The old joke has the airline pilot addressing his passengers as they prepare to land at Auckland airport. "Please fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen, as we commence our descent. For your information, the weather in Auckland is sunny and for those who want to set their watches to local time, please put them back 30 years."
This is a cruelly outdated view of New Zealand, which is better described as wonderfully unspoilt rather than woefully old-fashioned. It is fast becoming one of the world's favourite destinations because it is empty (population 3.9m in a country the size of the UK), safe, with a great climate, spectacular scenery, plenty to do, and the wine and the food - oh, the wine and the food! - are sublime.
It is remarkable to think that sauvignon blanc was first planted in New Zealand only 30 years ago. Even the most partisan of Frenchmen would be hard pressed to deny that Kiwi sauvignons are now among the best in the world, while the pinot noirs aren't far behind.
And wherever fine wine is made, great food is cooked, as I discovered during a culinary weekend at the Hotel d'Urville, in the small South Island town of Blenheim.
"A few years ago New Zealand food was dire, just like the UK's," said Chris Knowles, the hotel's owner and originator of its Cook's Discovery cookery course. "But now look at it! There are no real food traditions here, unlike Britain with its Sunday roast and so on, so we've no preconceptions at all, which means that our cooking is really exciting and is always changing, helped by our fantastic pollution-free natural resources. Food and wine is our new social currency and everyone takes a bottle of a newly-tried wine or a newly-discovered foodstuff when they're invited for dinner."
The d'Urville is a swanky boutique hotel sited in Blenheim's former Public Trust Building. It is all lofty ceilings and polished wooden floors, and each of the 11 bedrooms is individually furnished, some kitted out with four-posters, rich fabrics and antiques, others with 1950s wallpaper and retro-style chairs. The hotel's bar is in what was once the bank manager's office and it was here that the six of us on the course (all chaps, incidentally) convened to meet Chris and his English chef, Gary Clarke - late of London's Pont de la Tour - to hear how they intended to make us kitchen-friendly and culinarily capable.
Blenheim is in the heart of the wine-growing region of Marlborough, only a few miles from the Marlborough Sounds, a collection of jaw-droppingly beautiful fjords and inlets. It was there at Havelock, "The Greenshell Mussel Capital of the World", that our odyssey started. We went for a spin in Chris's 1920s motor launch. "It's fully equipped with gin, wine and satellite navigation," he told us with a grin before anchoring near the mussel beds. We pulled the shellfish up by the bucket load and cleaned and bearded them before steaming them in white wine, garlic and lemon juice in the launch's galley. We sat on deck and scoffed the lot, keeping our thirst at bay with several bottles of chilled pinot gris.
The next two and a half days were a gastronomic whirlwind as we visited wineries such as the fabled Cloudy Bay and Seresin Estate, and some of the many artisan producers who have cropped up as the culinary revolution has taken hold. We dropped in on Creekside Olive Oils, Leighvander Cottage Lavender Farm (where I had an exquisite lavender oil foot massage), River Terrace Farm Dairy (maker of organic sheep's cheese), Ormond Aquaculture (an organic crayfish and salmon farm), as well as an organic orchard, a garlic producer and a honeymaker.
In the evenings we gathered for our cookery demonstrations where Gary prepared five-course, wine-matched menus, which he cooked using us as his sous-chefs. Dishes such as seared salmon steaks and grilled vegetables were followed by fillet steak with lavender and honey glaze and fresh horseradish sauce; a bizarre but stunning combination and, under Gary's tutelage, a cinch to cook. Ditto the puddings - poached tangelos and basil mascarpone, which was succeeded by smoked sheep's cheese and homemade banana bread.
All our dishes were cooked from scratch and, although dramatic in impact, especially the beef - I never knew you could cook it with lavender - all the recipes were surprisingly easy to prepare. Our participation was encouraged (but not insisted upon), most notably when we were taught how to make the fabled banana bread.
In short, we had a hoot. Not only did we learn to appreciate that a well cared-for land produces magnificent food, we also learned how to cook such treasures and how to match them with the delicious local wines. We stayed in extreme comfort enjoying what seemed like a protracted dinner party. Added to which we didn't even have to do the washing up.
Fillet of beef with lavender honey and mustard crust
(Serves 4)
4 fillet steaks, each weighing 200g
4 tbsp grain mustard
1 tbsp peppercorns, crushed
20g grated horseradish
1 tbsp lavender honey
6 large sprigs of flat parsley, leaves picked washed and sliced.
20g butter melted
4 tbsp ground nut oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
30g butter
2 large shallots, peeled and finely diced
200g green beans, blanched for 3 minutes
Method
Preheat the grill until at its hottest
Mix together the grain mustard, crushed peppercorns, horseradish, honey, flat leaf parsley and melted butter.
Heat a large pan with the ground nut oil, season the steaks and fry for 3 minutes each side for medium rare. Transfer the steaks to a plate to rest.
Pour off the fat from the sauce pan and add the butter. Spoon in the chopped shallot and sweat for 2 minutes, then add the beans and sauté for a further couple of minutes until they are warmed through.
Spread the mustard crust over the fillets, place under the grill for a minute and serve on to the beans.
Recommended wine: Dog Point 2002 pinot noir.
Way to go
Getting there: Air New Zealand flies daily from London Heathrow to Auckland, via Los Angeles, from £644 including taxes. For internal flights, use the South Pacific Airpass available for between two and up to 10 flights, starting from about £37 per flight. Call Air New Zealand on 0800 028 4149 or visit airnewzealand.co.uk for the latest special fares.
Cook's Discovery course: Hotel d'Urville, Blenheim, Marlborough (+3 577 9945, durville.com). Day long courses (inc dinner, accomodation and breakfast) NZ$700pp. Double rooms $330pp per night.
Further information: purenz.com.
Country code: 0064.
Time difference: -11hrs.
Flight time: 24hrs.
£1= NZ$2.73
