NZ - Martinborough Wineries

After many days on the road and thanks to the madness of John and Margaret, the four of us got to enjoy a kid free day in the vineyards of Martinborough. We had made plans to visit at least four wineries and to have lunch at one, which one was the only question being a Tuesday? Only time and tasting will tell. Jodie and Dom volunteered to be our tasters and Hannah and Lyndon the responsible driver and navigator.

10:01am we were at the cellar door of Schubert Wines and asking the all important question, are you open yet?

Bottoms up, the gang enjoying the spruking of the salesman. Would you trust a bloke who wasn't drinking?

Time for number two, Tirohana Estate.

Now this place had stepped it up and had a dinning hall but again too early and anyway it was also shut as everyone was out picking fruit due to the late run this season.

Number 3, Vynfeilds Winery had a more rustic feel and by this stage our tasters had now become instant experts. Jodie also spotted a poster of all the cellar doors and was now on a mission to collect as many signatures as she could.

Jodie got a few points wrong and put herself in the corner with the dunce hat, made entirely of wine labels. How appropriate.

These vineyards are so close we could have walked them all, but that would have been silly as it would have mae the last few a looonnng stagger.

Finally we arrived at number 4, our lunch destination Alana Estate, specialising in wild game meals. Jodie was found sampling our choices for the liquid part of the lunch.

The weather changed so quickly and we moved inside next to the heaters and enjoyed a wine while we waited for lunch, under the warmth and comfort of a mohair blanket.

Jodie thought she was a judge on Master Chef NZ, she went with the Duck - absolutely amazing.

After a magnificent lunch and a beautiful bottle of wine it was on to number 5, Ata Rangi.

Now this was the most rustic of them all.

Signatures had now taken a front seat over tasting, to the point that Lyndon had to drive back to the first few wineries to get them signed too.

Back to Tirohana Estate just a touch less sober but with a groovy poster for them to happily sign.

Sadly we missed Schubert Wines (they were already closed) and headed into Hannah favourite little coffee shop for a pick me up before facing the kids. As we entered town there was a pub called "Reload" just like our little one back in Tonga, but all grown up. One day hey Trish and Alo.

As luck would have it the actual chief wine maker from Schubert Wines was in the house and after a few tense minutes they realised that they had not made the cut, their cellar door was not on the poster. It just so happened though, that the girl on the left was his advertising manager. "Make it happen, I want to be on that poster" was the call by the owner. Next thing we had a post-it note and with some creative art work they had their first cellar door on the poster thanks to Jodie Lee Quirke.