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On the 2nd April we arrived (off the four hour ferry journey) in the South Island after a lovely sunny cruise through the Marlborough Sounds and headed straight for Blenheim.  This was where our wine trail was going to continue.

 

 

It started well with a trip to Dodson’s Beer Garden.  Mike was in his element.  They had 24 beers on tap and did tasting trays with pizza!  So whilst Mike was working his way through some beers I tackled their wine menu 🙂 The food and drinks were all good but we eventually headed to bed.

We had a pretty rough night.  We stayed at the Blenheim Top 10, which was a really odd site as it was split on either side of the major highway. There were tracks under the highway to link the site.  The girl thought she was doing the right thing by putting us near the pretty river but we discovered this was quite a walk from the toilet block and she had just mowed the grass.  Overnight it got very damp and there were flies everywhere.  Even in the morning when it was light, our van filled up with flies and the floor was covered in wet grass, the awning was also wet along with our bedding that had been touching it.

 

Being still about 10km from the vineyards we decided to find something better so we could really enjoy the wine.

We hadn’t realised it was The Grapes Ride this weekend so town was pretty full.  We managed to secure a couple of nights in Renwick at Anglesea House B&B, this came with free bikes so which made it feel a better deal. The B&B is really nice, a lovely old country house, with beautiful gardens and the rooms had modern ensuites all very clean.  Diana who runs the place knows everything there is to know about the cellar doors and the best wines and food in the area.

On securing the room we decided to check out a couple of vineyards that afternoon.  The first was Wither Hills. Their Sauvignon is very similar to The Ned which both me and my sister love to drink at home. We think this is because the winemaker is connected to both estates.  It was a great place to start the wine trail in Marlborough. They had a tower and beautiful modern tasting rooms overlooking the vines, with beanbags out on the grass.  We tried a lot of wine here and came away with 3 bottles only one of which, a Pinot Noir, can we buy back in the UK.  The other two were cellar door releases which were a 2011 Chardonnay Benmorven and a 2010 Sauvignon Blanc, Rarangi, The Fingers.  This was only 1 of 528 bottles made.  These were special bottles that had been in casks to ferment for 11 months unusual for Sauvignon.  Neither of us like Chardonnay normally but these cask fermented ones are something really special.  We also tried a couple of Rieslings here, you might go yuk but these are really up and coming in New Zealand.  One I didn’t like, was like drinking lime juice but the other was much more mellow and lovely.

 

 

 

 

We then went onto Fromm.  This is a very little Swiss owned vineyard that specialises in reds.  We tried a few Pinot Noirs here and came away with a rather expensive but equally delicious Brancott Valley Pinot Noir.  As this is such a small vineyard the only chance of finding this in the UK is from a top end restaurant.

These two vineyards really whetted our appetite for the following day when we would be on bikes and could taste a lot more.