By admin Our first stop on the South Island would be the town of Blenheim, the center of New Zealand’s most famous wine region, Marlborough. Known for its crisp, zesty, acidic Sauvignon Blancs, Marlborough produces more than three-quarters of all of New Zealand’s wine and Sauvignon Blanc makes up the vast majority of Marlborough’s production.
While there is more to do in the area than just imbibe Sauvignon Blanc (hiking, water activities, etc.) , we were operating on a tight schedule, so we decided to fly down from Auckland in the morning, pick up our rental car, drive around on a self-guided wine tour (Katz acting as the very gracious designated driver), enjoy a leisurely lunch, check into our Airbnb, treat ourselves to a luxurious tasting menu at Arbour for dinner, then continue southward the following morning. It was a typical ambitious Lindsay Katz Wing travel itinerary.
After a minor travel snafu thanks to Air New Zealand, we arrived in Blenheim a couple hours later than expected (1:30pm vs. 11:30am), but we weren’t going to let that ruin our day. Fortunately, the airport is located smack in the middle of wine country. We just scratched lunch off the plan and headed eagerly to our first winery.
While Cloudy Bay distributes widely throughout the U.S., the New Zealand winery sells a large variety of wines that aren’t available abroad, and we were curious to taste their more obscure offerings. The ambiance at the winery was also quite relaxed and charming, featuring a sprawling lawn, picnic tables and games, all surrounded by lush vineyards. Families and couples were spread out between the tables, enjoying a leisurely afternoon outdoors.
While we would have been happy to stay for longer, we didn’t want to miss out on visiting other wineries, so we sipped our tasting flights, took a few photos, and headed on to the next winery.
The surprise hit of the day was No. 1 Family Estate, where Lindsay became obsessed with their Méthode Traditionelle sparkling rosé. Even though we were scolded for entering through the wrong door, the rude manager couldn’t detract from the delicious wine. Lindsay decided to buy a couple bottles (one for us to enjoy on Christmas, another to take home). Spoiler alert: Katz left the box with the wine in the overhead compartment of our plane to Queenstown the following day, thus incurring the rage of Lindsay and one of the tensest moments of our trip. In his defense, we are not used to being able to carry wine on flights, so I can understand how the precious cargo overhead would slip his mind.
We were quite pleased to have been able to squeeze in three winery visits despite our unexpectedly late arrival; it helped that nowhere we went required more than a ten minute drive. After getting settled at our nicer-than-expected Airbnb (we opted for an inexpensive modular home since we were really only going to be sleeping there, but I actually would have been happy to hang out for a day or two longer), we still had time for a drink before dinner. A woman from one of the tasting rooms (they actually call tasting rooms “cellar doors” in New Zealand, as well as Australia) had suggested we check out The Wine Station.
Essentially a wine bar, The Wine Station offers guests a variety of eighty wines, all accessible in several pour sizes by self-serve machines. In case you’re wondering, the origin of the name “The Wine Station” is related to the bar’s location in the “historic” (circa 1906) Blenheim Railway Station.
After a few tastes, it was time for the final event of the day: dinner at the highly regarded fine dining restaurant Arbour. Offering a couple tasting menu options and an optional wine pairing, Arbour was only our second meal of the trip together, but it ended up being our favorite. The presentation was beautiful, every course was excellent, and the wine pairings were on point. The hospitality was also terrific, but I will have to dock them for lagging when delivering the last couple courses.
Many dishes later, our whirlwind day in Marlborough had come to a close. We were all exhausted and ready for bed. And of course the next day we had another big agenda ahead of us: fly to Queenstown, pick up a new rental car, drive to Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo, finally ending at Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park for the night. It was clearly time to go to bed!
