The Marlborough Wine Trail

This was perhaps one of my most favorite days of my entire life. We caught a bus to Blenheim (bleen-hime) and then checked into a hostel called the honi-B. I was not a fan of the HONI-B but the activities of the day were un-surpassible. We made our way into town and rented bikes from a local bike store and started out on the Marlborough Wine Trail. There are probably about 25 wineries in about a 2km radius. So, you can begin to see how this day turns into one of my top 10 of the trip. We started out with Wither Hill Winery which was architecturally perfect. It had a very classy building with not a lot of flair but really accentuated the beauty of the vineyard. We really appreciated the beauty of the building and contemplated having our 30th b-days there. It was a beautiful place. But the wine was also good.

The next stop was Villa Maria wineries. This area is known for its Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Gris, Pinto Noir and Chardonnay. All were amazing at every place we went and the weather was absolutely beautiful. Villa Maria was started by a guy at age 20 and he still owns it all and all its operations which is rare of this area. Most of the wineries we went to have been bought out by big companies.

My favorite by far was called Mahi wineries. They are fairly new but hand pick all their fruit and ferment indigenously which I don't fully understand but I think it means it might take longer. Their emblem is a snail ant they pride themselves on taking their time to produce quality wines- almost like works of art vs the high volume which can come of other bigger wineries. I admired that. And their pinot noir was amazing.

After 6 wineries via bike, I had accumulated 4 bottles of wine and jenn 1. We suddenly had to make a mad dash home to return the bikes and made it just in time. It was a blur to say the least after tasting over 30 wines. We made our way to the park and took a nap in the grass to finish off the sunny afternoon. If there is one place I will come back to visit, it will most definitely be the Marlbourough Wine Trail. It was so beautiful and so much good wine to be had. I feel like we only touched the surface of what is there.

In any case, it was an amazing day and so much fun. Now I'm carrying around bottles of wine trying to figure out how to fit them in my pack. Its great.