We explored the Marlborough wine region of New Zealand during four full days, January 7-10, and mostly on bicycle! Our cottage is surrounded by vineyards and next to a river. We thoroughly enjoyed staying here and the cottage kitchen let us cook all our breakfasts and dinners.
We rented our bikes from a great company – Wine Tours By Bike – and cycled over thirty miles while visiting fourteen wineries during our stay in Marlborough. Enjoy this short video to catch a glimpse of the New Zealand we enjoyed:
https://youtu.be/ysCu_Bhf4hk
While our previous post mentioned wineries visited on Tuesday, our favorite winery visit on Wednesday was Bladen Wines, a small family operation with exquisite wines. We talked with the owner and were served wine by his brother-in-law who was a hoot.
On Thursday, our favorite stop was the Moa Brewery which had wonderful apple cider which was a nice change from the wine tasting.
Today, Friday, we biked five miles out to Spy Valley Winery (closest to the government radio antenna dishes shared by five different countries) then over to two wineries – Te Whare Ra and Gibson Bridge – and these two were more enjoyable to our palate . We concluded our bike riding with a cheese board and wine tasting at Geisen.
On Saturday, we leave for a drive down the east coast of New Zealand’s south island making our way to Kaikoura, Christchurch, and south to Dunedin.