August 14, 2005
For some reason, I thought there'd be a lot more wireless hotspots in the large cities... no such luck. After a quick and easy stay in Wellington, we headed out to the interisland ferry for a 3-hour trip to Picton, the gateway to the South Island. Luckily, Lav plans ahead and gets us going on time, because our car rental return was NOT within walking distance of the ferry terminal as we had expected. No problem, a couple of quick redirects and we were well on our way.
The ferry ride is some pretty serious transportation. The boat is massive, like a mini-cruise ship. We sat up on the second deck in the front, lounging on a couch watching two plasma screens and occasionally popping outside to take a look at the views.
The weather has really been cooperating with us this whole trip. We'll need to ask the locals if this is really what winter is like here, but so far, it has been much milder than we expected... not too cold, not really stormy, pretty much perfect for getting around to see the whole country.
The ferry ride was great! A scenic three-hour time to relax and enjoy the ride into the South Island. As we pulled into the Marlborough Sound, the scenery got even more spectacular, with really dramatic land-to-ocean junctures everywhere. Pretty awe-inspiring stuff here.
We landed in Picton at 12:30 p.m. on the dot, got our luggage, and were ready to zip off to do some wine tasting in Marlborough... but when we went to get our rental car from Ace Rentals, it turned out that they didn't have any automatic transmission cars in their lot. Uh oh! Lav doesn't drive manual, and I've only done it once (James Lee taught me in his dad's BMW back during college, and he'll tell you that wasn't the best performance ever), so that wasn't going to work. There must have been some other complications with the car rentals in general, cuz a lot of peple were having problems with Ace. Things were looking sort of grim for a while, with no real indication of when, or if, we'd be getting a car. What would we do if there was no car for us???
Thankfully, our flustered, but good-intentioned rental agent finally came through for us, calling in a Toyota Corolla from another town. In the end, we were only set back a little over an hour in our day's journey. That wasn't a big deal at all, because the start of the Marlborough wine region was only 20 minutes away. Sweet! Of course, we didn't have reservations for accomodations for the night -- actually, we weren't even sure what town we'd be in -- but we'd figure that out later... it was time to taste wine while the cellar doors were still open!
Our first stop of the day was at
Cloudy Bay Vineyards, the world renowned winery whose bracingly assertive Sauvignon Blancs helped put Marlborough on the map back in 1985. Here, we tasted:
2004 Methode Traditionale: Crisp and dry, with a woodsy toastiness to it. Medium fizz. 100% Pinot Noir.
2004 Sauvignon Blanc: Cloudy Bay is the reference standard for Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, and this vintage shows you why. Exhibiting characteristic passionfruit and gooseberry with a firm lime citric acidity, the light straw-colored 20th release of the winery's Sauvignon Blanc is fantastic. Crisp tart green apple on the finish.
2002 Te Koko: This Sauvignon Blanc was fermented for 8 months in oak and subjected to full malolactic secondary fermentation, neutralizing the zesty crispness of the traditional Sauvignon Blanc and adding a lightly toasty, vanilla creaminess to the finish. Somehow, the fruit's acidity is maintained on the finish as well. Depending on what you're looking for, this is either a stunning and compelling effort or a really controversial thing to do to Sauvignon Blanc. I enjoyed it and would be curious to see the results of continued efforts in this direction.
2003 Chardonnay: Light nose of apple and peach; still lots of oak on the palate, weighing it down. Approx. 60% malo on this one -- I learned that at least some malo is nearly universal for New Zealand chardonnays because the cool climate produces very tart wines, necessitating some action to mellow out the bracing acidity.
2003 Pinot Noir: Cherry and strawberry nose, with buttered toast. Deep, damp fruit flavor, with very well integrated oak. Perfectly ripe fruit, with just a hint of tart astringency. Round, toasty oak reemerges on the finish.
Across the street from Cloudy Bay is Allan Scott Wines and Estates, whose Riesling we had the night before with our dinner. It sounds like lots of people are trying to expand the Marlborough region's portfolio of aromatics, and the efforts are definitely showing lots of potential for the region.
Our next stop brought us to Forrest Estate Winery, where we were greeted by a flock of sheep grazing on the grasses in the vineyard. We stopped in search of their ultra-dry Riesling, but they're more noted for their Sauvignon Blanc. Sitting at a cozy table with our tasting tray and views of the vineyards, we tried the following:
2004 Vineyard Selection Sauvignon Blanc: Intense nose of tropical fruits. Lav says she gets some banana from this(!!). Light-bodied, with a predominant lime component.
