Wine Country

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Geo: -41.2929, 174.006

Today was a spectacular day in the Marlborough Sound with a sparkling, sunny arrival into Picton Harbour via the narrow Tory Channel and Queen Charlotte Sound between Arapawa Island and the East and West Heads.

New Zealand's total population is approximately 4.5M. Half live north of Taipo and Napier, 1.5 in Auckland. Picton gets Australia's weather 3 days later. Wellington, on the north island is to the East of Picton, as the islands overlap and the two are connected by regular ferries. Christchurch is a 5hr drive south. The southern island is a 4 hour drive wide and 12 hr drive long.

We noticed that the ferries had single entry and also accommodated trains. The ferry is squeezed into a dock, connoted by the squeal of rubber as it docks, to ensure alignment of the tracks. The vehicles, including semi trailers enter and u turn on board to allowed disembarking upon arrival at their destination.

Our excursion was in the afternoon, so we decided after breakfast to do a brisk hike along the ridge of the point of land to a beach we had seen on the way into Picton harbour. It turned out to be Victoria Domain (park) and specifically Bob's Beach. The climbs were worth the vistas and to make sure we did not miss our afternoon wine tour we Jenny Craig'd it - proof in the sweat marks on my shirt 😊 I should have worn my HR watch and taken my iPhone/Wahoo app with me!!

In the afternoon, we boarded a tour bus, which traveled through the Wairau valley, along the braided (consists of a network of small channels separated by small and often temporary islands called braid bars; occur in rivers with high slope and/or large sediment load) Wairau river - Cloudy Bay to our east and southern alps to our west. Settlement occurred in the late 1840's, the major centre is Blenheim - population approximately 30,000.

There are over 60 wineries in the Marlborough region - NZ's #1 wine region. Hawkes Bay is #2, but was the birthplace of NZ wine when the Mission Estate Winery in Hawkes Bay was established in 1851 after a group of French Missionaries (with the blessing of the Pope) arrived and established a Marist Mission in the north of New Zealand in 1838 and vines were planted to produce both sacramental and table wine.

Montana, now called Brancott Estate, was the first winery in Marlborough, where some 25,000 acres of grapes, mostly Sauvignon Blanc, a little bit Chardonnay and some Pinot Noir are grown. Cloudy Bay, which was the Chardonnay we had in Auckland, put the region on the map. Harvest is in March. Vines had just been trimmed to ensure that all the energy goes to the fruit and not the leaves. It was also pointed out that Air New Zealand sponsors the wine industry's version of the academy awards in NZ.

Our first stop was Saint Clair Family Estate, one of the most awarded wines in area, which was converted from its earlier form as a pig farm and was an early provider for Montana. The winery was built by the Ibbotson's and their three children (1 boy and 2 girls). Daughter Julie presented to our group and the work involved was very evident. Notable family events and winery accolades were burned into restaurant table top corners, including Julie giving birth to one of her children in a vehicle in 2010!

We learned that Pinot Noir gets its colour from the skin and some of its spice from the stems, thus they must bathe in the liquid for some time to extract. However, CO2 causes the grapes to rise and become like concrete on the top, resulting in a "plunging" needing to be done 6-8 times per day. We purchased a bottle of Grunier Veltliner Pioneer Block, an Austrian white grape varietal, nicknamed "Groovy" due to pronunciation challenges, which was grown in a paddock that originally housed bulls. The phenolic or bitter taste (similar to leaving a tea bag steeping too long) is mitigated by the addition of small amounts of dairy. Unfortunately Groovy is not exported either!

We had a brief pit-stop at Makana Confection store before heading to Drylands Winery, which was started by two Croatian families - the Nobilio's and Selak's, who got together and bought Drylands. They later sold to Constellation, who later acquired Kim Crawford (note Kim is a man), Carly's favourite wine. Unfortunately we discovered that they do not export their best Sauvignon Blanc - dark brown cap, they only export the green cap version 😞 We bought and enjoyed a bottle of Drylands Chardonnay, as well as the dark cap Sauvignon Blanc.

Our last stop was one of the 1st wineries in region - Allan Scott Family Winery. Allan lived in the region pre vineyards. This was probably the most entertaining and informative visit, as it was conducted by a young, humourous and informal wine maker (one of two). He retrieved Sauvignon Blanc directly from the steel vats and Pinot Noir from the barrels into pitchers, before pouring for visitors. He explained that Champagne was made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes with yeast and sugar fermenting for two year in bottles capped with beer caps. The yeast gathers on one side of bottles, which are stored in racks and have to be moved to a machine that gradually rotates and turns the bottle upside down to collect the yeast in the bottom; then the neck is frozen, so when cap is removed the yeast plug pops out! He indicated the Kiwi's were the 1st to automate this, as the French conduct this process manually. In addition, this winery was one of the most striking visually with magnificent gardens and classic old buildings.

Another thoroughly enjoyable day!

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