A Weekend in Marlborough

Just spent a weekend in Marlborough for a friend’s wedding and while we were there visited a couple of vineyards for a taste and to take a few nice bottles home. We especially picked wineries that we had not visited previously and I thinks we chose well - the boot was pretty heavy on the way home…

Stopped at Kaikoura Vineyard for lunch on the way up but didn’t buy any wine there - Savvy was nice though with the platter although the food wasn’t as exciting as last time we were there.

Through Seddon and over the new bridge, right turn up the Redwood pass road led us to Vavasour where we tasted some great wines from the Vavasour, Dashwood, Goldwater  and Clifford Bay labels. Our picks were the Vavasour 2003 Awatere Valley Riesling (Gold ANZ 2006) , Vavasour 2007 Awatere Valley Sauvignon Blanc (Gold ANZ 2007) and the Clifford Bay 2006 Marlborough Riesling (Gold Top 100 2006).

Next day we visited Framingham Estate and of the wines tasted there loved the 2006 Marlborough Montepulciano and the 2003 Marlborough Dry Riesling. On to Nautilus Estate and a couple of standouts there - 2006 Marlborough Pinot Noir and the Winemaker’s Selection 2007 Sauvignon Blanc.

Next stop was Domaine Georges Michel - I have only tasted a few of this label but I remember that the Sauvignon Blanc was a well made wine - picks of the tasting were three in the La Reserve series - 2003 Chardonnay, 2004 Pinot Noir and the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc.

Hadn’t been to Hunter’s Wines for years so at the last minute decided to stop in there. Has changed a lot since my last visit, but the wines were as delicious as ever - grabbed a 2003 and 2005 Kaho Roa Winemaker’s Selection Sauvignon Blanc and a bottle of the 2006 Sangiovese , one of only 100 bottled… they also make a 2005 Brookby Road Sauvignon Blanc / Chardonnay blend which will be an interesting wine to offer to friends at some stage …

So that was the end of the Marlborough visits (apart from the Makana Chocolate Factory - yummmm. A brief stop in Waipara at Mudhouse on the way home to CHCH and another tasting - the Mudhouse 2007 Marlborough Sauvignon and 2006 Waipara Hills Waipara Riesling being our picks there - a couple of bottles of the now discontinued label, Le Grys 2004 Marlborough Pinot Noir clear-skins found their way into the boot too - well at $10 a shot who wouldn’t - and it  turned out to be a bloody good drop too!

Overall a fantastic trip - BTW the wedding was great too. JB.