When you start up on the North Island in Auckland and finish at the South Island in Queenstown, it will be a long journey. But it doesn’t feel long. There is so much to look at, so much to experience.
And so many wines to taste. I didn’t keep the count when we were there last but it was well over a hundred and in fact not at all as many sauvignon blancs as one would think. They make wonderful syrah wines, fresh riesling, and of course also pinot noir that competes with Burgundy in elegance.
It is a journey that is full with experiences, seals along the road (no, not road seals!), hot springs that spray steam a little here and there, thundering waterfalls, a glacier lake with icebergs (well, quite small “bergs”) and much more. The bridge where bungee jumping started… Hobbits, anyone?
From afar, it is difficult to fathom how much there is to see and experience here, from the subtropics in the north to the fjords in the south. On the west coast of the South Island they get an unlikely 5000 mm of rain per year (five meters! Five times as much as Seattle). No, we do not go exactly to that place, instead we enjoy tasting pinot noir in Central Otago where it is dry and sunny.
Join us there this winter!
New Zealand, March 9-24, 2020. Book your wine tour to New Zealand now!