Pinot gris grapes rising at FROMM, Blenheim. Photograph / Equipped
Marlborough is New Zealand’s largest wine area with dozens of cellar doorways – and greater than 100 winemakers. Add to that the bounty of produce that grows and thrives right here, and a go to to the area turns into a pilgrimage for gastronomes in addition to oenophiles.
Sauvignon blanc could also be Marlborough’s bread and butter, however that is certainly not all it has going for it.
Wairau River Wines
Wairau River is one among Marlborough’s oldest family-owned wineries – and remains to be very a lot a part of the household. Phil and Chris Ross planted their first vines within the 1970s and now daughters Pip and Caroline Rose are accountable for the cellar door, restaurant and kitchen and son Sam is within the winery, wine-making.
Sitting proper on the finish of Rapaura Rd (also referred to as the Golden Mile, because of the sheer focus of wineries and vineyards that run the size of it), Wairau River is ideally situated for guests to drag in, style a number of of their very approachable choices and luxuriate in a meal.
The grounds themselves are beautiful – broad inexperienced areas very best for households, shady eating choices on the grass and the sheltered veranda, and bar and fireplace eating choices inside. The wines are award-winning and the meals is scrumptious, every dish on the menu providing a wine match suggestion (higher order early if you need the chilli salt prawns, they promote out repeatedly).
Arbour
Typically seems matter. At Arbour, the plates are stunning (however there’s substance in addition to model). Co-owner Liz Buttimore’s strategy to hospitality is each polished and reassuringly relaxed – from her Melbourne and Margaret River background, it is a host who understands what a wonderful eating expertise entails. No hovering, no peddling, however there at your elbow when data is required.
Right here they provide feasting menus – hold it easy with the Eat Native choice, or go all out with The Many, which, on a transparent Marlborough evening in October, featured sourdough with whipped butter, domestically raised New Zealand King Salmon, foraged onion flowers, diamond shell clams, lamb shoulder croquettes, wild venison, contemporary pasta with a gentle goats curd and walnuts. It was adopted by two desserts. Two! Good luck.
Mills Bay Mussels
The drive from Blenheim to Havelock is gorgeous – broad inexperienced valleys and well-kept farmland regularly give solution to a city. If you have not been to Havelock, you are in for a shock – it is a fairly fishing village with a touch of Scandi flavour – particularly on a grizzly overcast day. Come for the surroundings, keep for the mussels and vibe at Mills Bay Mussels, the place Artwork Blom, a passionate and cheery Dutchman, serves green-lipped mussels in methods that may shock many Kiwis.
Sustainable, wholesome, low-cost and plentiful, Blom is on a mission to alter how we take into consideration and deal with mussels – guests listed below are invited to have a shucking demonstration on the desk, and Blom will lure you from chowder, to grilled, to consuming them uncooked with a dressing when you’re feeling it. Such is his enthusiasm, I problem you to withstand.
FROMM
In a area full of charming Europeans, Stephan, the charming Swiss co-owner of FROMM is about to appeal your socks off. This family-owned enterprise is among the smallest wine producers on the town – and but their hospitality sport is among the greatest. Be greeted on the cellar door and led into the Barrel Room – a cool and darkish wood-panelled chamber the place guests can style a collection of the property’s wines. Every wine is natural and has been grown, handpicked, processed and bottled on web site. Manufacturing is small – they make simply 70,000 bottles a 12 months, and about half of that disappears abroad, so seize a bottle once you see it.
The wines are intense, natural, and price savouring (whether or not that is the glass or leaving the bottle within the cellar for a number of extra years).
They’re additionally sticklers for a cork right here, which most friends will work out shortly as they stroll previous the property’s unimaginable assortment of greater than 700 corkscrews, relationship again to the 16th century. If you happen to’ve been on the screw caps for years, choose up a FROMM corkscrew in your approach out.
Framingham
The wine business could be a stuffy one, so refresh your palette at Framingham, which has been voted New Zealand’s high vineyard for 2 consecutive years. That is small-batch winemaking with a punk-rock leaning – if the Gothic font on the label wasn’t sufficient of a giveaway, look to the No one’s Hero pinot noir, which takes its title from Belfast punk rock band Sticky Little Fingers, and the merch, which incorporates trucker caps and skateboards.
The philosophy is, nevertheless, severe. Small-batch wines, constituted of grapes grown solely within the Wairau Valley, this vineyard produces solely about 50,000 instances a 12 months, so after they’re gone, they’re gone. Additionally they assist the charity Music Helps/Awhina Puoro, gifting away a portion of gross sales annually.
Saint Clair
Saint Clair is one other beautiful spot for a meal. Trendy and funky however pleasant and vibrant, the kitchen and restaurant know what they’re doing – a dish of pan-fried, just-caught grouper was scrumptious in its buttery sauce and piled excessive with a spring salad – simply the correct mix of naughty and good.
The property overlooks vineyards so far as the attention can see, till you hit the Richmond Ranges (these are the darkish, surly hills to the north of the Wairau Valley). The label has a variety of wines and the tales of every are advised on the label. The Pioneer Block’s Cell Black, for instance, is known as after the previous detective who grew the grapes that went into this 2020 sauvignon blanc.
