Being recreational wine enthusiasts, our next destination was the wine mecca of Marlborough, a region located at the north-east end of the South Island.

We stayed in a delightful holiday cottage called Andahlane Cottage.

It’s set in the vineyards just out of the small town of Renwick.

Marlborough is a bit like the Hunter Valley on steroids. The vineyards cover an area 5 times the size of the Hunter Valley, hence there are dozens of cellar doors to potentially visit. The wines can also be over-the-top (I think almost everyone has tasted a fruit-bowl-like Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc sometime in their life) but we were interested in tasting the wines of the smaller, artisanal producers.

But that’s for another day.