Babich Wines

New Zealand is also known as Aotearoa.
That translates to, 'The Land of the Long White Cloud.'
In a recently published post I referred to it as, 'The Land of Rainbows.'
It would not be a stretch to also call our part of it, 'The Land of Vinyards,' or, 'The Land of Wineries.' Obviously the one leads to the other so feel free to combine the two if you wish. They're all over the place here.
   

The one closest to our home in Henderson is the Babich Winery. In another recent post, the one about my walk on a dreary day, I showed you a photo of the working side of the Babich Winery, high on the hill across the vinyards.  

Today, I thought that I would visit the tasting portion of that Winery. I should have done it long ago. As the tui flies, it's only 3/4 mile from our home. I simply hopped on to our local 143 bus on its run toward Ranui and got off, less than 10 minutes later, about 250 meters from the gate.  

Come on along. Let me show it to you. 

 In the middle of their display of wines, they have these soil samples. Another vinyard owner once told us that drinking wine is a way of tasting the soil. An interesting idea. 

(..And as good an excuse as any to open a bottle) 

((Hmmm, Do you suppose that annelids ever smack their 'lips' over a particularly good vintage soil?)) 

{"Ah, this bit is excellent... Complex. I'm tasting lots of Rangitoto ash here, with some peaty overtones, smokiness, but not too much, probably from that last big burn-off, and a strong, lasting finish, hinting of tsunami salt.  This is a winner, no doubt about it."}

 The grapes are grown right up to the parking lot

 Above and below: Places to sip some wine on the grounds.

Looking off into the distance.  

I had to get at least one bottle since I was there, and then I spotted that insulated wine/edibles carrying bag.  Couldn't resist. I brought it home too. 

   -djf