Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
simple but attractive gray shed sits sur-
rounded by lavender beds in a bucolic
setting. A tall wood-framed porch leads to
a barn-style facility with offices and a tast-
ing room that looks like somebody's mini-
malist kitchen. The buildings blend in with
the environment, the two paddocks refer-
ring to the surrounding vineyard.
This low-key, down-to-earth winery gives
you no reason to guess that it's owned by
one of New Zealand's most famous
names—actor Sam Neill, star of movies
such as
Jurassic Park
and
The Piano
. Call it
his way of getting back to his own New
Zealand roots. Neill started out making
wine in 1997 for his family and friends.
Soon he realized that it was good enough
to sell—and, frankly, too good for his
friends, who “would just drink anything.”
He proceeded to set up this beautiful win-
ery in Central Otago, one of New Zealand's
most noteworthy wine regions. By keeping
his own star power out of the spotlight, he
allows the wines themselves to shine.
Winemaking in Central Otago is a rela-
tively recent phenomenon. A Frenchman
called Jean Desire Feraud actually pro-
duced award-winning Pinot Noir here in
1895, but when he could not persuade the
local miners to give up hard liquor, his
enterprise failed. The land returned to
sheep and rabbits. It was only in the 1980s
that vineyards started popping up again.
Now the Pinot Noir here is regarded as
one of the best in the world, riding the
crest of popularity this subtle wine has
enjoyed of late.
Neill's low-key operation does not run
formal tours, but visitors who make the
long track to the winery are enthusiastically
welcomed. The wine is as rich and ebullient
as the winery's owner, who declares on his
website: “Triumphs and calamities, scan-
dals and dispatches, heroes and hornswog-
glers, dimwits and halfwits, mountebanks
and masterminds . . . Welcome!”
Two Paddocks,
Clyde (
&
64/3449/
2756;
www.twopaddocks.com).
(
Queenstown (80km/50 miles).
L
$$$
The Glebe,
2 Beetham St.,
Queenstown (
&
64/3441/0310;
www.
theglebe.co.nz). $$
Crowne Plaza
Queenstown,
Beach St., Queenstown
(
&
64/800/444-9944;
www.crowneplaza.
com).
