At the cheese place there were 6 cheeses we tried. 1 Sheep’s milk 2 Brie, and 3 Blue. All of them were pretty amazing. The Blue’s were especially good, particularly for a Blue cheese. The taste was there, but it wasn’t as strong. It is hard to explain, but I really, really liked it, which surprised me. The Brie’s were awesome, and one of them was on sale: 2 half wheels for $1 NZD. Yum.
After the tasting we had some coffee and snacks.
A short drive later we were at Clearview. This winery is across the road from the ocean, and had very nice grounds. There was a playground for kids which was nice and a nice outdoor restaurant.
The tastings were good too. This was the first time I had done a wine tasting and it was an experience. I liked being able to try different styles of wines one after another to get a good feel for what I like. Theirs were all excellent and many of them were award winning wines.
Lunch there was excellent. I had a marinated lamb loin that was amazing. Sox had the fish special which was Groper. The only downside was that our food took a long time to come which meant the kids got a little cranky. I would have liked to enjoy things a little more, but that’s life.
I committed a sin though. With lunch I had a beer and not wine. It was an excellent beer. Even though I had just discovered some wines I liked, I couldn’t pick one so I went with a local beer, an amber ale from Hawkes Bay Independant Brewery. It was an excellent beer.
