John Banks - my part in his campaign

Today I attended a Tourism Auckland 'Industry Update' meeting at the Auckland Museum's new functions venue. It's very impressive - from the ground floor atrium, it looks like a huge wooden egg plonked in the centre of the museum building. Downstairs they have the Kai to Pie exhibition of NZ food, but the 3rd floor has a vast functions centre, with sweeping 360 views of the city. Pretty fab on a fine day - tho I did exit the lift into blinding natural light pouring in from the wall-to-wall windows. Having slightly over-imbibed last night, it was something I'd rather be prepared for with my sunnies on, to be honest. I groped my way blindly to the name tag table, knocking over vases and small council workers.

It was one of those things where there's swags of people, but you don't know anyone, and you scan the crowd for a familiar face but have no luck - so I went to the Gents, circled the room again, looked out the window, had a coffee and finally sat down three rows from the front about ten minutes before kick-off time.



And golly gosh, who was right up the front talking to his mates, but our incumbent Mayor John Banks. Himself. I have seen him before, but not up close. He is quite short - even sitting down, and doesn't quite look in rude good health. His hands are very pale and he has that grey complexion of a deskbound bureaucrat who never sees the sun. Shoulders slightly hunched form endless committee meetings stuck in an ‘executive’ chair. But he was nattily dressed and spoke well in his slightly hectoring school principal manner. He spoke convincingly - and was funny. I may even vote for him.



Then my mind wandered a bit and I got to thinking about blogging and servers. I figure that Blogger Inc. and Google, and Facebook and other big Internet thingies must each need to have a HUGE storage device that stores all my blogs and those of millions of others. Or a USB flash drive the size of a Unbelievably Stupendous Big … thing. I have a conspiracy theory that Auckland’s Sky Tower revolving restaurant is really a monumental disc drive on a stick.

So where is all our stuff being stored? What happens if the cleaner pulls the plug out by mistake? Eeee-ooops! All my Twitbook utterances lost. My expensive website reduced to a blue screen of death. Gahhh. All those highly organised zeroes and ones flatlining in a dead storage device.



Now I need a drink.

Le Wednesday - Tour des Francaises

Well, turns out that the couple were French - he was born in Bordeaux, she was born in Spain. 
He pronounced Bordeaux with that hoiky thing that French do with their words - so it was Bor*hoik*deaux!

They lived in Marseilles for many years, and now have a second year in Tahiti  (where she teaches Spanish at high school and Uni) before returning to La Belle France.   He tells me that babies are reared on red wine rather than milk in Bordeaux.  I'm quite envious - he grew up tasting some of the best red wines in France the Bordeaux classics like St. Emilion and Pomerol.  As I (vaguely) recall from my wine classes these two are Merlot dominant blends of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Luckily, he speaks pretty good English, but I do get to try my fractured French at times, as she speaks very little.  I even remembered that framboise is French for raspberry (when describing the sorbet at lunch).

So, we did the Matakana Full Day tour - setting off at 9.30 from their hotel, cheese tasting and a coffee at Puhoi, tastings at Ascension and Heron's Flight, lunch at Heron's Flight.  As they wanted to see a barrel hall I took them back to the City via West Brook winery in Kumeu.  here they tasted what they judged to be the best wine of the day ... the envelope please... West Brook 2006 Merlot Malbec blend.  This is a lovely soft red, grown on the estate in the Waikoukou Valley.

Tired but happy, I deposited them back at their hotel on the dot (by sheer good luck) of four p.m.

Au revoir ... Bon Vacances!!!

It's nearly Wednesday

Phil Parker takes wine tours around Auckland New Zealand

I just realised that I posted two video links last week - one from a Cockatoo who dances better than I do, and one from a four year-old boy who drums as well as I do. 
Anyway I got my own blog - so nerny nerny ner ner. In Your Face 4 y/o drummer boy!

I still can't design the blog they way it was before, as the Blogger Inc. site seems to have re-set all the design elements. I'm not the only one - others bloggers have had the same drama. Still, I quite like the new settings because it's full page and easier to read for the over 40s with long-sightedness.

Today I also reflected on Murphy's Law.
I could add another - Parker's Law of Dropped Objects:  When ever you drop something, it will almost always roll away to, or land in, the worst possible and/or inaccessible place.
E.g. Cleaning the coffee plunger.  Undid the nut that holds everything on the spindle - the nut sprang loose and promptly plopped down the kitchen sink plug hole.
E.g. 'Fixing' the dish washer. Trying to reassemble the door - the tiny screw slips and falls into the hidden hinge mechanism.

