Martinborough Wines

There's no way we could be near Martinborough and not sample some of their wonderful wines. We visited the following places over two days—three or four vineyards in a day is more than enough for me!

Palliser Estate: 
A lovely winery, with some interesting whites. Although the Martinborough area is well known for their Pinot Noirs and I'm normally a red wine drinker by choice, I seemed to prefer the whites, especially the Rieslings. Perhaps it was the hot weather.

Muirlea Rise:

The chap who did the tastings here got the prize for "most entertaining". He had a great sense of humour as you can see by the photo below. But his wines were not to our taste. Except for the port (wine liqueur) called Apres Royale—that was very nice! The reds we tasted came out of the chiller, which I didn't enjoy. Each to his own, and no doubt exactly what others prefer, especially on a hot day.

Margrain Vineyard: 
My favourite. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area and like your white wines—Margrain's are superb. And the Rosé was delicious as well. Not usually a wine of choice for me, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The cellar door was beautifully air conditioned. A welcome respite from the extremely hot day.

Kate was a great hostess—knowledgeable and informative. Most of the wines had a page dedicated to describing them written by the winemaker, Strat. These were extremely witty and entertaining as well as informative. I had hoped to link to their website and get the tasting notes from there for you to enjoy, but they appear to be still "coming". In the meantime, if you can enlarge this photo enough, perhaps you can enjoy reading about their Home Block Pinot Noir.

Haythornwaite Wines:

We were able to sit outside with Lucy at this winery and had a charming gentleman serve us with a variety of choices. Usually, Lucy stays in the air-conditioned car (yes, we leave the engine running) so she's usually cooler than we are!

Hamden Estate:
This winery belongs to an old work colleague/friend of Dave's from our Taranaki days—another David. Although the sign says "closed" as David was about to head off to Wellington, he opened for us so we could visit, catch up and taste his wines. The label is inspired by his three daughters.

Coney Wines:

There's a strong music theme at this picturesque winery.

It's obviously a popular lunch choice—there were plenty of diners here when we arrived. The menu looked interesting and very affordable.

We got to sit outside and enjoy the ambience while tasting their wine selection. Again, more delightfully refreshing whites.

Luna Estate:

Although Luna Estate was a beautiful place, their wines were not as memorable as others we tasted.

Ata Rangi Winery:
Ata Rangi means "dawn sky" or "new beginning".

The lovely young lady who served us here was the daughter of the owner. She had a number of people arrive while we were there—about eleven—and yet she still managed to give each of us individual attention with grace and patience. I was impressed that she did not appear even the slightest bit flustered.

This creatively displayed old vine looked fabulous!

Ata Rangi's Crimson was one of the best Pinot Noirs we tasted today.

Note: Of course, everyone has different tastes and preferences. My comments are really related to how we personally found the wines—we are not experts! We only visited a selection of the vineyards in the area, chosen by Dave. They're all high quality, have different personalities and are worth checking out if you're in Martinborough. But do include Margrain!

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