kiwisforthesummer2022: (July 19) Waipara

Welcome back everybody! Today we made our journey to the Waipara Valley, which is about an hour north of Christchurch. Known as the North Canterbury Wine Region, we were greeted with warm sun and rows of pruned grapevines as we drove past many vineyards. We made our first stop at the Pegasus Bay Vineyards. While it’s summertime over in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s wintertime here, meaning all the vineyards were post-harvest. This meant that most vineyards were not open for touring to the public. While Pegasus Bay’s interior winery was closed, we were able to take a walk around the grounds and see their nature gardens! Here, Colin introduced us to the Greening Waipara Program, which aims to increase the biodiversity of vineyard ecosystems by planting native plants that can host beneficial insects and pollinators. We took a look around the gardens and got to see some long fin eels as well!

A view of the grounds!

Our eel friend giving our professor’s GoPro a nibble!

Haiden, Veronica, Debriana, and Hanna found a hill to roll down!

Our second stop was to the Torlesse Vineyards, which have been in Waipara for the past 31 years! Like Pegasus Bay, the Torlesse Vineyards are also part of the Greening Waipara Program. We got to look around their grounds as well, and while there were no eels here, there was a small olive grove that had some olives on their branches!

A view of the vineyards grapeless in winter

The olive trees!

After a tour of the grounds, we got to have a wine tasting with Kym Rainer, the owner of the vineyard. Kym let us taste 7 different wines, including a Verdelho, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Rosé, Pinot Noir, a Cabernet Merlot blend, and a White Port. While we tasted, Kym gave us some background on his winery and educated us on how different flavors and of wine are achieved. He told us that he uses sheep to graze the vineyards in the winter, to remove grasses and add natural fertilizer to the ground. Kym also mentioned that Torlesse Vineyards was the first winery in all of New Zealand to use screw on caps, in which many companies have followed suit!

Kym pouring us some Riesling!

Our third and final stop was with Daryl Harris, a sheep farmer and vineyard owner. We got to meet Daryl outside of his estate, and he told us about how he got his start in the sheep industry here in New Zealand and what different kinds of sheep will produce different types of wool. Daryl took us to a small embankment near his estate to plant some native mulenbeckia and grasses. There were only around 50 plants, so after the 500 we did yesterday, this was a piece of cake!

Daryl answered tons of our farm questions!

Puttin’ in the work!

After we finished planting, we went back to Daryl’s farm and he showed us some of his sheep! He has mostly Merino sheep, which produce their namesake wool, and can be sold for $36 per kilogram! Wool from other breeds of sheep are sold for around $1.50 per kilogram, so Daryl’s sheep are the cream of the crop!

Daryl letting us feel the magic of Merino! (No sheep were harmed in the making of this video)

Daryl invited all of us over for dinner, but needed some time to prepare, so after some sheep sights, we went to the Waipara Sleepers, which was where we were spending the night. The Waipara Sleepers are retired 1940s train cars that have been retrofitted as motel rooms! Each train car had 2 to 4 beds and a balcony, and weighs 15 tons! We explored around the cars and the car yard for a little bit, then went back to Daryl’s for dinner.

Charisse enjoying the digs!

Tour of the 4-bed car!

We arrived at Daryl’s estate and got to meet his wife, Alison, and his two daughters, Ebony and Lily. We also got to meet their pet goat, Bellamy! Daryl and his family cooked us up an amazing meal!

Mark brought Bellamy over to Colin, who was quite shocked!

Feast at the Harris’ !

After our meal of meats, vegetables, and pavlova, we gathered around the television and had a lip-sync contest. While Ryan was crowned the winner by the judges in a big shock to the audience, Hanna and Maya and Ashley tied for 2nd, with Mark securing 3rd place. We even got Daryl and Colin to perform as well!