Stafford Lane Estate, Near Nelson

by Martina Mc Auley
(Amsterdam)

I took a winetasting/art tour with Bay Tours, Nelson, last September.


For me it was a great tour, as I wanted to combine arts & crafts with great wine tasting and this company, Bay Tours, offered the best of both worlds.

The first place we stopped off at, was a crafts shop, called Cruella De Vils Natural Fibre Boutique. There were 2 shops there:one with chocolates, arts & crafts goods, Prenzel Oils & Liquers..... but the other one had something special on that day, called a "Quangle Wangle Hat Competition".All the hats were handmade and visitors had to bid(and put some money)on whichever hat they thought was the best.

We also visited 4 wineries:the Waimea Wine Estate, where we had a delicious lunch and tasted a lot of wines, the Seifreid Estate, the Kahurangi Estate and the last one was the Stafford Lane Estate, which also grows olive and feijoa trees. It was my first time tasting feijoa.

Along with some great wines which we tasted, they provided us with some bread, 2 types of oil to dip them in, dukkah (which is ground hazelnuts and spices), olives and feijoa chutney. That little,extra special touch, made it for me.
It stands out in my mind.

I would recommend taking a Bay Tour Wine Tasting Tour and visiting Stafford Lane Estate. For more info, check my website,(on Quangle Wangle Hat Competition entry):
http://tinyurl.com/yfsfrc7

Martina Mc Auley.