One of my highlights of New Zealand was cycling around the wineries in the Marlborough region. There are 25 wineries with 5 kilometres of Watson's way backpackers. Renwick is a better place than Blenheim to base yourself if you are interested in touring around the vineyards. Watson’s way supply bikes (NZ$10); this is the ideal way to see the wineries as the roads are quiet and fairly flat so easy to cycle around even with a few glasses of wine on board. The area around Renwick (Wairu valley) is the ideal location. The days are warm and the evenings are cool which accentuate the grapes’ flavours.
Armed with our map, our first port of call was Cellier Le Brun. This winery was quite commercial; we were charged $NZ2 and they are more geared for taking bus tours. Daniel Le Brun specialises in Methode Traditionelle, which are sparkling wines made in the champagne style. My favourite however was the Sauvignon Blanc.
Our next stop was the Frammingham estate, which had a lovely merlot/malbec wine to taste. The entrance has lovely gardens and there was also a small museum on winemaking there. We had a long chat with the lady working in the cellar. She pointed out that New Zealand is a world leader when it comes to screw-caps on wine bottles and EFTPOS (Electronic Fund Transfer at Point of Sale). Her husband is originally from Ardmore, co. Waterford. The Irish are everywhere!
Bladen vineyard is a small family owned winery. One evening Dave who worked in I and his wife Chris who was an estate agent decided to up sticks and move to Renwick to open a vineyard. They had no experience, just enthusiasm. They became contract grape-growers first but now all wine with the Bladen label (incidentally named after their children Blair and Deni) comes from their 8 hectare vineyard. Chris didn’t glamourise their lifestyle; the work is arduous and tedious a lot of the time. But she wouldn’t go back to the city.
A visitor from Alsace suggested it to Hugh Steadman that Marlborough had the ideal climate for making fruit brandies, and so the Prenzel distillery was born. As well as fruit brandies they also have a gorgeous range of liqueurs. I can highly recommend the Prenzel cream, which is a butterscotch-flavoured Baileys. Yum. The botryised Riesling is also wonderful.