2004 Riesling: Crisp, clean, lingering aromatics. Sweet orange and nectarine, with a good background acidity for complexity and body.
2004 Dry Riesling: Almost what we were looking for, but the wine was super light, almost empty in body.
2002 Vineyard Selection Chardonnay: Ultra-buttery, ultra-creamy -- but even so, it surprisingly maintains its stone-fruit character, gravitating towards super-ripe apricots. Amazing balance of acid, fruit, oak, and minerality. Delicious!
2002 Vineyard Selection Pinot Noir: Medium body, medium length. Perfumed nose of roses and spice, but was only medium-light bodied on the palate with a relatively short finish.
2000 Cornerstone: This was probably the wine of the day. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec from the Gimblett Gravels region back in Hawke's Bay. Rose and lavender scented, with a minty and herbaceous earthiness. The slightly spicy, slightly sweet Malbec characteristics are fairly pronounced (approx 25% of the blend), helping to imbue a near-opaque, densely purple color and a complex palate. The finish was exotic and intoxicating. A full-bodied wine with smooth, sweet tannins leading to a long, lingering finish.
2003 Late Harvest Riesling: Pure apricot-scented honey. Knock-your-socks-off sweetness, with a slight hint of acidity. Relatively low alcohol content (8.5%) leaves it feeling a little empty.
That was a fantastic stop. Not really a whole lot of interaction between us and the staff at the winery, but it was a really beautiful and serene setting to sit at a table with the wines and taste at our own pace. Even better, we saw this sign for "Jacks Road" just off the entry to the winery. I think it's a sign that I need to move here and help pick grapes or something.
Our last stop of the day was at Villa Maria Estate, the third largest wine producer in New Zealand. These guys distribute pretty extensively around the world, including the U.S., but there were many wines at the cellar door that I've never seen before. Despite their size, they make some excellent wines of distinctive quality. We got to try these wines:
2004 Sauvignon Blank, Clifford Bay: Almost transparent in color, with just the faintest golden hue. The wine had a spectacular lychee and floral aroma with undertones of lime. A little light on the palate; more easy-drinking than esoteric.
2004 Chardonnay, Hawke's Bay: Amazing nose of stonefruit and an appealing minerality. The palate gets weighed down significantly by the oak though.
2002 Pinot Noir, Malborough: Perfumed roses, wet earth, with hints of light oak. Medium bodied with an even longer finish. Nothing too complex or unique, but a solid standard.
2002 Hawke's Bay Merlot: 85% Merlot, 10% Malbec, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fragrant, sweet, ripe nose, exhibiting deep plum and currant scents... almost like a Cabernet. On the palate, cool damp earthiness with impressive body. Develops slowly but surely from flavor to flavor with a full mouth feel, almost as if there is so much weight to it that its progression is hampered by its inertia. Brooding in its evolution, like an approaching storm on a cold day.
I can't believe how much there is to try here and how little time we actually had. The density of vineyards here is unbelievable, and the quality seems consistently high. What a place!
We arrived in town just after sundown, and found that the YHA hostel still had a room available for the evening,
We rounded out our evening by going back to our hostel (it was only 8pm but nothing else was open in town) and watching "Being John Malkovich" on the laptop. What a weird movie.
After a pretty full afternoon of wine tasting (don't worry, we actually pour most of it out... I know it sounds like a lot of wine!), we headed back down the road, travelling south along the eastern coast of the south island. Our goal for the night was to reach the coastal town of Kaikoura, a peninsula known for dolphin and whale sightings, and rugged coastal beauty. The drive was beautiful at dusk, a long foamy stretch of ocean to our left, and ginormous mountain peaks covered in snow to our right.
so we settled in, then went in search of food. Kaikoura literally translates to "meal of crayfish" in the Maori language. With a name like that, how could we not have our own meal of crayfish? The crayfish here are gigantic- not like the ones we dissected in high school. These suckers are the size of lobsters. They're not quite as fleshy as lobsters, and they have a slight briny flavor to them that goes well with lemon. I only got half of a crayfish, not wanting to overdo it the way I did when we went to Maine and I ordered the 2 pound lobster and smelled like it for days.
