MARLBOROUGH WINE REGION
On Monday, we reprised the water taxi from Charlotte Sound back to Picton and then got a rental car to drive the short distance to our next port of call. In yet another example of the kindliness of individuals here, the women at the Cougar Line office offered to take our luggage and keep it while we walked to the ferry terminal, home of the rental car agencies. It wasn’t a very long walk, but a lot easier without dragging suitcases.
We are now staying outside Blenheim, in this celebrated sauvignon blanc wine region, at a lovely country home called Marlborough Lodge. Open not quite a year, Marlborough Lodge was a Catholic convent in another era, but was moved to this location and the interior gutted and re-modeled with modern plumbing and appropriate Victorian style furnishings. The building dates from the early 1900’s and is large, but not overly grand. Several parts of it have been enlarged including the kitchen area. It’s simply lovely and sits on several acres of land with extensive gardens and its own vineyards. Over the weekend, the lodge hosted a wedding party, but we were the only guests our first night and had the full attention of Peter White, the general manager. 
Continuing the informality of this country, Peter greeted me with just his first name and proceeded to sit down with us, give us an overview of the lodge and the region with suggestions for where to have lunch, and then a building tour ending at our room. Before dinner, he invited us, his usual practice, to join him for a drink and some canapés. Despite the definite chill in the air, we opted to sit outside by the stone fireplace—albeit bundled up in several layers and making use of the lodge’s wool blankets—for a sauvignon blanc that had been oaked a bit making it a bit rounder and less grassy, along with some chorizo beignets. 
The two dining rooms inside are light and attractive and in Harvest, the more formal one, one wall is dominated by a vivid scene of bushes with brightly colored blooms. The menu offered lots of choices and we could order whatever we wanted to try (part of the room rate). We tried a number of dishes, but discovered the portions were somewhat larger than we expected. Especially tasty were the local king salmon and the pumpkin risotto.
For lunch earlier in the afternoon, on Peter’s advice, we ventured to Brancott Estate, about 20 minutes away and sitting high on a ridge. You park on one level, and a winery staff person comes along in a van to take you up to the top where the tasting room and restaurant are located. It was a perfect lunch! 
Both for the food and the marvelous view of the vineyard spread out below, its orderly rows making a wonderful tapestry of green and brown. My ora king salmon on skinny noodles in dashi broth was sublime and the Chief Penguin’s monkfish on a potato concoction with asparagus equally delicious. Paired with the recommended wines, it couldn’t have been any better!
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
