Day 32: Martinborough Wine Trip

Thursday, Mar 8th

It's a wine day.

We were picked up by our driver and guide Tony, an over 70 world traveler, computer programmer (from the time of warehouse size main frames), self styled wine aficionado and generally nice guy.

Tony drove us out of Wellington towards Hawkes Bay and into the Martinborough Wine Valley to the east of Wellington. The weather was windy and overcast and resulted in the cancellation of a hot air balloon festival in the area. Nevertheless, the ride and dialogue was enjoyable. Tony took us through several areas where the movies, Lord of the Rings had been filmed. We took a short walk through a woodland area and crossed a swinging foot bridge. We stopped for tea and coffee at a small establishment, Kaitoke Country Gardens en-route. Arriving in Martinborough, we wasted no time in beginning the quest for wine. By day's end we had stopped at five wineries, had lunch, participated in a brief, make that very brief game of netball and stopped in town for cheese, crackers, olive oil, etc. for the night's "dining in".



















The wineries visited were:

1. Palliser Wines - Best Quote of the Day 
2. Martinborough Winery - Best Pinot Noir of the Day
3. Alana Estate - Best Story of the Day 
4. Tirohana Estate - Best Lunch of the Day
5. Ata Rangi - Best Labeling & Wrapping of the Day

At Palliser Wines we had our first tastings, but the memory for several of us will be the quote "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ..., but if the white runs out, I'll drink the red" used on cards and tee shirts.

The Martinborough Winery lays claim to the "World's Best Pinot Noir"; nothing pretentious there. Anyway in 1997 they were awarded a "world's best" award for their 1994 Reserve Pinot Noir. Since then they have bought back much of the vintage paying a bounty of $500/bottle.

At the Alana Estate I am sure we had wine but I doubt that anyone remembers it. What we will remember is the New South Wales (Australia) Women's Police League netball team (not basketball). Seems that one of the Aussie girls made it known that she liked Boston and having heard Sheila's accent, commented on how it was very understandable; that started a dialogue, a series of photo ops and a pick-up game of netball in the winery's parking lot. The "net" result of the encounter is that four old guys from the U.S. have a new sport to follow.

At the Tirohana Estate we sampled wines and had lunch, a great lunch. Some had fish, some had lamb, some had a huge bowl of tomato soup and some had ice cream for dessert. This three course meal was served with an excellent selection of wines.

With time for one more stop, we dropped in to the Ata Rangi winery. By now, our wine taste buds were saturated so we probably didn't fairly judge the offering, nevertheless, we would likely agree that the crepe paper wrapping and one of the Ata Rangi bottle labels were the best of the day.




















Our last stop in Martinborough was at IN.GRE'DI.ENT, a cafe and deli specializing in wines, cheeses, breads, olive oils, etc. Pat representing the MART 2012 team made several selections for us to take back to Wellington.

Upon arrival in Wellington several of us hustled over to a local grocery and procured a variety of food items for our evening festivities including salami, bread, ham, chicken, olives, apples, Oreos, M&M Peanuts, crackers and dip, etc. to go with our wine and cheese. Around 7 PM we convened in the suite and for the next three hours or so, enjoyed our low key evening.