February 2013
Just inland from Kerikeri is the Marsden Estate, the biggest and fanciest winery in the Northland area. The tasting area and shop share the estate building with a fine restaurant, and outside are beautifully manicured grounds with seating alcoves where you can enjoy a glass of wine and admire the scenery.
After strolling around the grounds, we went inside so I could do a wine tasting (Rich opted out today). They had a beautiful tasting area set up, and you could taste as many wines as you wanted with no fee, which is generous in that they make a lot of different wines. But tasting fees have never been relevant to me anyway in that there are always at least one or two wines amid the “that’s good” and “very nice” that get the response: “that one’s coming home with us!” I’m not sure we’ve ever left a winery with fewer than 2 bottles.
So it was a surprise as I tasted wine after wine that nothing was standing out—I’ve never had this happen. It’s not that the wines weren’t good; they were fine. But wines from wineries tend to start at $18USD, so for that price “good” isn’t good enough, I want special! Unfortunately, I wasn’t finding anything special and started to wonder how I could exit gracefully without buying anything. I wasn’t obligated, but I couldn’t help it; I felt guilty. Then I spotted a nice-looking rose on sale for about $10USD and bought that.
We never did get back to try the restaurant, but I hear it’s very good. I won’t ever be wine shopping here (the rose was nice but not special), but it’s such a pretty setting that I’d go back to have a glass of wine by the pond. –Cyndi
