The Vineyards

A vineyard outing in Hawkes Bay is an must - and a long, languid lunch at Craggy Range is a pretty awesome experience. The vineyard and restaurant sits in front of the Craggy range, where the light is so unreal it feels like a movie set. And this is serious food, we really wanted to take our time here.

This is what we had; Pan fried quail, apple,bitter leaf salad and hazelnut vinaigrette. Steamed clams, verjus, saffron mustard cream, shallot. Ok here's the best bit, this dish takes 50 minutes from order, so we sipped on some more Pinot Gris, went for a walk through the vines and herb gardens, to come back to Roasted carvery pork rack for two, crackling, apple jelly & Waldorf salad from the gardens. Its cooked on the open fire rotisserie inside, and carved on our table. We take our time here again, because there's dessert: Classic crème brûlée, pistachio & almond wafer, lemon. And then theres the wine: 2007 Craggy Range, ‘Les Beaux Cailloux’. Normally after consuming this much food and wine I'd be inclined to seek out a big tree close by to have an insatiately drunken nap, but, the meal was so delicate and light that I felt more elated than anything else; after the espresso shot I could have climbed the crag.

Wearing my filagree dress from the last Summer collection. 15 pieces of handknitted lace in linen joined together; There were only 8 of these made, and I can't believe there is still one at The House of Aroha, and its half price - serious!