Marlborough

New Zealand is home to 13 different wine regions, but the Marlborough Region simply dwarfs them all. Approximately 3/4 of the countries wine production occurs in this area. The majority of the regions 200 wineries (yes – 200) are in the Wairau River valley.

The region is blessed with a microclimate of warm sunny days and cool crisp nights that produce world class Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurtztraminer and Rieslings.

While some might attempt a suicide run and try to visit all 200, we spent 2 days visiting 4 different wineries and that was just fine thank you very much. Many of the wineries offer excellent dining in addition to wine tasting at their cellar doors. With such a variety to choose from, we called on some of Joe’s friends who lived in the area to recommend some smaller boutique wineries – ones with a great local reputation, limited production and great ambience. Sorry to all of you NZ wine junkies – none of the wineries we visited export to the US.

In no particular order, we visited Seresin (we had enjoyed an excellent Seresin Pinot Gris at a restaurant), Scott, Rock Ferry and, our favorite, Gibson Bridge.

All of these wineries sported walls full of awards – but being small, most of the wine never leaves the country.

We had a wonderful lunch at Rock Ferry.

The nature of the microclimate was brought home to us as we traveled back to Iron Lady in Picton – just a short 40 minute drive from the Wairau River valley. You could see the gathering clouds over the mountains. The sun disappeared and the rain started as we approached Picton while it was still delightful behind us.

There is an old expression that wine doesn’t travel well. I suspect that it is more a function of wine being situational. By that, I mean that wine is simply part of a broader experience – people, beautiful surroundings, good food and knowledgeable folks at the cellar door that make the whole thing fun – and those things are important to making a wine memorable.

Given that (and the fact that you probably can’t get any of the wines we had anyway) – I have no specific recommendations other then to say we were not really impressed with the reds from the Marlborough area.

Other than that, we did find that the ample supplies we bought and took with us around New Zealand on Iron Lady traveled just fine