Jones's Fruit Stall and The Perens

After our lunch at Wanaka, we headed back towards Queenstown. On the way, we stopped at a Fruit Barn called Jones's Fruit Stall.

This place is not a stall, it is more like a fruit barn. It is beautifully stocked with the freshest fruit you can find in the region. They were all beautifully boxed and displayed. Maeve bought some of the cherries for us to try; seriously large, juicy and sweet cherries. If I could have taken a box home, I would have.

This is obviously a popular stop off for the tourist buses. There were hoards of tourists from China who were buying the goods by the bag loads.

We queued up for their fresh fruit ice cream and I chose the Mixed Berry Frozen Yoghurt in a cup. It was lovely, perfect for a warm summer's day.

We then headed off to visit a special couple who lives up in the mountains on the snow line. Kristin Peren, who is a well known sculptor and artist, together with her husband Adam Peren (see if you can recognise his name - think wine!) warmly welcomed us into their rather uniquely designed home.

Such a lovely couple; Kristin was so warm and down to earth. She baked us a lemon curd cake and offered us coffee and tea. I think some of the ladies even got copies of the recipe to take home to Australia!

Her artwork is fascinating and she was explaining to us the techniques she used to capture the different colours and light. I don't think it's anything any of us could ever do at home but still, it was interesting to listen to Kristin.

Lunch At Wild Earth

I do like the sound of the name Wild Earth. For me it conjures images of the wilderness and it is apt that this winery is located in the midst of what was historically a gold mining area. As we drive towards the parking area to adjourn to the winery, we could see relics of old mining dwellings, mining tools and old carriages. This was across the gorge as we were driving by.

Wild Earth is located in Central Otago, at the Kawarau Gorge Mining Centre. To get to the winery, we literally have to cross the gorge on a long bridge. Pretty cool actually! For someone who has vertigo (as in yours truly), it didn't bother me at all having to cross the bridge. Believe it or not, I even stopped to take photos when I was in the middle of the bridge.

The Wild Earth Cellar Door and Restaurant is located in such a picturesque garden. We had specially reserved tables set under a large tree, which provided just the right amount of shade and breeze to not feel too much of the 30 degree heat.

We met Quentin Quider, who is an absolute character. He is so passionate about what he does, about the wines he produces, the style of cooking he has invested time and money in (i.e. wine barrel cooking) and has such a uniquely interesting background that you cannot help but be fascinated to hear his story. In addition Quentin is not even a Kiwi, he is in actual fact an American who is an avid fisherman and in his formative years earned his living as an oyster diver in Stewart Island.

We had a chance to look at his wine barrels specially designed for cooking. The style of cooking mainly being hot smoked and we met his head chef David Harrison who explained to us the dishes that was being cooked even as we were inspecting the barrels. Fascinating stuff!

Once again, each dish was matched with a wine from the winery. We started with:

Smoked octopus infused with thyme, olive oil and preserved lemons. And served with a salsa sauce. All this matched with the 2010 Chelsea Riesling.

On the same platter, we had the Cajun style chicken with wild thyme. This dish was matched with the 2012 Pinot Gris.

Both were lovely dishes and I couldn't find fault with anything. I love all things octopus so I was delighted to have had that and the chicken had subtle cajun spices but was not overwhelming spicy.

Then there was a side dish of smoked salmon pate which was also cooked in the barrel.

Wine Tasting in Central Otago

It was another hot day in Central Otago. As we approached Bannockburn, a district filled with wineries, I saw a large sign saying 'Bannockburn - Heart of the Desert'. The lack of air-conditioning in the bus added to the feeling of being in a desert. But we persevered, as always!

After a long lunch, 2 wineries were chosen as our 'to visit and taste' list. Both of which are award winning wineries. The first was Mt. Difficulty. It is located in a spectacular hilltop with views as far as the eye can see. You can even see remnants of the gold mining that occurred historically in the area. It does add some form of character to the landscape.

At Mt. Difficulty, we met Jacqui and Robin. Robin provided some interesting aspects of the wine industry and was quite a character. I tried their Pinot Gris and found it very much to my liking. Pinot Noir is their trademark wine, but then which vineyard in Central Otago wouldn't have Pinot Noir as their trademark wine? It is after all the perfect weather for the pinot noir which thrives abundantly in Central Otago.