Martinborough, New Zealand
On the twelfth day of our adventure, we woke up in the morning with the sad prospect that today was our last day in the North Island, as we had a flight to the South Island at 5pm that evening.
Wanting to toast goodbye to the gorgeous North, we decided to head to wine country in Wairarapa, situated about an hour east of Wellington. This drive consisted of another pass through the Rimutakas, and since it was such a beautiful day in the mountains, we stepped out of the car at a lookout point and went on a short hike to reach this beautiful vantage point:
Before we came to New Zealand, I was vaguely aware that the country is quite well-known for its wines (and the only real reason I knew this was because one of my colleagues told me he’d pay me $200 plus the price of a bottle if I brought him back some NZ wine). About 80% of New Zealand’s finest wines come from the Marlborough region in the South Island. We, however, were headed to Martinborough, which has over twenty wineries in a cluster together, and produces some of the finest pinor noir in the country. Most of the vineyards in Martinborough are family-owned, which means that they’re part of the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail.
Let me tell you about the wine trail. Drive into any of the towns associated with the wine trail and hop on a bike or put on your walking shoes and pop on into these little wineries for a complimentary tasting. This is what our morning in Martinborough looked like: shopping in the town square, eating pastries at the local bakery, hopping from winery to winery, showing up for a wine tasting, acting like we knew what we were doing (“oh yes, this wine has a really fruity nose”) and then bee bopping on to the next winery!
When we arrived at Poppies, we were instantly greeted by none other than Poppy herself, and she poured us a glass of chardonnay and cheerily explained the growing process. As we sipped, she explained how she was known around the town as (PARDON HER FRENCH) “Titanium Tits” for waiting until the very last moment to pick her grapes, because that’s where she found the fullest flavor.
As we laughed with her, she poured us a glass of pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, gewurtztraminer, riesling, and finally, pinot noir. By the end of the tasting, we felt like family, and she had us giggling with even more stories about her escapades.
Matt and I then took a quick look around the property, staring out into the beautiful dining hall with floor-to-ceiling windows that showed off the scenic vineyard behind. As we were leaving, we turned to thank Poppy, and she asked where we were from. When we told her we were on our honeymoon, she smiled and said that the secret to a happy marriage was “treating it like a fine wine that grows better with age.” We left beaming.
Next on our tour was Palliser Estate Winery, which was elegant and beautiful, if not as charming and warm as Poppies. At Palliser, we enjoyed about seven different tastings, though these pours were much heavier than at Poppies. In fact, I was starting to feel the effects of the wine after the third or fourth pour, so Matt suggested we pop into town to grab lunch and take a walkabout.
In my wine-drunk eyes, lunch was a golden affair: rustic vegetable minestrone soup with hearty oven-baked bread and a giant slice of hummingbird cake with yogurt. By the end of the meal, I was feeling so dreamy and sleepy that Matt suggested we head back home, and he loaded me into the car and set off for Wellington. During my first three prior trips through the Rimutakas, my knuckles were white from clutching my seat as we swerved around treacherous curves and steep banks. On my final pass through these mountains, however, I was dead asleep and poor Matt had to navigate alone.
Upon waking up in Wellington, we revived ourselves with some coffee and shopping in Cuba Street, where we finally found souvenirs for our friends. After that, it was already time to head to the airport to return our beloved Toyota Corolla rental car and jump in the plane for our next adventure!
