Wine and Wheels with March Hare Cycling
14/03/2012
While all the real folk were working hard I was pedalling harder last Friday afternoon on a work assignment . . . ok it was technically a way to skip sitting at a computer when I joined a group of easy going folk on a ‘bike with basket’ ride around Martinborough.
With cloudy skies threatening rain our first stop was at Ati Rangi (meaning new beginning or dawn sky) Vineyard to sample some of their award winning wines. First planted in 1980, this family owned vineyard is on a former stoney 12 acre sheep paddock. T
he owner Clive Paton and his wife Phyll and sister Alison helped pioneer wine growing in the region and today their Ata Rangi Pinot Noir ($65) has a big reputation when it comes to serious Pinot Noir.
It was then onto lunch at Alana Estate’s Gamekeeper Restaurant and true to their name they served up their signature Winery Platter ($48) game dish including the most sensational marinated mushrooms I’ve ever tasted as well as a duck pate rolled in a ball.
Then it was back onto the bikes with a bit of pedal pushing with the odd wheel wobble for more vineyard sampling before heading back to our posh digs at Pepper’s Parehua. March Hare Cycling, $65 per person includes top quality bikes and helmets with a delicious picnic and self guiding map . . . too much fun.
