It's a long way to go for a drink, but New Zealand’s vineyards are well worth the effort, says wine expert Robert Joseph.
There are plenty of reasons for spending the better part of 24 hours travelling to New Zealand, but for a wine lover, none outweighs the fact this is a great place for wine tourism. In fact, having recently spent a year researching my wine travel guide, I would go as far as to say that no wine-producing country does a better job of welcoming tourists.
France’s vignerons are happy to have you — provided you call in advance to make an appointment, and turn up with a fluent command of their language and a strong desire to buy some of their wine. California’s wineries, by contrast, absolutely love to see tourists — and all too often invite them to buy tickets for a slickly organised tour that can have more to do with Walt Disney than vines, grapes and barrels.
The Kiwis tread the ideal middle path, perhaps because they are aware that they are the Johnny-come-latelies of the New World. New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs may be acknowledged to be among the best in the world, but they have only been on the market since the early Eighties, while the now similarly successful Pinot Noirs did not arrive until a decade later.
There are plenty of reasons for spending the better part of 24 hours travelling to New Zealand, but for a wine lover, none outweighs the fact this is a great place for wine tourism. In fact, having recently spent a year researching my wine travel guide, I would go as far as to say that no wine-producing country does a better job of welcoming tourists.
France’s vignerons are happy to have you — provided you call in advance to make an appointment, and turn up with a fluent command of their language and a strong desire to buy some of their wine. California’s wineries, by contrast, absolutely love to see tourists — and all too often invite them to buy tickets for a slickly organised tour that can have more to do with Walt Disney than vines, grapes and barrels.
The Kiwis tread the ideal middle path, perhaps because they are aware that they are the Johnny-come-latelies of the New World. New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs may be acknowledged to be among the best in the world, but they have only been on the market since the early Eighties, while the now similarly successful Pinot Noirs did not arrive until a decade later.
Today, new wineries are opening their doors almost daily — often in regions that were previously unexplored — and almost invariably offer tasting rooms, cafés, restaurants (or at the very least a picnic area) and quite possibly a hotel or cottage in which to relax after a hard day of tasting.
My favourite areas to visit are the wide-open valley of Marlborough , with its backdrop of the green, folded-blanket hills that feature on the Cloudy Bay label, and the nearby Marlborough Sounds , one of the world’s best places to fish or mess around on a boat. The Montana Brancott winery offers first-class tastings and tours and some very good food, while the nearby Herzog winery has a Relais & Châteaux hotel and restaurant that is well worth its (by New Zealand standards) premium prices.
Hawke’s Bay, on the North Island, is home to New Zealand’s best Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots, as well as the Craggy Range winery, whose restaurant terrace offers the chance to enjoy top-class cooking while watching the sun set behind the vineyards.
From telegraph.co
