!!