# headin' out in the cold... From the sunny north to the wild south, NZ is overflowing with breathtaking backdrops, heavenly harvests and a whole lot of fabulous foodies. So jump on board with us as we hang out with the locals, wrangle some wildlife and feast our way around this magnificent country. Come on, Toppy. We got people to meet and food to eat. Yee-hah! # Nga iwi e. This week, we get to pick, lick, eat and drink strawberries with the passionate Passionberry people. Then we reveal the secret of the smooth, sweet, sumptuous taste of Ruahine port. But first up, we're with Trude Bethell and John Paice, magic human beings living a fairy-tale life at Bethells Beach. Trude has been playing on this land since the day she was born. And 25 years ago, she met her whisky-making playmate, John. Together, they run the Bethells Beach Cottages and Event Centre, where you can celebrate, or just hang out and relax. What a gorgeous spot. Look at that out there. That's Bethells Beach. Fantastic, isn't it? And was it named after your family, was it? Yes, yeah. Te Henga was` is the Maori name, but Bethells is the family that settled here. Yeah. Did you build all this? Well, it's been very much a team effort, actually. Trudy's the one with the green thumbs, really. I'm the infrastructure man. I'm the one who digs the holes. It takes two to tango, doesn't it? Oh, it certainly does. A solitary tango is a very sad thing. Trudy, you've given me the little whisky book, and in here it says the best time to drink whisky is in the morning. And the traditional word for having one is 'tot', 'dram', 'nip', or 'spot'. And always you add the word 'wee'. So you'd have 'a wee dram', 'a wee nip', 'a wee spot', 'a wee drip'. (CHUCKLES) Righty-oh. Here we go. (CHUCKLES) Moonlight. I feel like Braveheart already. (BOTH LAUGH) OK, how do we make whisky? We start with raw barley. Oh, OK. We go through a process of germinating it. Now this is some barley that's been steeped in water. Looks like beansprouts. To stop the germination process, we have to dry it. So pop it into this dehydrator here. It's just a box with a mesh floor and a small heater and a fan. There you go. That's all done. Pop the lid on, turn it on,.... Wow. Voila. (CHUCKLES) He's inventing things left, right and centre, not just digging holes. We're making whisky. What are we gonna make today? The risky whisky pecan pie. OK. What are we gonna do first? Follow the recipe. (LAUGHS) Follow the` Have I got to give you the recipe? Goodness gracious me. That's what happens when you start drinking early in the morning. (LAUGHS) OK, here we go. Put the eggs, syrup and sugar in a bowl. Great. We're gonna put in the golden syrup, and we need quite a lot of golden syrup. Right. Beat until well combined. So, we've got a tablespoon of unsalted butter. Yum, and,... vanilla essence? Vanilla essence is next. And the whisky. It doesn't have any measurement of the whisky. No, it doesn't. Oh my God. Oh well, then we'll have to fluke it. (LAUGHS) Whoo! When! (CHUCKLES) Add our coarsely chopped pecan nuts. Of course-ly? Yeah, of course-ly. (LAUGHS) OK, Trudy, pour it into the flan case. Yum. And then we're gonna bake it in a preheated oven of 350 degrees... Great. ...for 20-25 minutes. Here's a little that I prepared earlier. (CHUCKLES) Like all good chefs. Now we need to remove all of those little roots and shoots. OK. Here we go. That's your magic machine for it. In this little device here, yes. Oh, yeah. Look at that. And you can see the way all the little roots and shoots have just been... Oh, OK, yup. You've made all this amazing stuff, you know. There's your little box there and your circles here, and I notice out of the corner of my eye that there's this most amazing ceiling up there. It's called a hyperbolic paraboloid. (CHUCKLES) A hyperbolic paraboloid is, by definition, a double curved plane generated by straight lines. It's something that came to me in a bit of a dream. Ah. Um, some might argue a nightmare. (LAUGHS) But, yeah, making things gives me great pleasure and satisfaction. There's a bit of love gone into it. Mm. So, what's next? The next step is to grind it. Now, I'll need you to take charge of the power tools. Yes. I'll do the more mundane task, so... Righty-oh. ...pull the trigger, and let's` That's all right. I love power