If you happen to’re celebrating, attain for the Saint Clair Daybreak. Named after the household matriarch, Daybreak Ibbotson, it is a pinot noir chardonnay methode traditionelle, created in 2014 to rejoice Daybreak’s 100th birthday. Daybreak handed away earlier this 12 months, age 107. Cheers to her.
Hans Herzog
Would you take care of some romance along with your wine tasting? At Hans Herzog, pull up a chair within the beautiful gardens, that are sheltered by, and overlook fountains, statues and a uniquely small however diversified holding of grapes.
There are 28 varieties inside this picturesque high-density, low-yield property and all the things is harvested by hand. The Herzog household’s wine-making historical past goes again to the start of the 16th century – Hans himself moved from Switzerland to New Zealand in 1994 after discovering his good patch on the banks of the Wairau River.
Right here the strategy is each conventional and experimental – the place else would you discover tempranillo planted alongside gruner veltliner alongside saperavi and montepulciano? The place else do you allow with an understanding of phrases corresponding to vigneron and phenolic?
Harvest
In an historic Victorian convent, you may discover Harvest, the restaurant that providers the gorgeous Marlborough Lodge. The lodge initially sat in Blenheim, however within the 90s was moved to its present place, a big inexperienced property in Rapaura. Right here you may dine surrounded by gardens and vineyards, however when you’re eating after darkish, the foliage is introduced inside on the deep inexperienced partitions and the large-scale Karl Maughan art work that hangs above the banquette seating. The menu right here is ever-changing, as the main focus is on what’s seasonal and native. You may be positive, nevertheless, that at the least a part of your meal can be served from the chef’s real love – an infinite Mibrasa charcoal oven, which roasts and smokes and chars your native lamb or grass-fed beef or baked tuatua to perfection.
Elemental Distillers
Heads, hearts and tails could sound extra like a bucket of butcher’s offcuts, however at Elemental Distillery they’re speaking about gin – Girls’ Delight, Mom’s Destroy, Outdated Tom – that scrumptious spirit that is been popping up throughout New Zealand these days. Right here they’re distilling in a stacked pair of transformed transport containers out the again of a restaurant on Rapaura Rd. Guests are welcome to pop their heads in and proprietor Ben Leggett may be readily available to present you a flying tour of the place (look left, look proper, and also you’re accomplished – that is particular boutique, for now). Additionally they produce a hand sanitiser known as Heads & Tails that has probably the most pleasant gin scent (however don’t be concerned, the odor wears off in moments so your boss will not be wanting sideways at you).
Be sure to additionally try their vary of selfmade bitters. Though nonetheless a relative unknown in New Zealand, bitters are the important ingredient you should carry to your cocktail sport, so as to add perfume and complexity to only about any drink (the first-ever cocktail was the Sazerac – merely cognac, sugar, a rinsing of absinthe and a splash of bitters). Time to stage up.
Cloudy Bay
The Cloudy Bay property is a easy operation – as one of many area’s first winemakers, they’ve honed their hospitality to a positive artwork. There are beautiful out of doors areas to take pleasure in when the climate is heat, however on cool days the hearth and long-room bar overlooking the barrel room are good locations to curve up.
The tasting expertise is tailor-made to you – whether or not you spend a few bucks on a “sauvignon blanc immersion” or take a tailored session to essentially get to know the model’s steady with an envoy of the winery.
With good motive, Cloudy Bay is greatest recognized for its Pelorus methode traditionelle. It spends 24 months maturing within the bottle, leading to flavours of apple, kaffir lime, and one thing toasty, plus some elegant positive beading (that is wine-speak for little bubbles). It is a very straightforward drop, and one which it feels fully okay to drink earlier than lunchtime, so cheers.
Wither Hills
Wither Hills is known as for the Wither Hills themselves – this cellar door and restaurant lies within the Wither Hills’ lee. Right here guests can pop in for a tasting any day of the week – (or a tour and wine-blending session) after which, as soon as correctly acquainted with the wine record, make their solution to the restaurant, which is a extremely popular spot for a sunny-day lunch. Whilst you eat, workers will be capable to take via the drinks as you go, stopping to reply questions and provide tasting notes. On the lunch menu, the native Cloudy Bay clams are served in chilli miso butter and there is a robust vegetarian menu supplied.
Astrolabe
Run by Simon and Jane Waghorn and two of their daughters, Arabella and Libby, Astrolabe is a really particular proposition. Recognized for his or her sauvignon blancs (though the vary is broad and fascinating), tastings right here – in an outdated sheep shed that’s now probably the most charming tasting spot in Blenheim, if not New Zealand – are by association, so e mail forward to keep away from disappointment. You will end up surrounded by wild flowers and bouquets constituted of homegrown herbs, inexperienced beans and contemporary artichokes, empty wine barrels and wicker furnishings, and simply the faintest scent of farm animal that under no circumstances detracts from the salty sense of the sauvignon blanc or the richness of the pinot noir.
Simply as stunning because the setting are Astrolabe’s labels, as fairly and collectible as a Cicely M Barker illustration, and price savouring as a lot because the wine.
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This story was first revealed within the New Zealand Herald Journey on 22 November, 2020
Supply: www.nzherald.co.nz