Wine tasting in Blenheim
Trip Start
Jun 14, 2008
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42
93
Trip End
Jun 20, 2009
Blenheim,
South Island,
New Zealand
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wine country, the best this country has to offer. We tooled into the Marlborough region in search of three things, good wine, a tandem bicycle and finally some wine. Alas, the tandem was nowhere to be found but in the immortal words of my fello vino enthusiast Meatloaf,"two outa three aint bad".
We decided to stay in the town of Blenheim which is a grand spring board for wine touring. unfortunately when we arrived the rain was lashing down and scuppered our plans to hit the vineyards and move on the next day. The guy at the motor-camp told us to hang on one more day as he predicted fine weather for the next day and so we booked another night and settled for a trip to the local watering hole to watch the mighty All-Blacks destroy the not so mighty Ozzies
Whats cookin?
. We had a great laugh in the pub with the locals who seemed more interested in cracking jokes at Australians expense than paying attention to what seemed to us a nail-biting encounter. It seems the Kiwis just expect to win and only really get excited when they lose and then get to dissect exactly how the ref cost them the game. As soon as the game ended the crowd disappeared off into the night and so, keeping in mind our important cultural exploits in the morning, we did likewise.Our nice-weather Nostradamus being spot on had us waken to glorious sunshine and blue skies. We tried our best to secure use of a tandem bike for the days exploits but had to settle for two mountain bikes ingeniously equipped with special wine carrying panniers on the back. We went with a local company who came and picked us up at our van, kitted us out and gave us our map and directions to some of the best vineyards in the area. The great thing about the Blenheim surrounds is how flat the countryside is here. Had there been even moderately steep hills about I fear myself and Murph may have struggled to return in one piece. Instead we had a brilliant day gliding from vineyard to vineyard sampling amazing wine, eating beautiful grub and boldly snapping up bottles like they were going out of fashion. The Highfields Estate was a highlight with the amazing views and buildings but all in all each place had it's own unique pleasures
Get on yer bikes
. The staff in the vineyards are brilliant, they give you oodles of info on the wine as they pour you another free sample, it's no wonder you feel compelled to buy a bottle at each stop. In the Matua estate we must have had close to 10 different samples with the two ladies working there opening up bottles for us so they could try something they hadn't had themselves in a while. The craic was mighty but we were beginning to wobble a bit on the aul bikes so we wisely finished up at Villa Maria and took the wine and bikes back to base.We cooked up a storm back at the safety of our wee van and enjoyed a couple more glasses of wine. It was a great way to spend our last night in our brilliant van. Although Murph has taken her fair share of bumps on the noggin in the confined vestibule of our little Hi-Ace, I think even she will miss it. We would be taking to the road one last time the next day to drive back to Christchurch and then say adieu to our classy conveyor. We would definitely recommend the campervan option as a great way to get around the south island, it gives you the freedom to go where you want when you want and also the privacy to cook your own grub at the camp-site or even at the side of the road on a scenic drive. All things considered, it's been a great trip.