Tomorrow - off to Matakana for a full day tour for two.  Not sure what nationality they are - they booked through Tourism Auckland travel desk ... could be French?  Dunno - the name sounds a tad Gallic.  So I may get to practice the 5th from French.  Anyway, looking forward to revisiting Brick Bay and Heron's Flight.

More wine reviews to follow ... watchez cette espace mes Amis!!!

He too got riddum .. 4 year old drummer!!

Matakana's Brick Bay wines

One of the youngest wineries in Matakana – the first wines were released in 1998 and has been open for tasting January 2007


Owned by the Didsbury family who were largely instigators of the Matakana Farmers Market and Matakana Cinema. Very small production – about 1,000 cases per year from the tiny 5 Ha (12-acre) vineyard.

Very stylish architecture by Noel Lane has an airy ‘glasshouse’ tasting facility and offices cantilevered over a large mirrored pond.

Sculpture Trail $10 per head including a map and catalogue. It takes approximately an hour to walk through the undulating farm and vineyard grounds. Large outdoor works by leading NZ artists are featured and also for sale.

Latest releases:
 
Brick Bay Pinot Gris 2009 $NZ32
Lush flavours of white peach, honeysuckle and pear with some minerality

Brick Bay Martello Rock 2006 $NZ24
Malbec dominant, plus Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Dusty aromas, with flavours of almond, cherry and raspberry.

Brick Bay Pharos 2006 NZD$32.00
Bordeaux style blend of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot aged in new French oak – flavours and aromas of pot pourri, herbs, ripe black cherry and liquorice with velvety tannins.

Howdy

Well... for some reason I can't format the blog layout the way I did before - it's one of those update things that they do to middle-aged people like me who don't know about Facer and TwitBook.

I did opt for a new background thing anyway.
I seem to have lost my Followers list and my blog list is buried at the bottom of the page. Yeah, thanks Blogger.

Yennyhoo.. got some fab stuff coming up soon

Cheerio,

Phil

Crazy Drummer

Dunno if saw this one before - I managed to copy the html link to Youtube.

It's pretty funny - this drummer is what we used to call a skite i.e. a show-off.
As an ex drummer moiself, the beat here is what we call a four-on-the-floor, a basic 4/4 rhythm. But he is throwing in all the showman percussive pyrotechnics in the book. I hope he's got Rexona on under that yellow jacket.

Award for Sacred Hill Marlborough Pinot Noir

Phil runs Auckland Wine Tours.


(From edited press release):

The 2009 Sacred Hill Marlborough Pinot Noir has been voted WineNZ’s Outstanding & Best Value Under $30 in its recent Pinot Noir tasting. It retails for about $20 locally/


Wine NZ, New Zealand’s only dedicated wine magazine, engaged three internationallly experienced judges, Colin Ford, Rebecca Gibb and Corey Hall, to taste close on 90 Pinot Noirs across three categories – Outstanding & Best Value Under $30; Outstanding Wines Equal Over $30; Best Value Wine over $30.



Judges said:

“Sacred Hill has a deserved reputation for the quality and value for money of their wines. Here we see a good example of why. Along with lush fruit-pastille aromas on the nose we found a dense, fruity palate that is ripe but not overly sweet and that shows plenty of concentration and depth of flavor. There is a touch of peppery spice in with the pretty, lifted blueberries and violets and oak provides support to both the flavor and structure.”


Sacred Hill’s Senior Winemaker Tony Bish is delighted with WineNZ’s accolade:
“This is a fine vintage that was always destined for great things –a stunning Pinot that has vibrant soft appeal with lingering red fruit flavours,” says Tony.

Snowball the Cockatoo - He Got Rhythm

This is truly amazing - Snowball, a sulphur crested cockatoo does his own dance moves to Queen's Another One Bites the Dust. This is a Youtube clip - there are others where he shows questionable taste (Stevie Nicks, Back Street Boys, Ringo Starr).

Such is his fame, that he has been studied by neuroscientists who are fascinated by the brain / motor connection in human appreciation of rhythm. Rhythm is closely linked to the ability to sing and mimic - which humans share with birds but not with any of the primates. So are we more bird brained than we thought?

Rock on, Snowball!!