NZ Day 7: Martinborough wineries

Our day in Martinborough was somewhat planned out. Where we were going was still to be figured out, but we knew we'd be getting there by bike! Because the roads are pretty flat and don't seem to get much traffic, the thing to do seems to be renting bikes and biking from vineyard to vineyard. So that's what we planned to do!

First, though, we powered up with breakky at a local cafe.

Then it was off to collect our bikes! Toby said he wouldn't have minded if we took the bike with one pedal in front and the bench for riders, but I'd already booked three normal bikes.  Holly and I decided that next time we could definitely get into the idea of being biked around to tastings.

Then we were off!

Our first stop was the farthest out of town, about a 20 minute ride, to Olivo, an olive grove that made infused olive oils. We had a great tasting there, getting to try about 10 different oils. There were some interesting flavors like vanilla olive oil and fennel olive oil. We also checked out one of the groves, which was really pretty.

Then we got down to business and went to check out some vineyards.

The group favorite was Poppies, which was a beautiful winery. It's run by a lady named Poppy, who makes the wines. Her husband is a retired chef and runs a small kitchen. It seems to be the most popular place in Martinborough because it was bustling while we were there. The tables overlooking the vineyard didn't hurt the ambiance either!

Poppy gave us a tasting and was so much fun and had so much passion about her wines! We bought a bottle to take with us. =)

We had a couple other stops, and then we decided to call it a day, as we still had to drive to Wellington that day. But I could easily have spent another couple days there!

This is how much we loved Martinborough:

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