June 3, 2016
After breakfast, our first stop was Lawson’s Dry Hills which turned out to have some excellent wines, the pinot gris and gewurztraminer especially. This place made us glad we decided not to cut this trip short.
Next up was Villa Maria, one of the major wine producers in New Zealand. Like Brancott, we like to buy Villa Maria wines and assumed we wouldn’t purchase any today. But then along came a wine that we loved that’s not available in stores. It goes to show that it’s worth visiting some of the major players even of you know their wines well.
Our next stop was Highfield Terra Vin. It’s in a big pink hacienda with a lookout tower and probably the most standout winery building in the region, even more so because it sits on a hill. There was a group tasting going on when we arrived so we were invited to climb the tower first. We did just that, probably climbing a good three stories. Our efforts were rewarded with sweeping views of the basin, golden rows of grape vines and grassy slopes around us. Beautiful! After our return we had a tasting of their very nice wines, another bottle coming home with us.
With all our purchases, our car was getting heavier and heavier, and soon this weight would be transferred to our boat. It’s a good thing we’re not into racing!
Our final stop was the mud brick building of the Wairau River Wines Cellar Door and Restaurant. The cellar door felt like a cozy living room while the restaurant was in the mud brick structure, which frankly reminded us a bit of cinder blocks. Not that it wasn’t nice looking, but it lacked the wow factor of other places we’d seen. Since they only had four wines to taste, only two of which I’d be interested in, I opted to just order a glass of wine with lunch. It was nice, but not special enough to buy, proving it is possible for us leave a winery empty-handed. What was special, though, was their seafood chowder! That’s what finally got a “wow” out of us here. We’d come back here to have that again!
It was now time to head back to Nelson, but Blenheim had left a big impression on us. We’ve been to wine country areas much like this, but there is something about this one (aside from the wine) that makes it feel really nice to be here. Maybe it’s the relatively compact size of the area and the fact that it’s fairly flat yet surrounded by hills. Maybe it’s the green and golden grasses with enough trees to make it feel pastoral. Maybe it’s all the sunlight, penetrating and warm even though it was well into fall. Whatever it was gave Blenheim have its own special magic; it just felt good to be there. –Cyndi (You can click to enlarge/scroll through any galleries above.)
