Guilt Tastes Sweet

My post today was going to be about donuts and hot chips as that pretty sums up my week of food while entertaining Miss 3 and her 12 year old cousin. John (my husband) has saved the day by arriving home with my own personal little food and wine festival. He attended an event hosted by 'Cuisine' celebrating their 150th issue, tasting New Zealand Sauv Blancs, roses and dessert wines, and as he kindly informed me I could have attend too. He knows just how much I would have loved something like this - hence the 'guilt' reference in the title of this post.

Being the consummate 'hunter-gatherer' he managed to bring home three very tasty bottles for me to try and carefully packaged anti pasto nibbles and a couple of very nice cheeses.

My first taste (well actually a pretty large glass) was the Cable Bay - 2011 Sav Blanc and it was amazing. Was it because it was my first glass after a long day? I'm not sure but I'm going to go back and check my initial reactions to it.

The second wine was a bit of a 'tried and true' one for us from the Saint Clair winery. The passionfruit taste that lingers is fantastic. We usually have their 'vicars choice' as it is a cheaper option than the 'reserve' I had tonight.

The third was ok but nothing on the first two.

The Cable Bay and Saint Clair were marked with a 'red dot' from the tasting - identified as the better wines of the evening - I would have to concur.

Just tried a bit more of the Cable Bay - yes it is amazing, really light, crisp and very easy to drink - no wonder that first glass slipped down so easily.

Winehot (say it) - don't judge a book by its cover!

Winehot wine bar in Kingsland, Auckland is one of those places that looks nothing from the outside (in fact it is hard to tell if it is even open), but takes your breath away when you walk inside...once your eyes adjust to the candle lit interior. While this blog is predominantly about food, I think the ambience of a venue and the service is really important too! Winehot had both a fantastic ambience and great service. All of the walls were painted black and it was decorated in kind of 'modern french antique' (is that an oxymoron?). I've taken picture of the interior from their website since getting anything on my iphone in such low light would be near impossible.

The wine list was pretty impressive, we did as reviews we

had read suggested and let our very knowledgeable french waiter select the wine for us. We had two bottles of different reds - one french, one Italian. Both very different and both excellent matches to our food. The food is more 'platters to share' than individual meals...although I did notice a pretty impressive looking steak burger at the next table. We had a 'fromage and salami platter' served with a piping hot baguette, a 'white meat and seafood platter' - salmon and shrimp terrine, a pork terrine and a crab pate and

a 'chocolate terrine with coffee sauce'. The cheeses and the chocolate terrine were my favourites

. I have included pictures I took but they really don't do justice to the food.

Overall, I was really impressed and can't wait to take friends there. Hard to believe this little gem has been there for at least 4 years and we have never been before!