New Zealand is blessed with many beautiful wine areas throughout the country. Marlborough and Central Otago are particularly well-known, but one of my favourite wine regions, particularly for boutique producers, is the Hawke’s Bay – particularly the Bridge Pa triangle. Celebrating their many great vineyards, the Bridge Pa Wine Festival takes place every January, busing eager punters around the triangle. You’ll find not just delicious wines, but also great street food, lawn games and music, making it the ideal day out.
The Bridge Pa Wine Festival was Toby’s inspired choice for a 30th birthday celebration, and he didn’t have much difficulty in persuading lucky 13 of us to join him.
As part of our tickets we received a tasting glass and transport from Havelock North out to and around the vineyards in big coaches. Aside from a couple of teething issues at the start, the coaches ran really smoothly – and were a real party later on in the day!
We kicked off the day in our tennis whites at Ash Ridge, having boarded the bus around 10am. An early start, but we had plenty of vineyards to get to, and Toby had a definite plan to make sure we had the best of all of them. While the festival isn’t dress-up (we were the only group who did!) it certainly made the day even more fun, and we hope there will be a few more who opt for it next year!
My favourite wine at Ash Ridge was the sparkling rose. It’s testament to how much fun I was having that this is the only one I wrote down all day… guess I’ll just have to go back again!
Next up was Paritua, where the band, Boutique, were on fine form and we recruited them for a crowd singalong of Happy Birthday to Toby. The shady set-up here was much appreciated given the day was already getting hot. January summers in the Hawkes’ Bay routinely get up to 30C or more! We ended up making the most of it by hanging out, trying the delicious sliders, and enjoying tasters of their wines.
On we traveled, bypassing Sileni (where the late afternoon fun was rumoured to be biggest) for Redmetal and their lawn games.
A few rounds of giant Jenga down and it was time for Alpha Domus, where the famous pizzas were pumping out and the tunes from UltrasouNZ were even bigger. Our group dance along here (including the various parents!) was a highlight of the day.
Abbey Ridge was a welcome shady retreat, with platters and Japanese deliciousness to satisfy all cravings. The cellar is particularly beautiful with gorgeous wooden-beamed interiors and arched doorways.
Ngatarawa Stables is an old favourite of mine, having visited previously when exploring the Triangle by bike. Their shady trees next to the stables were the perfect spot for a mid-afternoon snooze, and I love their gorgeous rose-lined vines.
Finally we made our way back round to Sileni, where backyard (back-vineyard?) cricket was the order of the afternoon, together with a final dance on the lawn. By this stage we were on the waters rather than the wines, but thoroughly enjoyed the end-of-day party.
I thoroughly recommend this wine festival – well organised, well catered and a really fun day out! If you’d like to get tickets for the 2020 edition on 18 January, click here! And if you miss out on the festival itself, most of the vineyards have cellar doors that are open year-round. You can also do self-guided biking tours around the vineyards – as long as you’re not too wobbly!
Have you ever been to a wine festival? What was it like?
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Of course, it (hopefully) goes without saying that we drank responsibly – relatively easy when you’re just getting tasters! And free water was provided at every vineyard to make sure we stayed hydrated in the fierce Hawke’s Bay sun.