tools. Oooh, yes. (LAUGHS) Righty-oh. (MACHINE WHIRRS) Whoo-hoo! Well, that did the trick. We're almost ready to begin the fermentation process. And, what about this beautiful cottage. Look at that ` that's all wooden up there. Did John make this? Yeah. He's pretty good at everything he does. He's a perfectionist. Whisky is one of the ones that he does best of all. So he was a whisky man when you met him? Whisky, brandy and beer. We met at a beer fest. (LAUGHS) A local beer fest out here. And I can't remember the conversation, Lynda. (BOTH LAUGH) What was the best thing about John that you liked the most? What made you like him? It was the blue eyes and the energy. Blue eyes and energy? Yeah. Just that wonderful happy energy. Got to be doing something, and he's always doing something. What's our last step with our malt now, buddy? Oh, well, I'm afraid that's a secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you. Oh, we can't have that. Ooh, no. What a beautiful shed you've got. And I can see you've got guitars in here. Yes, yeah. Are you making guitars as well? Mm. In my spare time. So, in my spare time, I make music. Ooh, superb. (LAUGHS) Yeah! Wow, what a beautiful sound it's got, buddy. Would you like a whisky to go with that? I'd like that. Ooh, yes. Now, this whisky here ` this is not a particularly old whisky. I don't produce enough of it to put it into oak, so instead I put oak into my whisky. I see all that stuff floating around in there. Ooh, yes. It's 60-plus percent, so it will tolerate quite a lot of water. This is a beautiful guitar. Is it all natural woods? The front of the guitar is cedar. The rosettes are little home-made rosettes. The sides are just a really nice piece of demolition rimu that crossed my path. The back is a piece of kauri. And, uh, the neck is laminated matai. I think she's a darling, this guitar. Mm. What about your darling? My darling Trudy. I just love her to bits. Yeah. Trudy's the glue that, you know, holds this place together. Guitars and true love. And true love. It's really smooth, buddy. Mm. It's got no kick. The kick comes later. The kick comes later? Yes. Yes. Well, we need to do a bit of blues with the whisky, I reckon. # Ooooh. BOTH TWINS: # I'm just howling to the moon. # Oh, I know it may seem strange # I can't explain the sudden change. BOTH: # I'm running with the wind out on the range. (HOWLS) Let's eat, Pa! Is this your famous pecan pie? It is. There's whisky in that ice cream, too, Jools. There's whisky in everything. I'm gonna be off my nut. (LAUGHS) SCOTTISH ACCENT: A drop, a dram, a nip, a spot. It doesn't matter what glass you drink it in so long as you're drinking whisky. John. You're a scholar and a gentleman and a judge of good whisky. And women. Thanks, Jools. Cheers. Thank you, darling. BOTH: # I'm just howling to the moon. (HOWLS) Hello, darlings, welcome back to Topp Country. Tonight, we're raising money for the Young Nats Panama Trust Fund Cocktail Evening. On arrival, we'll be serving our pina colada jellies. I call them my tipsy wobblers. And to go with that, a wonderful drink tonight. I call it the Joseph Parker, cos it's an absolute knockout and it packs a punch. How is it darling? I ate a flower, yuck. How about a pansy. There'll be a few of those here, darling. That pansy wants to come out. What happens when you jam-pack two whole punnets of strawberries and oodles of love into a bottle? Passionberry. Fiona and Jason McIntyre grow the most beautiful strawberries in Waitoki. And obviously, it's never too early to start the day with a cocktail here. Strawberries ` the most passionate berry in the world. OK, Jason, how come you ended up being a strawberry farmer? Brought up on a farm, been a farmer all my life. But I love growing stuff. Yeah. OK, so we do things a bit differently, Lynda. We grade the strawberries while we pick them. Yup. Uh, we've got the perfect strawberries in the front here. Yup. These ones here are a little bit misshapen, so they'll go into the cocktails, and then these ones over here... ...the munted ones. Yeah, the munted ones. (LAUGHS) These ones will go into making beautiful jam. The ladies down the road really like these ones. Yeah. All the strawberries that we pick this morning will be sold this afternoon to the customers down the road, so it doesn't get fresher than that. Hey. That looks like a perfect strawberry. Yup, that's a good one. Yup. Look at that. Ready to go. That is the perfect strawberry right there. Perfect Passionberry strawberry. Is it as good as it looks? That is the perfect strawberry. (LAUGHS) It was about $100 worth of strawberry right there, but she didn't see (!) You know, I always think of strawberries as being a little bit romantic. Do you feel that way? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Probably an aphrodisiac, aren't they? I dunno! You'd know. Valentine's Day is a big one ` February. People go crazy for strawberries. Do you think it's more important to give a bunch of roses or it is to give a bunch of strawberries? Probably a combination. Oh, OK. (LAUGHS) Look, you know, we're going strawberry hunting, but how did you hunt down that bloke that looks after the strawberries? Oh, the strawberry farmer? (LAUGHS) Uh, met him through mutual friends in a bar. Thought she was stunning. Yeah. Couldn't take my eyes off her. You were the happiest man in New Zealand, were you? I was. Yeah, yeah. I was. And I thought, 'Man, this girl is so beautiful.' And then I started talking to her, Yeah. and she was a farm girl. Oh. What could be better? Yeah. And then we both went our separate ways. And then I came back to New Zealand after travelling and Googled him. You Googled him? I Googled him. She chased you? She chased me, yeah. (LAUGHS) And then I, uh, sent him an email, and I said, 'Hey, do you remember me?' And he did remember me, which was good for me. Yeah, that's good. Well, you're pretty unforgettable. (LAUGHS) Thanks. Oh, they look good in the old punnets, don't they? Hey, Nikita. Oh, hi. How many punnets have you sold today? Oh, heaps. Probably around 200 already. Whoo, she's making money for you. Flying out the door. (LAUGHS) That's good. I heard a little birdie say that you were the best ice cream maker here too, eh? You reckon you could teach me? Oh, definitely. Yeah. Your first job is to take this rolling pin here and the old Super Wine biscuits. I want you to bash the heck out of those, make them superfine. Pretty, pretty awesome effort with that. I've learnt a few skills on the way. I'm good at crushing biscuits. (LAUGHS) Oh, look at what Nikita has made ` the perfect ice cream. Look at that, Jase. What do you reckon? Wow. I don't need lunch after this one. No, you won't. Thank you. You won't need dinner either, buddy. Righty-oh. Mmm. The pressure's on now. Your turn now. OK. We'll pop a bit of Passionberry into the martini glass first, crushed biscuits on to that. Here, I've got a bit of mascarpone. Yup. Now, this is gonna make a perfect little lid on top of the Passionberry. Then we're going to add a little bit more of the Passionberry. Do we need more? (CHUCKLES) You can never have enough of this stuff. It's great. So, we're gonna layer it like a traffic light. So it's gonna come up just beautiful. It looks awesome. So you lift the handle up with your left hand. Yeah. Very good. Oh, we've got a blockage. Someone ring the plumber. (LAUGHS) This is the best part. We're adding the chocolate. This is the Passionberry chocolate. Heap it on there, cos this is the good stuff. Now we're gonna do the mascarpone, OK, yup. and then a bit of the biscuit. The mascarpone escaping out the back. (BOTH LAUGH) Look, I've got a double whammy going here. (LAUGHS) Let me get the back of it. Here we come. Oh my God. It's coming out at a great rate. (LAUGHS) OK, right, no, everything's perfect. Look at that. It's absolutely amazing. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) Now, flatten that out, so we're gonna make it all pretty and it'll be ready to go. And I think we have done an incredible job. Yeah. There's our beautiful strawberry right there. So there you go, that's our finished product. Dessert. Yup, yup. Whoo-hoo. I think I could eat a few of those, Yeah. as well as a few of these. Few of them? (LAUGHS) It doesn't matter how ugly it is. It just tastes beautiful. Righty-oh. Whoo-hoo. What do you reckon? Hi. Looks good. Hubba-hubba, baby. Look at that dessert. (LAUGHS) They're full of beautiful Passionberries. Get right down the bottom there and get all the layers. Oh, wow. It's really light. Yup. It's light. The little biscuit crushed up gives you that little vanilla flavour. The women's division of