More Wine for Me
Next stop after a queasy boat ride? Illogically, we headed straight to a winery. It was a beautiful area highly reminiscent of Napa Valley, where wineries line each side of the two straight roads through town, called Marlborough. I'd googled top wineries in the region and one of the first to pop up was Cloudy Bay, which is known pretty commonly internationally. We sat down at their restaurant for a bite to eat and for a tasting of some of their signature wines, starting, of course, with a sparkling variety and working through some whites and to some good red varieties. They are known for Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir and considering my usual preference towards red wine, I was surprised how much I also actually liked the whites. The 2010 vintage Sauvignon Blanc was crisp and refreshing with hints of citrus, not overly chemical tasting like some whites can be. The heavier Pinot Noir called Te Wahi 2014 vintage was also lovely, not nearly as heavy as a full-bodied Brunello would be, but for a Pinot Noir quite substantial. Those in addition to a cheese platter and some chilled soup made the perfect stop before heading towards our hotel for the night over in Nelson. We were originally planning to have dinner at Hans Herzog but decided the drive to Nelson would just be too treacherous in the dark (a wise decision later confirmed by the steep and narrow switchback mountain roads).
