The Marlborough District, at the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, is home to many thousands of sheep and only slightly fewer wineries. It’s one of the world’s major producers of sauvignon blanc, which, wine heathen that I am, seems to go well with anything put in front of me to eat.
To reach Marlborough from Wellington, we took a 20-minute prop plane flight to Blenheim (“Blen-im”), a farm town of no particular interest – with apologies to Ms. Swift, I can’t show you incredible things. (Our hotel, the grandiosely named Chateau Marlborough, is clean and comfortable but falls rather short of Chateau-hood.)
Marlborough used to be known for cattle and sheep ranches, but in 1870 a visionary farmer decided to try planting wine grapes, and the area’s future was irrevocably altered. Some ranches remain; we stopped at one (Kaituna Ridges) that spreads over several hundred acres of steep hillsides dotted with gleaming, newly-shorn sheep and dingy, as-yet unshorn ones. (The owner also has a degree in winemaking and a vineyard, of course.)
Although sheep farming hasn’t changed a whole lot in the 10,000 years since the animals were domesticated, we found out that farmers now use drones to keep track of their sheep. What would a neolithic shepherd have thought?!
At the ranch, the owner demonstrated his dogs’ sheep-herding ability – my dogs are better at herding treats – then sheared a ewe, taking all of two minutes and fifteen seconds. His particular breed of sheep has wool most suitable for carpet fibers, but he also has some merinos, whose wool may be used of course, for a cardigan. (I’m sure you realize that’s another T.S. reference; I can’t pull the wool over your eyes!)
Having worked up a thirst watching the owner and his dogs toiling away, we stopped at a beautiful winery (Wither Hills) for lunch and wine-tasting. The lunch was quite good but I wasn’t wowed by the wines. As alluded to above, though, my oenological intelligence hasn’t progressed beyond visually distinguishing red from white, so don’t take my word for it.
By the way, cutting-edge technology has infiltrated the ancient art of winemaking as well – the vintner mentioned that he now uses AI for something or other, but I couldn’t tell you what because when I hear “AI” I generally stop listening.
Our second day in Marlborough passed pleasantly on a cruise around Marlborough Sound. It’s gorgeous country – precipitous, lush hillsides, clear waters, and a few scattered vacation homes.
Marlborough Sound is known for its mussels, which I don’t care for, so while others were pulling mussels from the shell I squeezed off some photos. (If you get that reference, you’re at least close to my age.)
The cruise departed from picturesque Picton, a small town with a grassy waterfront park where the annual Picton Maritime Festival was being held. To cap off a wonderful day, we visited the Omaka Aviation Heritage Center, which has a wonderful collection of WWI and WWII aircraft.
Much of the WWI collection came from film director extraordinaire Peter Jackson. There we enjoyed a fantastic dinner catered by the husband and wife team behind Feast Merchants (he cooks, she’s the pastry chef). If you’re ever in this part of the world, find out where you can get some of their food.
Tomorrow we’re off to the southern part of the South Island, home to Fjordland National Park. It’s an area that gets twenty feet of rain a year, but I’ll Shake It Off.
PuffinlessTravel 