This trip is to celebrate the beginning of my long service leave, a nice chunk of time where I can focus on things other than work. And what better to do than travel?
I’d originally planned to be in the UK at this point, but decided that a quick jaunt closer to home was in order, especially since R and I will be heading to Europe together in June. I hadn’t been to NZ for a while, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to tick off a couple of bucket list items, the first of which was to visit the Marlborough wine region.
I’m a big fan of Marlborough sauvignon blancs, the grape this region is most known for, and we didn’t visit the last time we were in the area, just waving at the grapes from the Coastal Pacific train. So my first stop on this trip is Blenheim, after a Perth – Auckland flight and then jumping into a turbo prop plane for the hop to Blenheim airport.
I booked a room at the Waterfront Motel, a place with good reviews and conveniently slotted between the river that winds through Blenheim and the tourist centre and railway station. This place was great – big rooms, big windows looking out over the river, and a convenient kitchenette.
The first cloud on my horizon was that I’d not organised an airport transfer, and being a small town, there isn’t Uber or a waiting line of taxis at the airport. Whoops. After trying to work out which taxi company was best, I rang the hotel and they kindly called me a taxi. I’d forgotten that lots of people tend to hire cars/campers etc so they don’t need much in the way of transfers.
After a quick wander around town and a stop for groceries (Coles is New World in NZ) I had an early night, having not slept on the red eye the night before. I woke early and took another walk around town, noting important places like the cinema and another supermarket (Woolworths is Countdown here – that was something I didn’t expect!) before being picked up for my first wine tour.
I headed off from the I-Site (visitor centre) with the Marlborough Tour Company for their Sip Tour, an afternoon of popping into a couple of wineries to taste some delicious wines. We started at Wither Hills winery, tasting their Single Vineyard range. The Sav Blanc was delicious, as predicted, but I didn’t realise that Marlborough is producing some lovely pinot noirs too, really smooth apparently because of the cool climate. Our second stop was Framingham, set in a gorgeous yard that would be great to sit and sip on a warm day. The third was Whitehaven, who as well as the “usual” tasting list, allowed me to have a quick sip of their methode traditionelle, which was delish. We detoured past the boutique chocolate company Makana on our way back to town, and a jolly and enthusiastic bunch we were, especially as the confectionary makers were handing out samples as we walked in. Let me tell you: the macadamia butter toffee crunch is to die for.
On our way back, I’d had a phone call from the Hop on Hop off wine tour company that I’d booked with for the next day, to tell me they were cancelling (and would take 10 days to give me a refund, btw. Hmm.) Great – I had about 20 mins to find something else for Wednesday before everything shut for the day, so I threw myself on the mercy of the visitor centre people, who rang a couple of other tour companies. They worked out that the HopNGrape Tours had one that was still running, and they could make sure I didn’t double up on wineries from my Tuesday tour.
So Wednesday morning I hopped in the minibus with two other solo travellers, both from the UK, and we headed out to visit five more wineries. Rest assured, I made use of the spittoon a lot more on this trip, as we probably tasted 25 or so wines throughout the day! We started off with Lawson’s Dry Hills, where their sav blanc was like a punch in the face with a passionfruit – so delicious! (and available in AU through Dan Murphy’s too…) The second stop was in the beautiful gardens of Hunter’s Winery where my favourite was the bubbles, of course!. The next stop was lunch at Allan Scott Winery, where we tried a number of their wines but to be honest, it was overshadowed by the yummy food. I had local clams – yum!
Vineyard Number Four was Gibson Bridge, a small place run by a husband and wife team. The standout for me was the late harvest Gewürztraminer, which was so nice I actually bought a bottle. Don’t know how I’ll transport it, but we shall see! The final stop for the day was No. 1 Family Estate, who specialise in methode traditionelle. They even have chairs in the cellar door that are made in the shape of champagne cage/caps! I can’t actually remember which of the ones we tried I liked the best, because the photo I took to remind myself is a bit blurred. Not sure why that might be! We then rolled on back to town and waved goodbye, and I slept very well.
Farewell Marlborough – it’s been very educational for my wine taste buds!
Two Weeks Away 