Federated Farmers could make this dessert. (LAUGHS) Well, team, we've had a gorgeous day with you learning all about strawberries and what to do with them. And I think one of the best things to do is to drink 'em. Cheers. Cheers to a great mate. (LAUGHS) Beautiful. The Passionberry people are getting foxy. Cut! Damon Pratt, Alisha Phelps, and their son, Ivan, are creating a self-sufficient paradise on their biodynamic land in Ruahine, on the outskirts of Dannevirke. They grow most of their own meat and vege, but it's port that's made them famous. Yup, Ruahine Port is their other love child. And after seven years of hard slog and lots of love, they've created a range of award-winning ports. Once you've tasted it, you'll never go back. Best thing to start first thing in the morning, because your palate's clearest, so that's our excuse for today. Wow, look at the colour of that. We got first place in New Zealand in 2011 with this port. With this particular one. That is something else. It's got this really beautiful, sort of sweet taste on your tongue, and then you let it slide down and then it goes all warm and mushy. Does that sound about right? Yes, that's about right. What's our first ingredient going in? Smoked juniper. Smoked juniper? That's right, absolutely. Where there's smoke, there's flavour. Did you smoke them yourself? I did, yeah. And did you grow them yourself? I did. Whoo-hoo! (BOTH LAUGH) What did we just put in there? We put some dried garlic. And then this is the smoked combo of, um,... Oh, yeah, that's beautiful. ...of peppers. Now, can I beat it up now? Yeah, go for it. (LAUGHS) Whoa, hang on! (LAUGHS) That looks pretty good. Yeah, that's great. We're gonna smoke this, not just sear it, so that's why we've got the spices so large as well. Oh, OK. Cos all of the aromatic oils are gonna, like, penetrate deeply into that venison. (WHISTLES) OK, we've got one more bit of venison left. What are we gonna do with that? So, this is my wild kai spices. It's sweet paprika, thyme, oregano, some sea salt, some black pepper. Is that it? It's all ready to go, is it? Not quite. We've got to put some oil on there to keep the venison steaks real moist. Here we go. Yeah. Mmm. It's ready to smoke. Whoa. (CHUCKLES) Perfect. Yup. (EXAGGERATES COUGHING) (LAUGHS) Oh my God, look at that. The smell is incredible. What's in there? So, blackberries, limestone water and sugar. This is liquid heaven right here. This is gonna turn into an absolute beautiful liquid spirit. So we're gonna take the cap off. This is all the blackberries that've sort of raised up, so underneath there is all the liquid. Yes. There you go, Lynda. Righty-oh. Oh, yes, it's solid as. Unbelievable. Look at that. Now, hear those bubbles? (LAUGHS) Yup, that's the yeast converting all those sugars into alcohol. In there? Oh yeah. There's about 950 kilos of blackberries sitting in here. Eventually, will you get rid of those pulpy blackberries? Yes. What happens is the pigs end up having them, and if you give them too much, the next thing they can't even get up. They're trying, cos they want to keep eating. They love it. (PIG SQUEALS) They sound a bit hungry, buddy. They sound bloody hungry. Come on, then. Hello, baby. Hello! They're getting in the bath! (LAUGHS) I thought pigs were smart. I know you've got some good things going here in the pig pen, but there's some good things going over in those big vats over there. How did you start the Ruahine Port? Well, after I met Damon, our first holiday we went up to Coromandel and we got a whole stack of fruit, and we were, like, just trying to ferment anything. It started in the shed, home-brewing, and then, with some of the ones that didn't work so well, we distilled them, so we had our spirit. So we had our wine and our spirit, and I'm like, 'Oh, where are we gonna go with this?' And it just, yeah, all went from there. It just evolved. It did, yeah. You kept at it, eh? Yeah, of course. You've got to stick at something when it's good. Righty-oh. We'd better get our dinner ready for those people over there. Absolutely. Away we go. They might not be thirsty, but they'll be hungry. (LAUGHS) Yeah. (LAUGHS) This is the end of our secondary fermentation. We're about to pump all of this beautiful blackberry goodness into our still and do a distillation. And then the actual spirit