Sorry if you have read this before – it somehow was in my list to be published.

We headed off early to catch the 9am ferry.

The terminal was only a short distance from our accommodation and the walk took us past some majestic old buildings. The best one being the Auckland Railway Station.

It took the ferry 40 minutes to cross the Hauraki Gulf to get to our destination.

We were early for our wine tour of course, but we had planned to enjoy a coffee and some morning tea beforehand. And while the coffee was great, and Mick’s sausage roll excellent, the venue was basic and chilly. But that did not dampen our enthusiasm.

The ferry brochure stated that the island is “recognised internationally as one of the top 10 Pacific island destinations.” Now that made us feel a bit ignorant as we’d not really heard of this place before.

We were here of course to visit some wineries. Three in fact as part of our activity, chosen by the tour operator. With 30 boutique wineries from which to choose, it was interesting to see which ones had been selected.

As it turned out, we didn’t go far from the ferry terminal. The island is 19km long and 9km wide and has just over 9000 permanent residents. It is the most populated island in the gulf. There certainly were large line ups both ways for the ferries..

We met our guide No’ooroa, who had worked at Brisbane’s Museum for a few years. He was a great guide, and he could sing. His second job is as a singer at weddings. There were 10 others on the tour with us, mostly from America. We were the oldest by far.

It was a great group.

No’oora told us that Waiheke Island is well-known for its high-quality red wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc grapes he referred to as Bordeaux blends. As it turned out, we didn’t get to taste any of those on the guided tastings, but Mick did pay an extra $18 to taste the 2021 Larose at Stonyridge Winery.

Red wine makes up 57% of all wine produced on Waiheke Island and we did taste a Syrah at each of the 3 wineries. And they were all very good.

First stop was Cablebay Vineyards. The view was amazing and we got to try 3 wines.

The Chardonnay was very good (@$58), and the rosé was ok. But the Syrah with 2% viognier was excellent.

Mick and I didn’t buy anything here as the process for the tasting did not encourage us to do so. It was the least favourite stop for us.

We were then dropped off for lunch at The Batch Winery where I had a Pinot Noir and Mick a Pinot Gris with our meals. My choice was the best.

Views here were stunning as well.

The second tasting was at Stonyridge with a very knowledgeable young fellow called Tim.

We bought a bottle of Syrah here, and Mick has kept the card explaining how he can buy some of the Larose.

Final stop was Mudbrick Wines.