6 Marlborough Hotels Among the Sauvignon Blanc

The first sauvignon blanc vines went into Marlborough in 1973. Within about thirty years, New Zealand sauvignon had become the global reference point for the variety — the style that other countries now make in imitation, having previously made something quite different in the Loire.

The reason is specific. Marlborough gets among the highest sunshine hours in New Zealand, around 2,400 a year, with cool nights and free-draining stony soils on the Wairau plain. That combination lets the grapes ripen slowly while retaining acidity and holding onto methoxypyrazines — the compounds that produce the cut-grass and capsicum notes — alongside thiols that give passionfruit and gooseberry.

In warmer regions those pyrazines burn off. Here they survive, and the result was so distinct that it created its own category.

The region now produces something like three quarters of New Zealand's wine, from around 150 producers, most of them within twenty minutes of Blenheim.

The drowned valleys

North of the vineyards, the Marlborough Sounds are a drowned river system — valleys flooded as the land tilted and sank, leaving roughly 1,500 kilometres of coastline folded into a small area, about a fifth of New Zealand's entire shoreline.

Many of the bays have no road. Access is by water taxi or the mail boat, which still delivers post to remote houses and takes passengers, and the Queen Charlotte Track runs 70 kilometres along the ridges with launches carrying your bag between lodges.

Nelson and Abel Tasman

West across the hills, Abel Tasman National Park is New Zealand's smallest and has golden granite sand, clear water and a coastal track walked or kayaked in three to five days. Nelson itself is a small city with the country's highest sunshine hours and a long-established craft scene.

The six below are grouped that way.

The Marlborough Sounds

The drowned valleys.

Bay of Many Coves Resort occupies a bay in Queen Charlotte Sound reachable only by water taxi from Picton, with villas up the hillside, a restaurant on the jetty and no road at all. It is the best place to stay in the region.

Punga Cove Resort sits in Endeavour Inlet on the Queen Charlotte Track with chalets, a jetty and walkers arriving on foot and boats arriving by water.

Blenheim and the vineyards

Among the sauvignon blanc.

Marlborough Vintners Hotel occupies a property among vines outside Blenheim with a pool, a garden and cellar doors within a few minutes in every direction.

Chateau Marlborough sits in Blenheim with contemporary rooms, a good restaurant and the wine region around it.

Hotel d'Urville occupies an art deco building in central Blenheim with a small room count and a wine-led bar.

Nelson and Abel Tasman

West over the hills.

Split Apple Retreat occupies a clifftop above Kaiteriteri near the Abel Tasman boundary with a very small room count, a spa and a wellness programme.

What we have left off

The lodges and bach rentals across the Sounds are excluded, and in the bays without roads they are the main accommodation, reached by water taxi. They are houses and guest houses rather than hotels.

What to do

Taste at the cellar doors, and ask for something other than sauvignon. Marlborough pinot noir, chardonnay and méthode traditionnelle are all serious and largely unexported.

Take the mail boat from Picton, which does a full day delivering post around the Sounds and is the cheapest and most interesting way to see them.

Walk or cycle part of the Queen Charlotte Track, with a launch moving your bag between lodges, over one to four days.

Kayak in Abel Tasman, ideally with a water taxi one way, and swim off the granite beaches.

Eat the green-lipped mussels from Havelock, which claims to be the world capital of them, and the Nelson scallops in season.

Practical notes

Blenheim and Nelson both have airports with domestic flights; the Interislander ferry from Wellington arrives at Picton through the Sounds, which is itself one of the better ferry journeys anywhere.

December to April is the season, with harvest in March. Winter is cold, clear and the cellar doors are quiet.

Sounds accommodation without road access requires a water taxi booking; arrange it with the lodge rather than separately.

Why does Marlborough sauvignon taste like that?

High sunshine with cool nights and stony soils preserve the pyrazine and thiol compounds that burn off in warmer regions. The style became the global reference in about thirty years.

What are the Sounds?

Drowned river valleys holding roughly a fifth of New Zealand's coastline, with many bays reachable only by boat.

Wine or water?

Blenheim for the cellar doors, the Sounds for the bays and the track. Thirty minutes apart.

How many nights?

Five. Two in the vineyards and three in the Sounds or Abel Tasman.

If you only book one