Not Much to Wine About
We'd originally not had much planned for the day we drove to the southernmost point of the north island, the capital city of Wellington, but we decided to switch up our itinerary and stop on our way in the coastal town Napier to visit some wineries. It was still raining and the original plan to hike to some waterfalls seemed much less enjoyable in the downpour. By the time we made it to Napier it was well into the afternoon and we headed straight to lunch at Emporium Eatery and Bar, a casual spot in the center of Napier that had slow service but really delicious food. After lunch we drove out to Elephant Hill Estate for a wine tasting and we were quite impressed with a few of their wines, especially the full-bodied red blend called Hieronymus and their dessert wine, a sweet juice-like wine called Rania. We did not have time, unfortunately, to visit any other wineries because we needed to make it to Wellington for a dinner reservation, but from what I saw of Napier and the surrounding Hawke's Bay area, it was a great region. The wine itself is more than enough reason to pay Hawke's Bay a visit.
