Marlborough Wine Country, Nelson Lakes, and Marlborough Sounds

We have reached the end of our South Island journey. Crazy! Only three more weeks left before we have to return to reality.

Blenheim was a good choice of location. While it wasn't super sunny, it was only a bit cloudy and definitely not raining. We took ourselves just out of town to visit the wineries of Marlborough, New Zealand's largest (by volume) wine producing region by a long shot. If you've had NZ wine, it's probably been from Marlborough. And it was probably a Sauv Blanc. This area is famous worldwide for it, and deservedly so. We visited four of the wineries in the area.

We stopped first at Highfield based on a Lonely Planet recommendation. Apparently it's not an uncommon recommendation and they get a lot of "if you go to only one place, go there" people. Their claim to fame is a viewing tower with a nice vista over the valley and the surrounding hills. The wine was fine. Nothing wrong, but nothing to really write home about. We left with just some pictures and a recommendation for our next stop.

Mahi. Wow. This was a good one. The wine is mostly single-vineyard, which we love, and all natural fermentation, which we really love. The style of wine was perfect for us, and everything was very good. We had a very nice tasting and left with a Sauv Blanc, Chardonnay, and a Pinot Noir. And, of course, a recommendation for the next place and some good ideas for lunch.

We ignored those good ideas and instead went to a takeaway in Renwick for a hot dog and a "Renwick burger" complete with a beef patty, chopped steak, onions, tomato, lettuce, a fried egg, bacon, a huge slab of melted cheese, mushrooms, and a pineapple slice. So. Good. Beard-washing was necessary after that enjoyment.

Then we went down the street [we must impress how close all these wineries are to each other] to Te Whare Ra, one of the local organic wineries. The wine here was pretty good. Not as nice as Mahi, but still good. We came away with a bottle of Sauv Blanc. They were out of both of their reds, which was a shame because it would have been interesting to see what they did with them.

After that we hit Seresin. This was another big hit with a solid lineup and some goofy unique winemaking ideas. We tore ourselves away with only a Chardonnay, though you can buy their excellent Sauv Blanc at wine.com. Big thumbs up for Marlborough.

The next day we were pretty wined out. Since the weather in Nelson Lakes had cleared up [i.e. it stopped snowing], we took a drive down the valley to visit Rotoiti, which Hilary had been to last time. When we got there, there was some sort of waka [canoe] race going on and it was really crowded. It was also kind of cold. Nevertheless, we took a walk along the lake and spotted some tui and bellbirds. Strangely, about half way down our trail, Hilary remembered hiking along the very same 10 years ago... apparently, when she was here before she went for a run on the same trail.

From Rotoiti we drove to Picton. We had a chill night with our Chardonnay from Seresin and The Mummy from the video library at the holiday park. The next day we returned to the Queen Charlotte Track to do a walk. The day started a little grey but the sun came out and we had a very nice ~18 km walk along the track including a random cow-on-track sighting. On the way back, the cow was gone. Not really sure where it went...

Tomorrow morning we make the short drive back to the ferry and then the North Island.