New Zealand: A Caravan Experience
Written By: SUSANNE LOMATCH
PAGE 7....
Martinborough – Serious Wine for Pinotphiles
Day 11
The drive from Hawkes Bay to Martinborough on R2 is long and flat but scenic: the main
highway just one lane in either direction. Mountainous terrain to the east and west
channel the valley, and at times the mountains reminded me of Hawaii – golf course
green and rounded then sharp ridges. If we weren’t so eager to fit in all the wine countries
before us, we’d have spent some time exploring both the Ruahine and Tararua Forest
Parks to the west, and a drive to Castlepoint on the coast to the east. We were also
skipping entirely the west coastal area of New Plymouth, with the dramatic Mt. Taranaki
– another conical like Mt. Fuji. Martinborough is quite a ways from the main highway,
and the darkness and rain didn’t make navigation easy on the narrow country roads. The
GPS led us in a few wrong directions. Finally we rolled into town and found the local
caravan park – Martinborough Village Camping.
Rain and high wind pelted and rocked our caravan throughout the night, and into the
morning. Wi-Fi Internet was free here, and the signal decent in the caravan, so the
breakfast-coffee-tea-Internet ritual was extra long while we waited for a weather break.
Not knowing much about Martinborough wines a priori, our first stop was a serendipitous
choice. Being semi-serious Pinot Noir devotees (especially from the Russian River
appellation in California), we know an outstanding Pinot when we taste one. Schubert Wines
produces such Pinots – with the depth, weight and character of the true varietal,
carried with the unique personalities of the local terroir and winemaker in admixtures.
Here that personality seemed to be rich earthiness with vegetal, savory herb and honey
overtones. The Schubert Marion’s Vineyard ’06 was especially that – but with superb
balance of matured acids and silky tannins. Schubert also produces other premium single
vineyard Pinots – but on the day we visited they offered only one in the tasting.
Vynfields up the road is a boutique winery that produces organic wines and runs a
gourmet eatery in a Victorian mansion. We didn’t stay for lunch, but after tasting the ’06
Estate Pinot we had to buy a bottle. And in the process found out that Kai Schubert – who
apparently is master winemaker for a few Martinborough outlets, produced it. This Pinot
was a variation from the Marion’s – chocolate accompanied the honey and the vegetal
overtone was muted in favor of fresh herbs – basil, lilac. Other successive wineries
(Alana, Te Kairanga, Ata Rangi) unfortunately only had ’07 vintages available for
tasting/purchase, and they were all quite astringent and unpleasant in comparison, so
much so that we think the vintage year is either off or that any effort may require years of
cellaring. Turns out that ’06 was a bumper crop, while ’07 had only 30% yield.
Ata Rangi is a major winery of international fame – particularly for their Pinots, which
have won international competitions against the fixtures of Bourgogne – so we are not
surprised that they sold out of their ’06 stock. But we happily discovered another NZ
brilliance there – Pinot Gris. The balance, weight and clean tastes of pear with just the
right bite. Refined and regal. Turns out that NZ is now a consistent producer of
outstanding aromatics – including Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Gewürtztraminer. Normally
we shy away from Pinot Gris, because the winemaker usually produces something that is
too acidic for our tastes. But almost all the NZ Pinot Gris we tasted were hard to turn
away – acids were matured and refined, and flavors bold and beautiful.
Before leaving town we drifted to the central square, where there was a fully stocked
wine shop, Martinborough Wine Centre. We thought we might find a couple ’06 vintages
to buy that the premier wineries had sold out of. Not much luck there, we did find an
independent winemaker tasting and selling his ’06 unfiltered Pinot, Chris Buring of
Wycroft. Pedigree of this Pinot was clearly that of others we had tasted, such as the
Schubert. Like all cool climes that produce great Pinots, Martinborough Chardonnays
were also exceptional, especially of the same ’06 vintage year. A clear example of that
was the Te Kairanga ’06 Estate Chardonnay, beautiful floral bouquet, dry fruit, clean
with a velvety bite.
With the weather getting meaner by the minute, winds at storm strength at times, we
decided to hightail it out and head directly for Wellington, the second largest city on the
NI, and the capital of NZ. We had planned to spend a day in Wellington touring the city
and coast, but the weather was not projected to clear. On the way out of town, we hit one
last must, Palliser estate wines. There we encountered an excellent tasting, and procured
ourselves an ’06 estate Pinot.
Crossing the Cook Strait
Day 11
The drive to Wellington on R2 via Upper Hutt is narrow, steep and winding, and we
risked road closure. Jostled by the winds, we drove slowly through what must be a truly
scenic area under clear weather. (Upper Hutt was the filming location for Rivendell in the
LOTR trilogy.) Eyes on the road, we navigated directly to the ferry docking facilities,
where we arranged an early evening cross to the SI. We had purchased our tickets months
in advance, and normally this is prudent during the high season, but changing our tickets
was effortless. In fact, had we purchased the tickets on the spot, we would have saved
some money due to the recent dollar strength. The crossing process was lengthy, and
must be even lengthier on heavy crossing days. Cars/caravans must get in line to drive
into the ferry belly, and even for us the wait was at least 45 minutes. Once on board,
everyone is required to get out of the vehicles and move to the upper decks. The ferry had
a large restaurant, bar and indoor 2-story front viewing area, quite nice given we couldn’t
see a thing under high fog, rain and eventual darkness. Despite the choppy seas of the
Cook Strait, the large ferry damped most of the turbulence. And we got to enjoy one
cultural bond – a gathering of most of the ship in the bar area to watch a rugby playoff
between two historic rivals, New Zealand and Australia. NZ won. Four hours later we
were docked at Picton on the SI.