Wairau Valley Wines cellar door tasting

A bunch of mates and I went fishing down the Marlborough Sounds recently. I had an absolute blast!

We took the Bluebridge ferry over on the Friday, and checked out Wairau Valley Family Estate, a Marlborough vineyard, for lunch and a wine tasting before getting on the MV Tory for the run out to Furneaux Lodge on Endeavour Inlet.

The staff at Wairau Valley were very hospitable. The ferry was late leaving Wellington and so we were late getting out to the vineyard. Nevertheless we were made welcome and had a great meal and got to taste a whole bunch of attractive wines. Some of my highlights:

From their Estate range:

2014 Wairau Valley Sauvignon Blanc – elegant, refined, with fresh fruit and bracing acids, a classic Marlb. Savvy. Good served at room temp.

2014 Wairau Valley Albarino – I loved this: delicate floral characters, lemon blossom, green apples, white peach, citrus and elegant minerality.

2014 Wairau Valley Pinot Gris – nice: steely, light fruit, but flavoursome with pears and vanilla.

From their Reserve Range:

2014 Wairau Valley Reserve Sauvignon Blanc – clean and fresh and more complex that the Estate, fresh herbs, passionfruit. An intriguing salt note.

2013 Wairau Valley Reserve Syrah – Dense, tannic, with blackberries and notes of grapefruit and lemon, leather, and black pepper.

2013 Wairau Valley Reserve Pinot Noir – My fav: complexity. Generous fruit. Lovely floral nose. Soft and elegant. Black cherries. Long finish. I drank this with lunch. Yum.

2012 Wairau Valley Botrytised Riesling – sweet delight, Turkish delight. Long nd sweet and warm. Delish.

We then went to a bottlestore, bought a few boxes of beers, and jumped in the boat. The next day we went fishing and caught a boat load of Blue Cod, Tarakihi, Gurnard, Red Cod and a few Barracudas, Carpet Sharks, Parrotfish and a Spotty!

Good times!