Your travel specialist on: Flavors of New Zealand

New Zealand is my favorite country to visit, been there over 50 times, and I am very proud to say I am a Kiwi specialist. it is a wonderful destination for fishing, golf, hiking, skiing, luxury lodges, and of course wine. I won the Kiwi of the Year Award a few years ago, a great honor, when my itinerary for a client was chosen as the most outstanding by the New Zealand Tourism Board. I used the Classic Wine Trail as part of their holiday route.

The wine industry is a real success story. In thirty short years, New Zealand wine has come of age and the country now ranks as one of the most exciting producers in the world. They send a lot of wine by sea to England, and their largest buyer in Gt. Britain, a huge supermarket, found that over a million bottles were undrinkable when checked because of the long voyage. It was then decided to try screw tops, and many people turned their nose up at the idea but it has solved the problem of leaking, and decaying corks. The metal closures permit wine to be stored longer and shipped further. More than 90% of the country’s wines are now using screw tops and other countries are following suit.

New Zealand’s wine growing areas span the latitudes 33-45 degrees South, covering nearly 1,500 miles. The diversity of temperatures, combined with the wide range of different soil types produce unique wines with characters and flavors distinctive to each region. The long sunshine hours, clear skies, moderate annual temperature range and an extended growing and ripening period produce a diverse range of quality grapes with high levels of fruit flavors and varietal intensity. They started making wine over one hundred years ago. Only three million people, mostly British, and sixty million sheep. I hear more bagpipe music in the mountains than I do when I go home to Scotland.

The trail begins in Hawke’s Bay, on the eastern side of the North Island. There are seventy plus wineries in this area, producing Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. I was not familiar with Malbec but after a two week wine education course in Argentina, I grew to love it. The town of Napier is unique, and I use the Farm at Cape Kidnappers a lot, for clients who want to golf, and see the gannet colony.

It’s a scenic 170 mile drive from Napier to Martinborough, where the soil and climate is similar to Burgundy, best known for its Pinot Noir. There are 54 small wineries in here, and in the surrounding Wairarapa region. The outstanding Wharekauhau Lodge is a thirteen cottage luxury lodge on a 5,500 acre cattle station overlooking Palliser Bay. Fantastic food, with Marc Soper who once cooked at the French Laundry as its chef.

You take the ferry to the South Pacific from the capital of Wellington. A must see here is Te Papa, the national museum. It’s a four hour scenic ride to Picton, where you pick up another car to drive to Blenheim, the heart of the Marlborough region which I must confess is my favorite. Marlborough produces 77% of the nation’s wine, most of them the celebrated Sauvignon Blanc which helped put the country on the world map. I always bring back with me, a bottle of Cloudy Bay, which is my special occasion white wine. There are 50 wineries here, and my clients love my recommendation that they bike through a vineyard and have a picnic lunch.

Abel Tasman National Park is a great hiking coastal trail, and Nelson, a charming little town has 37 boutique wineries you can visit.

Other areas to visit if you are really into wine, is Canterbury which is the fourth largest wine region in the country, ahead of Auckland, and Otago. Wonderful Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Noir for this cooler climate region.

Since I send a lot of clients to Queenstown, Gibbston Valley is a must do. It is twenty minutes from Queenstown, the adventure capital of the country, and it has the most beautiful mountains in the world. I recommend a few days hike on the Routeburn, or the Milford Track, and of course, go see the Doubtful Sound or Milford Sound.

With non stop flights from San Francisco to New Zealand, it is a lot easier to get to although for a bargain price you can stop over in Hawaii, or Fiji, if you have the extra time and can spend a few days in either place.

Go on our website – www.allhorizonstvl.com – and see our three offers. New Zealand Food and Wine, offer No. 1224303, New Zealand Biking, offer No. 1227103, and Foodie New Zealand Offer 1218247.

Fantastic scenery, food and wine, and wonderful people. Outstanding grapes are grown in the air that Angels breath.

Maureen Jones

Kiwi Specialist

Maureen Jones is president of All Horizons Travel at 160 Main Street. Members of her staff are experts in business travel, cruises, and all types of leisure.