March 4, 2023

We packed up and left Nelson en route for the Marlborough wine region. Seems everywhere we go we need to cross the mountains.

Driving into the Marlborough region there are droves and droves of grape vines. We’ve seen vineyards almost daily, but nothing to this magnitude. It seems there’s nothing but grapes.

We arrived in Blenheim and went out to the Wither Hills Winery. They were fully booked, so we bought two glasses of wine and sat outside. Not quite feeling the vibe here, we went across town to Framingham Winery. That place was perfect. A beautiful, relaxing courtyard with rocking chairs, picnic tables and bean bags to find our preferred spot. 

The ladies conducting the tastings were lovely, each of them completely forgetting all the details all day long. After our tasting, we settled down with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and a cheese board and spent our afternoon basking in the 65° sun. It could not have been better.

Eventually we left and checked into our hotel. A couple things to note about the hotels in New Zealand:

• They are almost all family owned motels
• They all provide fresh milk daily

Each place has been quite pleasant.

Josh and Theresa went out for dinner while I checked on laundry service, responded to some messages and showered. We all tucked in early tonight.