12 December 2024 -New Zealand- South Island -Marlborough

We woke having had a lie in and had a good breakfast. It was a bit grey and the forecast was for potentially rain later. We headed out with a view to visiting the Marlborough Museum which included the story of the wine in this region.

We went for a coffee to start with at the Aviation Museum which was particularly good. The museum only opened on certain days of the week, Thursday being one of them and we arrived just after opening time. Essentially the museum told the story of Marlborough in terms of when the wine started in this area. In addition to what I wrote yesterday the first proper winery seemed to be Montana in the early 1970’s and between then and 1990 the main players and names in this area started. The vineyards are very close to each other and as you drive past you go from name to name – a bit like in Bordeaux.  

It seemed from the Museum that they have tried many varieties of vine here but have realised that this area is particularly good for Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir and to a lesser extent Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.  Some wineries use oak barrels (to increase the flavour) for their wines for about 11-12 months and whilst there about 400 species of oak only 20 can be used for making barrels. In addition, the average age of French Oak tree harvested for use in wine barrels is 170 years.

There were some good sayings like Wine improves with age. The older I get the better I like it!!. Wine is bottled Poetry. There was quite a lot of old machinery in the museum and a few videos etc. It was good to get more of an idea of the area before we went out to do more tasting. There was also a Māori exhibition which was interesting although we have seen quite a lot of such exhibitions here. It is thought that the first humans to come to NZ actually landed by the Wairau Bar near where we are actually staying in about the 12/13 century.

Jules then said I had a surprise and my children had arranged for me to visit the Alan Scott Winery which ironically was opposite Cloudy Bay which we had visited the day before. We therefore drove to the winery which had a relaxed restaurant and tasting area. We were shown to a table and enjoyed a lovely meal and tasted a number of their wines – Sparkling Rose, Black Label Sauvignon Blanc, Estate Sauvignon Blanc and their Estate Merlot. It was all delicious so thank you guys for such a special treat and the contribution you made to it.

This winery made Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Rose, Pinot Noir and Merlot. This was slightly more than most who tend to concentrate on the main varieties set out above.

Jules had read about the (Hans) Herzog Winery in the museum which made their wines organically and as it was not far away we went to see it. He was originally Swiss and came here back in the 1970’s and fell in love with the place and recognised the potential to make good wine here. Decades later he has a 11.5-hectare site and makes 28 different varieties of wine all hand made. It is clearly a labour of love for him and quite an amazing story. He does not make a lot of each but what he does make is renown and sold.

We then drove past Villa Maria which was not far away as we have drink quite a lot of this over the years. It was by this time closed but good to see where it was.

After our long lunch and visiting wineries we returned home to have a cup of tea and relax. We tried to feed the lamas but there were not to be seen. We had a light supper of cheese and biscuits and decided to have a reasonably early night.

We move on to Kaikoura tomorrow which will be quite different.

The picture of the day is a vineyard near the Alan Scott Winery but many of them look like this and fill quite a bit of the valley here. What a treat to visit them and we could have spent days tasting but we have to move on.

Opportunity Year Two

In year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025. I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com