New Zealand

…Picking up a wine glass, that is, especially after all our adventures in beer drinking. We've been in the country for 3 1/2 months and have done minimal wine tastings. So, we decided to take a little tour of the vineyards of the Marlborough area on our way through Blenheim. This medium sized city is just south of the ferry crossing port, Picton, and really holds no appeal for travelers, other than all things wine related.

New Zealand is a relatively new player on the wine scene - they aren't quite as well known as Napa Valley or France, but they are now making impressive chardonnays and sauvignon blancs. These types of grapes grow well in the cool, dry weather that’s found in most of New Zealand. Specifically, these regions include Cromwell, Marlborough, and Napier (North Island) - each far away from the rain drenched west coast. Not many reds are made in these regions, but a few decent Pinot Noirs (according to the boys) do exist.

On a recommendation from a friend's parents, we took the tour via bike (much safer and greener than by car). This proved to be a fantastic way to get from Winery A to Winery B despite the gale force winds that frequently increased our pedaling efforts while simultaneously decreasing our speed. We visited about 8 cellar doors. Our favorites turned out to be Framingham and Cloudy Bay. Both produce fantastic wines that are unfortunately well out of our backpacker budget, but are definitely worthy of promotion to our friends and family.

Although we didn't buy any wine, we all feel as if our appreciation for and knowledge of good wines has impressively increased as a result of our tour!