On the wine trail

Press, 12 August 1986, Page 31

On the wine trail

In the last decade, Marlborough has become one of New Zealand’s major wine-producing regions. Abundant autumn sunshine and the right soil have enabled the province to produce world-quality wines.

The visitor to Marlborough can spend an enjoyable few hours on the Marlborough wine trail, visiting local wineries, and sampling the wines in relaxed, no-pressure environments. Wine may be purchased from the wineries.

Motorists from Blenheim who take Raupaura Road towards Renwick can pause at Hunter’s Wine Village, a small, privately owned boutique winery dedicated to making premium varietal wines. Hunter’s wines have been conspicuously successful in wine competitions! having won medals in Ney? Zealand and overseas.

Hunter’s is well set up for visitors, , with the Vintners Restaurant, a wine bar, an outdoor barbecue, and a swimming pool. Further down the same road, Holder’s Wines, Marlborough’s only fruit winery, specialises in apple wine. Visitors can also taste cider, kiwifruit wine, and fruit liqueurs. In Renwick, Cellier Le Bryn is well worth a visit. Thfe' Le Brun family has been ’" producing fine champagne in France since 1640, and Daniel Le Brun,continues-th e.tradition in New Zealand. Visitors to the charming

wineshop at Cellier le Brun can sample wine made according to the “methode champenois.” As well, Cellier Le Brun produces a Chardonnay wine — a still white, and a rose, Pink Terraces.

The Le Brun winemaking method is time-con-suming and labour-inten-sive. The grapes are picked by hand, to ensure quality control, and in the course of production, each bottle is handled by Daniel Le Brun a total of 85 times during a two-year period. Hardly more than a stone’s throw from Le Bruns, also in Renwick, Te Whare Ra Winery offers tastings of elegant, hand-made specialty wines. Allen and Joyce Hogan concentrate on . quality varietal.wines, and have won several medals for their wines since they

established themselves in 1979. On State Highway 1, skm south of Blenheim, Montana Wines, Ltd, offers the opportunity to experience a winery of a different kind. Montana

describes itself as New Zealand’s largest winery. Winemaking takes place on a large, commercial scale here — the tankage capacity of the winery is 16 million litres. Visitors can watch a cooper assembling oak barrels, join conducted tours of the winery, and watch a video on winemaking. For visitors without their own transport, conducted tours of the wineries can be made by coach br mini-bus, or, for up to five. passengers, Blenheim Taxis offers full service.