Marlborough – Growing With Leala

On my visit to the Marlborough region I wanted to safely visit multiple wineries. Fortunately I found Marlborough Wine Tours and it was perfect. I was worried because my lodging was a little out-of-the-way but it was no problem for them to come pick me up. Phil was our driver and very knowledgeable about wines in the region. We were lucky to have him as our host. The wineries chosen were well thought out and I am grateful that they didn’t pick the larger wineries in favor of visiting the small and some up-and-coming wineries. We visit 6 wineries in total and didn’t feel rushed in any of our visits. This is a great option if you are lacking a designated driver and really want to enjoy the region.

Winery 1 : Allan Scott Family Winemakers

Notable from this winery is their special ginger wine; it has a sweet and strong ginger flavor. Nice for a seasonal drink.

The Pinot Noir Rose is light and drinkable. Also liked the Pinot Noir.

The gardens are pretty with lots of plants to look at and a large chess game.

Winery 2: Rock Ferry

Rock Ferry is a boutique winery with some of my favorite choices of the day.

The Corner’s Sauvignon Blanc is my favorite Sauvignon Blanc of the day and contains flavors of gooseberry, peppers (capsicum) and asparagus.

They have a Pinot blanc that is from an “egg ferment” case, a special wine experiment of theirs.

Their Pinot Noir isn’t bad as well. I am loving the pinot noirs today.

Winery 3: Wairau River

We head to Wairau River Wines at lunchtime. I didn’t write down tasting notes about the wine or food so I am assuming it was very satisfactory.

I enjoyed sitting outdoors on this beautiful day.

Winery 4: Misty Cove

The next winery is pretty small. I left with some of their bottles because they sells styles not as common. I loved the Waihopai (Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Gris and Gewürztraminer) and the Gruner Vetliner. Gruner wines are especially a target of mine since they serve them frequently at the few restaurants to liked to visit when I lived in Brooklyn but they are hard to find anywhere else. Whenever I see Gruner on the menu it always catches my eye now.

Misty Cove also has a fun pool onsite for their lodging guests.

Winery 5: Spy Valley Wines

The second to the last winery of the day is Spy Valley. Just to note I am pretty intoxicated at this point so I can’t really rely on my taste buds to say what I think of these wines. Right now, everything is good.

Spy Valley is named so because it is located very close to a super secret US and UK satellite communications monitoring facility.

Naturally the tasting room decorated in spy stuff.

Pinot noir was my favorite out of the ones we tasted today.

Some of these are actually imported in the USA. I am able to purchase the Sauvignon Blanc at Total Wine.

Winery 6: Jackson Estate

The last of the day is Jackson Estate. We almost don’t make it in time because the entire group is pretty intoxicated by the last winery. The driver had to get a little firm with us to keep time. I don’t blame him, he wants to get us to all our locations so we get our money’s worth.

They had a really cool picture as their label.

From my tasting notes (whatever they are worth) I find the Pinot Rose and Vintage Window Pinot Noir are not bad and the Bortrytis Riesling is pretty good (and reflected so in the price!).

The winery seemed to be closing soon but they still took the time to show us the cellar. This is the only winery of our tour that let us see their cellar.

The driver took us back to our respective lodgings at the end. I am thoroughly grateful for the safe transportation today.

I am back at my wine cabin and being intoxicated I am unable to drive to dinner but I fortunately prepared enough cheese and snacks so driving would be unnecessary.

Cheese and Snacks are an acceptable dinner for an adult right?

In planning my sabbatical I concentrated on traveling to places that are pretty far from my home while also trying unique experiences (within my budget). I love wine so it wasn’t hard to include the Marlborough region of New Zealand on the list. We import a number of New Zealand wines in the USA and the majority seem to be Sauvignon Blanc – one of my warm weather sipping wines. Unlike Australian wines we get in the USA, I have a much easier time consuming the wines from New Zealand. I am very excited to visit this region while I am traveling the south island of New Zealand.

While searching Airbnb I found Marlborough Wine Barrel Cabins; cabins shaped like a wine barrel.

The hosts have two of these cabins to rent and there is a good amount of spacing between them so you have privacy.

The cabins are very cute inside. It gets warm inside during the day but a breeze comes through with the doors and windows open. There were some mosquitos/black flies but they weren’t as bad as I experienced prior.

I love the gardens and fruit trees on site. My cabin only had views of the gardens but the other cabin has a magnificent view of the hillsides

There is a shared bathroom with a toilet that is a little bit of a walk if you tend to get up in the middle of the night. I woke up once in the middle of night to go to the bathroom and noticed once again so many stars in the sky. It is amazing what you can see without light pollution.

As for the shower I used the outdoor shower. I am obsessed with outdoor showers. I hope to have one of my own someday if I ever own a home again. I love showering outdoors for some reason.

There is also a shared mini-fridge outside the main house that holds milk for guests and I also used it to store some of my perishables during my stay (also keeping my cheese and wine cold).

My first evening at the cabins I drove into town for dinner. It is about a 20 minute drive to the town of Blenheim from the cabins. There seem to be wineries nearby but I have booked a wine tour tomorrow. Even though I am located out of town the tour van will pick me up anyway. What good luck! I am excited to do a group tour tomorrow.