Seth and I spent the last few days of September and the first few days of October of 2009 in New Zealand visiting my in-laws - Meredith & Jerry and we had a great time.
We met up with them in Wellington where they are living for the year. We spent a couple of days hanging out in Wellington and then took a great 20 minute plane ride (in a small prop plane) over to Picton & Blenheim in the Marlsborough region of New Zealand wine country.
The best part of the plane trip over was that I got to sit in the co-pilot seat (so i guess I was God for about 20 minutes!) I have no idea how pilots actually take off and land as the "dashboard" must be 3 feet high with no possible way to actually see over it. It is a 3 foot tall by 6 foot long wall of dials, gauges & read out screens and it is cool as hell!
So we got into Picton early in the morning, rented a car and then headed into Blenheim to rent bikes to ride through wine country. We rented bikes at Wine Tours by Bike:
http://www.winetoursbybike.co.nz/
We hit 3 wineries and one brewery.
By the time we got on the bikes and got out to our first winery it was time for lunch. We started our Marlsborough tour at Allan Scott Winery (http://www.allanscott.com/ )where we had lunch and a glass of wine. I had a great penne with lamb and their Sauvignon Blanc and we ordered the rapsberry "cheesecake" and the blood orange creme brulee. (Cheesecake is in air quotes for a reason, but I'll explain about that at a later date.) The setting was quite nice. We sat out in a covered courtyard on these nice old wood slat tables and after lunch went into the tasting room to try some of their other wines. We tries a couple of their whites, one of their reds and their Blanc de Blancs (their Methode Traditionelle sparkling wine). The 2 that really stood out for me were the Sauvignon Blanc and the Blanc de Blancs. We then left Allan Scott and biked over to the brewery Moa (http://www.moabeer.co.nz/ )where we were met by the cutest little puppy ever. We did a sampling in their small but very charming tasting room/bar. The 2 young ladies behind the bar that were serving us did an exceptional job of pouring and describing the beers. They even let us know where we could get it in the States!
Once done there we biked over to the winery that makes m very favorite Sauvignon Blanc - Cloudy Bay (http://www.cloudybay.co.nz/Mainpage ). I actually fell in love with another of their whites while at the vineyard - their Te Koko white. (and this is saying a lot as I am generally a red drinker).
At this point we thought we were in pretty good shape. We had been biking most of the day and were not too tired. We felt that we had enough energy for one more vineyard. Well as we stared making our way from Cloudy Bay to our next destination the wind began to pick up an we spent the time riding from Cloudy Bay to Villa Maria biking into a pretty strong wind. But we were well rewarded.
When we got to Villa Maria (http://www.villamaria.co.nz/ ). We got to Villa Maria and were pretty exhausted after fighting against a pretty strong headwind. We tried a couple of their whites, which I thought were pretty average, and then we tried their Pinot Noir and were richly rewarded. I was pleasantly surprised. I really think Villa Maria makes a pretty outstanding Pinot Noir and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
Once we finished at Villa Maria we returned out bikes and then headed back into Picton to via a scenic route that took us up into the hills of the sounds that surround Picton. We saw the most intense rainbow I have ever seen. It was a full rainbow and you could even see the most of the second rainbow above it. And the colors of the main rainbow were very intense, it was almost like a child''s drawing in terms of color intensity.
We then headed to check into the hotel, had a bit to eat at a charming Bistro in Picton. We all slept well that night and the next morning we caught a ferry back into Wellington. The ferry trip was a good 2-1/2 hours and took us through some of the most beautiful sounds in New Zealand.
Overall the trip to New Zealand wine country was amazing and I can't wait to do it again and see more of Marlsborough.
For pictures from our trip check out the photos I have online at Picassa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/KevinCardani/WineCountryInNewZealand#
Cheers
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