You Don't Know What Te Ata Po Means!

Te Ata Po, in Maori, means 'first light'. In Canadian English, or Quebecois Hinglish, 'first light' is what they suggest you do to a barbeque before tossing on a steak.

Mmmm, Te Ata Po and red meat.

Te Ata Po is the name given to an award winning New Zealand wine with a New Brunswick finish. It's a project by Cambridge-Narrows based winemaker Sonia Carpenter, she of Motts Landing Vineyard (M'LV) fame. She's been making a name for herself with her New Brunswick vintages at M'LV, but now the story has spread beyond our borders. In fact, this story takes us half way around the world...to New Zealand.

Typically I like to tell the stories, but this story has already been written up by someone who knows a lot more about wine than I do (no, it isn't Julian, for once). His name is Craig Pinhey and he gives voice to wine in our province, and beyond. He recently wrote about Te Ata Po and also directed his attention to another wine with a New Brunswick connection. If you're interested in learning more about what's being uncorked in New Brunswick, then click here to read Craig's article.

I could stop here and simply promote a wonderful wine with a great story, but there's more to this story. There is a direct connection between Te Ata Po and the publisher of The Leisurologist. I, Mr. Ian Varty, designed the label for this award winning wine. What does this mean?

It means that not only am I an internationally renowned writer (someone in the United States once read my blog and enjoyed it), but I'm now the Chief Executive Officer of a global graphic design business. Beyond that I recently cut a hole in my kitchen wall, on purpose, and I didn't frig things up, so I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself.

So what's next, Mr. Big Shot?

My short term goal is to write the blog for 365 days in a row. Today's blog will be my 259th in a row, unless you count the one guest blog that my wife wrote. I'd like to have a few more guest blogs written before the 365 days are up.

Would you like to write a guest blog? If you write it, I'll publish it. To sweeten the deal, I'll give a free bottle of Te Ata Po to the first person who submits a publishable guest blog to me.

First write, then 'first light'.