Bike Wine Tour Through Marlborough Vineyards, Blenheim

While in Blenheim, CK and I decided to do a wine tour by bike. We wanted to take it slow, and get some exercise at the same time.

Marlborough is internationally known for its Sauvignon Blancs. The climate and soil in the Marlborough region is the reason for its aromatic, acidic, and herbaceous wine characteristics. It is New Zealand's largest wine producing region, and the 110 wineries & 450 grape growers make up about 80% of New Zealand's total wine production. In addition to Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough wineries also produce Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir.

The primary wine bike tour company in Blenheim is Wine Tours By Bike; however, to pump up our hearts and to save some money in the process, we decided to rent bikes in the city at Spokesman. Doing so will add 6km to the journey, but you do save $15 per person.

Maps of different wineries in the area were provided to us, and we just zoned in on where we wanted to go.

The climate in the Marlborough region is also great for olive groves. Marlborough olive oils are light, grassy, and peppery in taste. All the oils are cold pressed, and the majority are extra virgin. A great place for olive oil tasting is The Vines Village. We ended up purchasing a lovely Tussock chilli pepper infused extra virgin olive oil.

Marlborough Olive Oils at The Vines Village

Another great culinary experience in the area is the award winning Hans Herzog winery and restaurant. In the 90's, Hanz and Therese Herzog left their Michelin-rated resto in Switzerland to start a life in Blenheim. You can try the 3- or 5-course Herzog degustation menu along with a wine from their prestigious wine list. Afterwards, you can enjoy a treat from their cigar or digestives menu. If very keen, they also offer cooking classes.

Unfortunately, Herzog restaurant is only open between the months of Oct - May, so we missed the opening by a couple of weeks.

CK and I had a great time doing the bike tour but some things to note:

- it is very windy this time of year, and you may end up biking into headwind for part of the ride. We experienced that first hand!
- In order to get the the wineries, you will need to bike along highways with speed limits of 100km/h. If that is out of your comfort zone, I'd steer away from biking.
Some other things we saw along the way:

Jersey Cow

Cherry Trees

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Spotted - Hopewell, Marlborough Sounds

After my freshly caught meal at Hopewell, I asked my dinner guest, Y, if she would be my Spotted for this month.

Y is a teacher in Germany who has decided to take five months off to travel in New Zealand and Asia. She is an avid rock climber, and travelled all the way to NZ just because she heard there was good climbing here. Of course, she is also very keen on good food.

This month's spotted interview is at Hopewell, Marlborough Sounds.

Where are you from: Hanover, Germany.

One word that describes you: Variety.

Favorite ingredient to cook with: Soy sauce.

Weirdest thing ever eaten: Whitebait nigiri sushi in Japan.

Your last meal would be: Starter would be fresh oysters. The main would be anything that my ex-boyfriend cooks. He is so good at cooking. Dessert would be a really good chocolate ice cream, and then I'd finish with an espresso with grappa.

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Collecting Seafood in Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand

I never thought I would ever collect my own seafood, let alone do it in New Zealand. Our first stop in New Zealand was Marlborough Sounds, an extensive area of bush-clad hills and beautiful blue bays.

Marlborough Sounds

We stayed at Hopewell, an extremely accommodating and wonderful lodge that I highly recommend. This lodge is very remote, and has both backpacker and private lodging. We had to drive 3 hours through the sounds on extremely windy roads just to get there. It's either that or a $300 round trip ferry ride.

View from our Room at Hopewell

We loved being so far away from everything and spent our time kayaking, hiking, and in the evening, collecting seafood for dinner.

There is an abundance of mussels, cockles, and oysters in the Marlborough Sounds. At low tide, CK and I would grab a bucket, put on some rubber boots, and collect whatever we fancied for dinner. It was one of the coolest experiences ever. We collected cockles, mussels, and oysters. All were fresh and slightly salty from the salt water.

Cockles, saltwater clams, are buried in the mud, so you have to dig for these suckers. I found the meat slightly sweeter than the clams I've had in the past. Out of everything we collected, the cockles were, surprisingly, my favorite.

Cockles in the Mud

Cockles

Oysters were the easiest to collect. There were so many of them it was unbelievable.

Collecting Oysters

Look, oysters galore. Yes, those are all oysters you see in the photo! And to think, back home, I would pay $4 for just one oyster.

Oysters

I found the mussels hardest to collect. Because the mussels tightly attach themselves to rocks with byssal threads, aka beards, you have to tug really hard. The beards cannot be removed until the mussels open up from cooking. New Zealand is known for their Greenshell mussels. As the name implies, the shells are bright green, and they are much larger and meatier than most mussels. Most were about 4 x 1.5 inches in size.

CK Collecting Mussels

We cooked the cockles and mussels by steaming them with fresh lemon juice. Hopewell had some lemon trees and all we had to do was pick them off the tree.

Steaming Cockles and Mussels

In order to eat the oysters, I had to learn how to shuck them on the spot. It was super fun once I got the hang of it. While shucking oysters, our gracious host, Mike, deep fried a few for us to try. They were wonderfully delicious. Never thought to deep fry oysters. We ate most of the oysters raw with lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

And finally, our feast. We met a friendly traveller from Germany and had dinner with her that evening.

Feast of Mussels, Oysters, and Cockles

Here are some photos from our kayaking outing. Look how blue the water is!

Kayaking in Kenepuru Sound

We stopped at a remote scenic reserve and enjoyed lunch with some Weka birds.

Ferndale Scenic Reserve

They were all over the island, and I admit, I was somewhat scared. I had no clue what they were, and they were not afraid of humans at all.

Weka Birds

I made CK eat his lunch with one paddle in his hand in case one attacked. They are flightless birds that are about the size of chickens. When I returned, I found out they were harmless...we had a good laugh about how scared we were.

Kayak Parked at Ferndale Scenic Reserve

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