In love with Schubert

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A late alarm this morning, which we needed. We walked to the railway station (which is also where the Intercity bus dropped us off last night) hoping to find good coffee and breakfast along the way. At 9am, nothing was open so we settled for coffee and sandwiches from the station’s café.

We got the 9:55 train to Featherston (the only service there today) from platform nine and the 205 connecting bus service to Martinborough. [The train on platform eight was all stations to Johnsonville].

Out initial itinerary was to spend some time at the railway museum in Featherston – they have one locomotive there – and then get a taxi to Greytown, a pretty historical town, before getting yet another taxi to Martinborough. After spending the afternoon wine tasting, we’d get the 19:52 train back to Wellington.

But all our research went out of the window when the taxi companies told us they were booked out for the day, and we found out from our bus driver to Martinborough that the train back to Wellington was at 17.26, and that our connecting bus was at 16.55.

So we adapted – not a concept that I’m familiar with – and opted to spend the day making the most of Martinborough’s vineyards. Having that extra time gave us the chance to try more vineyards, in addition to the four we’d earmarked.

Martinborough is a pretty little town, and all the vineyards are within walking distance.

We started off on our vinous adventure. The weather conditions were perfect – a clear sunny day to explore the wines of Wairarapa.

Our first stop was Margrain Vineyard, where we had lunch in a beautiful setting, next to the vineyard. We shared a glass of Pinot Gris (which we’d both like to like but it’s not working out for us) and Chardonnay (which was lovely). The food was very good – simple but fresh ingredients.

We were very excited about out second destination – Ata Rangi. We’ve tried a couple of wines back home (available at Theatre of Wine). They are gaining quite a reputation for their wine, but sadly we found them to be quite formal and cold. Out of the five wines we tried, the Chardonnay was the only one we really liked. We looked at each other in disbelief… we’d been looking forward to this visit.

The next place, just five minutes away, looked good on paper too: ‘I would go as far to say Kai & Marion make some of the most profound Pinot Noir on this planet” (source: The Wandering Palate). We knew nothing about Schubert Wines, and we’re now converts to all their wines. We liked the five we tried. There were only four of us there at the time so the tasting was a lot more relaxed and chatty. The good news is that someone in Richmond imports their wines to the UK.

Our next destination was Haythornthwaite, a small boutique family owned vineyard. Out of the six wines we tried, the dry Gewurztraminer was our joint favourite. A complex wine, which was perfect for our sunny afternoon!

Having visited all the vineyards we’d wanted to try, and having quite a bit of spare time due to our change of plans, we hopped across the road to Vynfields, where they make certified organic award-winning wines. The setting is gorgeous with vines right outside an historic house (I could see myself living there). We shared a flight of wines. We tried the classic Riesling, the sparkling Riesling, the Pinot Noir, a Mad Rooster – made from an unknown local grape – and a Pinot Rosé. We really enjoyed the first four (not listed in the order tasted). On the down side, this was probably the most impersonal tasting of them all but we got lovely seats outside looking out on the vineyards and the hills behind.

We made it to the Martinborough Vineyard just as they were closing and begged them to let us in. This place had been recommended to us by Trevor at Moana Park. We enjoyed the Chardonnay (which recently got 97 out of 100 from an acclaimed critic), the 2014 Pinot Noir, the 2013 Pinot Noir Home Block (a bottle of which we have with us now) and the Syrah Viognier. The Late Harvest Riesling however was not to our taste.

We walked back towards Martinborough, and had about 10 minutes spare before we were due to get our bus back to Featherston. We popped in a couple of shops selling lovely things that have no purpose whatsoever.

We kept well hydrated during the day, and the walks in between the vineries were a little sobering.

This is by far the best thing we’ve done in New Zealand so far, and the Featherston Railway Museum and Greytown have now gone on the list for our next visit.

Back in Wellington, we walked along the waterfront, which is slowly being re-developed with trendy bars and restaurants. We made our way back to Cuba Street where we ate at Aunty Mena’s, a vegetarian Malaysian noodle house; we had cheap, cheerful and very tasty curries.

We were back in our hotel room quite early, which gave us time to catch up with paperwork and research our next destination.