This morning before leaving Picton we had breakfast with Gusto, oops, I mean at Gusto. We then walked around this pretty harbor which is at Latitude 41* South. Our home in New London is at 41* North Latitude!
There are about 130 vineyards in Marlborough between the east coast at Cloudy Bay, and the mountains to the west. We tried, but we didn’t make it to all of them. In fact we stopped at 5 but only did real tastings at three. After all I had a three hour drive to Abel Tasman Park this afternoon. The wines were excellent, not just the Sauvignon Blanc, but some red varietals as well. We did tastings at Johanneshof Cellars, a small 100% sustainable Boutique Vineyard and had a wonderful chat with the winemaker himself. Then we did tastings at Hunters Vineyards, and finally a delicious lunch and tastings at Wairu River Vineyards. We drove by, but didn’t taste at many of the names known in the US, Drylands, Kim Crawford, Brancott Estate, Villa Maria, and Cloudy Bay. It was a fun morning.
The drive out to Abel Tasman, at the northern most point of the South island was, you guessed it, incredibly scenic. I am getting really good at hairpin turns and switchbacks driving through the mountains which dive right down to the sea, but it is hard to keep your eyes on the road with the new vistas at each turn. As an aside, the northern tip of the South Island is further north than the southern tip of the North Island.
Dinner was at The Park Cafe, the first, last, and only restaurant in the park.
The island in the last picture looks like “Dead Chest” off Peter Island in Drake’s Channel. YoHoHo! and a bottle of south Island wine.
Fred