One Thing Thursdays: Marlborough, New Zealand

After college, I high-tailed it to the Southern Hemisphere to lead a glamorous life of working two jobs, living below the poverty level and building a tiny short-term immigrant life that involved attempting to fit in by tucking jeans into boots and spreading the Gospel of Flippy Cup to a motley crew of Kiwis.

In short, it was a great five months.

But, about two weeks before I left, I went and fell for a sophomore with no car, aka Hubs. It wasn't long before he was planning a trip to see me down in New Zealand.

Which leads me to one thing you must do in Marlborough: Take a wine tour!

Marlborough is really well known for their wines, especially Sauvignon Blanc. It's also incredibly gorgeous.

We went with a half day tour that stopped at four or five wineries. I'm not entirely sure which company we went with, but I think it was something like this one. We left from Wellington on a boat and sailed toward Picton, where the tour began.

Heading into Picton.

We shared a van with an odd little couple from Arizona who started the day off barely speaking to each other and um, let's just say the wine made them a little less shy as the day wore on. Ahem.

In between awkward van rides, we hit Allan Scott and Cloudy Bay, plus three others whose names are lost to time and that extra glass of chardonnay. One was an organic winery, which sounded amazing but didn't taste amazing at all.

Hubs and me at the organic winery. Not sure where I was heading with this fashion statement. Not my finest moment.

The best wines of the day for me were a Gewürztraminer from an unknown winery and a chardonnay that tasted like melted butter from Allan Scott. Because my only problem with drinking melted butter is the lack of a buzz.

We also soaked up a lot of wine knowledge, which was fun as I'd never really done a real wine tasting before and it was amazing to get to try it for the first time in such an amazing region for wine growing.

If you have time for two things in Marlborough, get a coffee, specifically a flat white. Kiwis are serious about their caffeine and flat whites are silky little drinks that are kind of like a small, really wet espresso. In my five months barista-ing in Wellington, I can't say I mastered making them, but I can drink them like a champ.