Gourmet road trips: Fine wine meets food to match in northwest Auckland

PHOEBE FALCONER finds a feast of summer fruits, wine, baking delights and a range of honey treats on a gourmet road trip.

The townships of Kumeu, Huapai and Waimauku are home to some of northwest Auckland's finest wineries. And where there's good wine there's good food.

It seems that the road to Kumeu is paved with strawberry stalls, with produce fresher and cheaper than your local supermarket. For a wider range of fruit and vegetables, stop at Frank Boric & Sons on the corner of the Riverhead/Coatesville Rd and State Highway 16.

As the summer rolls on, so will his supplies of the summer fruits - peaches, apricots, nectarines and plums.

Next door to Borics is Blossoms Cafe, where those with a sweet tooth will be well pleased. The huge cakes are all made on the premises, and include strawberry and rhubarb crumble cake, raspberry meringue cake (their best seller), and toffee and macadamia nut cake.

If you have time, drive along the Riverhead/Coatesville Rd; it is exceedingly pretty and has lots of fruit and veg stalls. The glasshouses are a dead giveaway.

The Soljan Estate Winery is likely to delay your arrival in Kumeu. Its cafe is set in parklike surroundings with plenty of tables, and offers a lengthy lunch menu.

Leave enough room for dessert, especially if the coconut ice cream is on the list ... and sample a wine or two.

Onwards to Kumeu, where in the middle of town two flower stalls face off across the busy main road. The one on the left offers cheap Christmas lilies, countered by the right-hand one with changing specials. Pistils at dawn, anyone?

Carriages Cafe is housed in two old railway carriages as well as a more typical cafe building, and has the greatest-looking chicken farmhouse pie. It's huge. Entry to the cafe is via a very pretty plant centre, or from the main road.

Coopers Creek Vineyard, thanks to a rebuilding programme, now houses a new tasting and cellar room next to the children's playground. Well thought out, that.

They describe themselves as a winebar offering deli-style food, rather than a cafe, and promise live jazz on summer weekends. Barbecues and picnic tables are free to use if you want to bring your own food, and the giant chess set looks a lot of fun.

The honey centre at BeesOnline houses a working honey-production facility viewed through glass walls. The licensed cafe offers the usual platters, wines and beers, and the gift shop has honeys of different hues and tastes, as well as mustards, sauces, face creams and soaps, and bee-related toys.

Matua Valley Wines is in Waikoukou Rd in Waimauku. Although the winery is signposted from the main highway, there is no indication how far it is, which is irritating. It's a wee way ... and at the gate a sign says the wine shop is open only at weekends.

Head out to Bethells Beach from Waimauku, but do stop at the piecart-like Bethells Cafe. It's open only at weekends and on Friday nights, but worth the drive.

Further north, the Albany Olive Press has opened a cafe to complement the shop and tours of the olive groves.

The Hobbs and Lindsay families have been making olive oil for six years, using a granite olive mill imported from Palestine, and the shop offers tastings of their extra-virgin olive oils, as well as pestos imported from Italy. The lemon-infused oil is a revelation. The cafe offers - well, cafe-type food, but the bread in the paninis, baked by a local who remains unnamed, is a delight.

Complete your trip to Dairy Flat with a visit to Franklins fruit and veg stall in Kahikatea Flat Rd, not far from the end of Horseshoe Bush Rd. All the locals go there, so it must be good.

While in the area, call in at Vinotica, Albany's "mini-Harrods". It stocks Fauchon teabags, foie gras, truffle oils, pastas, international wines, a temperature-controlled cheese room, and a feast of cookbooks to consult before you buy.

Where to find what

* Blossoms Cafe, corner SH16 and the Riverhead/Coatesville Rd. Ph (09) 412-6071. Licensed. Open 9 to 4, kitchen closes 3pm. Closed Dec 22-Jan 9.

* Soljan Estate Winery, 366 State Highway 16, Kumeu. Ph (09) 412-5858. 9-5.30 Mon to Sun. Closed New Year's Day. Cafe open 10-4 Mon to Fri, 9-4 weekends.

* Carriages Cafe, SH16, Kumeu. Ph (09) 412-9250. Open 8.30-4 Sun to Thurs, 8.30 to late Fri and Sat. Licensed. Closed New Year's Day, Jan 2.

* Coopers Creek, 601 State Highway 16, Huapai. Ph (09) 412-8560. Open 9.30-5.30 weekdays, 10.30-5.30 weekends. Food 11-5 Thurs to Sun. Closed New Year's Day.

* BeesOnline, 791 State Highway 16, Waimauku. Ph 0800 466 395. Open 9-4 daily. Cafe licensed.

* Matua Valley Wines, Waikoukou Valley Rd, Waimauku. Ph (09) 411-8301. Open 9-5 weekdays, as well as weekends.

* Albany Olive Press, Burne Rd via Horseshoe Bush Rd, Dairy Flat. Ph (09) 427-8194. Open 9-4 Fri to Sun.

* Vinotica, Unit D, 3 Henry Rose Place, Albany. Ph (09) 415-7520.

* Tourism Auckland. Ph (09) 979-2333.