John Hancock, of Hancock and Sons, who we caught up with last July in the Grapevine column, is now semi-retired. A small vineyard he knows well in Puketapu, another area hard hit, was washed away. “The Tutaekuri [River] ran right through there. There’s only nine strainer posts left. A hundred empty barrels are gone somewhere, scattered in paddocks all the way to the Pacific I guess.” I Shed 530, the restaurant venue there, is open again and Hancock is typically pragmatic. “I was there yesterday.
