Wine By Bike.
I must say, I can’t think of a better way to explore the wine country of New Zealand. It was a blast, although a bit chilly in the wintertime.
The little town of Blenheim is about a half hour from Picton. From here Em and I were picked up in a van and driven through the countryside to pick up our bikes, not to worry, helmets included. We had a great time. It’s all back country roads and vineyards as far as you can see, with towering snowcapped mountains in the background. Just beautiful.
We had our bikes for the afternoon and set off right away. Throughout the 4 hours we made it to about 6 vineyards, all pretty close to each other. You walk in and they pour you whichever wine you’d like to sample. All the people in the shops were incredibly friendly and loved to talk about their wine and their country. I learned a lot about the wine, and there was no pressure to buy anything, and all the samples were free! Most of the wine grown in the area is white, due to the climate, something I never realized. Lots of sauvingon blanc and chardonnay, the only red we found was pinot noir and pinotage. We also tried some awesome dessert wines as well as some fresh olive oil, super tasty.
At the end of it all we were possibly a little wobbly on our bikes, but still peddling straight. Overall we had a fantastic time. It’s only too bad I couldn’t bring too much wine home…heavy bottles and backpacks just don’t go as well as I’d hope.
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