The next morning we headed out on our wine tour. It was a super day shared with a fun and eclectic group of people. Dad decided that we should buy a bottle from each winery and I wasn’t going to argue with that! Here’s a quick assessment:
- Drylands: Had the best sticky that we tasted but the woman running the cellar door was a little unenthusiastic. http://drylands.co.nz/
- Hunters: Best cellar door experience, generous tasting, great stories to go with the wines, family run winery. We bought a fabulous Riesling and sauvignon blanc. http://www.hunters.co.nz/
- Wairau River Wines: Another family run winery with a good restaurant where we had lunch. Pretty quaffable rose and a rather tasty pinot noir. http://wairauriverwines.com/
- Nautilus: A really busy cellar door but the guy running it was very patient and spent time answering all our questions – which were now quite slurred and loud after our lunch! We bought a delicious sauvignon blanc. https://www.nautilusestate.com/
- The Vines Village: A little complex of shops with a small cellar door as well as a gin distillery and fudge shop. Obviously decided that it was a good idea to buy a bottle of gin from a Blenheim distillers. http://www.thevinesvillage.co.nz/
Vines at Wairau River Wines.
Pre lunch wine tasting at Wairau River Wines.
Pre lunch wine tasting at Wairau River Wines.
Lunch at Wairau River Wines.
That evening we headed out to a German beer garden close to the campsite to round off our day with a couple of beers and a few more glasses of sauv!
Overall it was a good day….not quite as boozy as Patsy and Eddie’s trip to France, but I do recall at one stage Mum saying ‘Oh, this is the one’!
Adventures in life, travel and teaching 