will be added back to that blackberry wine to bring it up to become a port. OK. 20% alcohol. So this is going to go into the still. Yes. Oh, yes. It's time. Mm. (LAUGHS) Yeah. What's that big Eiffel Tower you've got up there on the top of your roof? (LAUGHS) That's my recent sculpture. It's a water energiser, but particularly for, like, spring water and dew water as well. You collect dew, do you? We do. Lovely. Obviously got a lot of time on their hands down here in Ruahine. (BOTH LAUGH) So, here we go, Lynda. Gets even more exciting now. Wow, that's a pretty amazing looking thing. Where did you get that from? This is from Portugal, from Douro Valley. It's a 100% copper still, which is great, because that means that the actual copper is removing all the impurities in the spirit. We've got beautiful red blackberries in there. Yes. OK, and that is coming out absolutely pure, clear. How does that happen? What's happening is it's just over 80 degrees, and therefore, it creates steam. The steam that's rising is the actual spirit. As soon as the actual steam rises, it hits the condenser and then turns to liquid. It spirals around, and down she comes. And here's our blackberry spirit. And you're about to find out what it tastes like as well. (GASPS, COUGHS) (LAUGHS) That is incredible. It's like a, you know, a shot. It is exactly a shot, isn't it? It's far better quality. It's just got too much` We've got a leak. Oh. Right, that's our spirit leaving us, right there. This is a very important moment here, because Damon's told me that these are all separate units, here. And what he's putting in there is the weirdest thing. (LAUGHS) What is it? Rye flour. Rye flour. He's putting rye flour on that and then it goes hard like a concrete-y porridge. Yes, more like a cement. And then it can't escape. Because as soon as you see steam leaving, your blackberry beautiful nectar is running away. The hole is all fixed. Our spirits are going into the bottle, and things are good here at Ruahine Port. Searing off the venison real quick. Yeah. That's gonna come off. And then what we're gonna do is we're going to put the butter` We're making a nice big sauce, are we? Yeah, we are. And this is the beautiful juice that's come out while it's been smoking? Exactly, yup. Beautiful. These are the blackberries. Oh. Boysenberry port. Of course we're putting port in there. Yeah. Ruahine Port. There wouldn't be a dish without it. Yeah. Is this gonna reduce down like a jus? Yeah, exactly. Now, we've got a bit of time on our hands, then, haven't we? What are we gonna do? (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) Let's have a drink. Yeah. Come on. I've been waiting for one of those all day. (LAUGHS) There you go, Lynda. Thank you very much. Blackberry port. That there's the finished product. The bottle ` you know, this is a beautiful bottle and there's some amazing artwork on this. Who's in charge of that label? Alisha. She does all of the sketching. She also does sculptures. She's just extremely clever. Extremely clever. Hey, where did you meet Damon? At an organic festival in Pohangina. At an organic festival. (LAUGHS) Though, I think it's the first one he ever went to. Was he an organic virgin, was he? (BOTH LAUGH) I heard my mate Nick scream out, 'Damo, come and meet this chick from Dannevirke.' (LAUGHS) And then next thing, a big light shone and here comes this beautiful girl. And I just went, 'Wow, hello!' (LAUGHS) Did he ask you out? Um, he tried to woo me. He tried to woo you? Yes, he did. Well, he bloody well did. He did. It worked. (BOTH LAUGH) (LIVELY MUSIC) Oh, man, it's good. Yeah, it's like nothing else. Yeah ` lovely. We definitely are the luckiest girls in New Zealand, cos we get to hang out with amazing people like you, we get to eat amazing, fresh, local food... Plenty of good things happening in sheds in this country. (ALL LAUGH) Yes. Here's to the amazing alchemists of Ruahine. Yeah. Good on you, buddy. (FIDDLE MUSIC) 'What's your fancy, Ken ` a whisky or a gin?' Would be the next thing I'd say to you after, 'Welcome. Come on in.' I'm partial to a Pimm's, Ken, but my favourite is a sherry. If you offered me a cocktail, oh, it'd be a Bloody Mary. (BOTH LAUGH) So sit down by the fire, Ken. Relax. Have a tipple. And we'll finish off the evening with a gorgeous slippery nipple.