Clos Henri is the brainchild of legendary Sancerre producer Henri Bourgeois. He and his family searched the globe for the ‘perfect’ spot for his beloved Sauvignon Blanc variety, finally finding it in the year 2000 here in Marlborough!

They quickly planted 43-ha of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir on a single estate in the western reaches of the Wairau Valley, hugging the foothills of the Wither Hills. It’s French; very French (and I secretly loved it!)

Visits are by appointment only and even the locals don’t really know what’s going on here. However, I got a contact from my home town of Castillon from the world-renowned, stainless steel wine vat manufacturer, Monsieur LeJeune! Monsieur Lejeune made and designed personally our vats at Le Chai Au Quai and he did the same for Henri Bourgeois’ famous estate in Sancerre! I was given the phone number of Damien Yvon, an energetic Frenchman from Chinon in the Loire Valley.

The winery and cellar door is actually only five minutes from where I have been living, but as I have never once turned left from my drive in last five weeks I never knew it was there! It’s located just after the small hamlet of Renwick accessed by a long, winding dirt drive towards a white wooden church. I later learnt the church was bought from another town and transported down to Renwick because the vineyard back in Sancerre also has a church in the property; it’s quite beautiful.

Damien is a lovely guy and has been here for seven years now. He (as much as I) was delighted to speak French, although his has a wonderful French accent when speaking English. But he does tack  mate on the end of every sentence.

He gave me a great tour of the property and they have been very busy over the last 13 years, carefully studying the terroir and planting to perfection.

From the highest vineyards, we drove back down to the winery below and I was greeted with many bonjours from the French harvest cellar hands! And then there they were: beautiful, gleaming, stainless steel tanks, designed and made in our little Castillon back in France, courtesy of Monsieur Lejeune!

In their search for perfection they believe the tools used to make the wine are as important as the vineyards. And as all tradesmen will speak of the tools of the trade, this is no different.

I have to be brutally honest and the wines (only two wines are made) are simply superb. Some of the finest I have tried anywhere in the world.

I drank the wine in front of those infamous hills a couple of weeks ago and now it was time to go and visit the winery. Through my winemaking friends in Marlborough I managed to get a behind-the-scenes tour with winemaker Sarah Burton.  At the entrance, the sign with the iconic Cloudy Bay label dominates the drive and creates a wonderful air of excitement.

I also met with senior Cloudy Bay winemaker Tim Heath who has been and will be going back to India at the same time as me! We had a brief chat about India and our winemaking experiences there so far. Just proves India has potential and Laithwaites are right there too! Watch this space for when we release our wines.

For lunch and my last in Marlborough I went to see my friend James MacDonald, the nephew and young winemaker of the amazing Jane Hunter at Hunter’s.

Tony has been buying this incredible wine since the eighties and they have developed into the modern-day beautifully. They maintain a stunning quality of wine, helped by senior winemaker Gary Duke over the last 25 years. I first met Gary back in Bordeaux last year when he was visiting with Jane; both on the top of their game and such great people.

Plenty of wineries to visit in Marlborough, so I continued with my tour starting from Wairau River Wines, as recommended for a good simple lunch. And I wasn’t disappointed.  The old single-storey, mud brick, colonial-style building houses the cellar door and restaurant. And on a glorious day like today the lawn is perfect for a light lunch and a glass of chilled white.

The cellar door is light and airy and once again, really friendly. I tasted through the range of wines and the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc is very good; so good, in fact, I chose a glass to have with lunch. Viognier and Pinot Gris aren’t really working for me here in Marlborough, but the 2010 reserve Chardonnay was excellent and well priced. Lunch on the lawn was superb; nice big king prawns in a light tempura batter with a coriander salad is certainly a food match I would use for Marlborough Sauvignon.

Over the road is Giesen cellar door. Their winery is in the Springlands industrial estate along with many others, but the cellar door is quaint and friendly. The wines were less aromatic than what I have been used to, but I thought the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc was very clever and the peachy character reminded more of Pessac back in France than of Marlborough.

I was intrigued by signs pointing to Hans Herzog Estate so followed them until I found a little cellar door and restaurant backing right onto the Wairau River. I learnt that the Swiss owners had quit their two star Michelin restaurant and vineyard near Zurich to find the perfect place to make wine and they settled here in Marlborough. On the 11-hectare single site, Hans has planted a whole range of varietals from Swiss native grape Zweiglt to Grenache and Montepulciano.  I was charged to taste the standard wine range only and unable to taste the ‘different’ varietals which seemed to be kept for the restaurant tasting menu. Shame; they sounded interesting.

I have already spoken about the Awatere Valley and Yealands Estate’s heavy investment here, but my word, it is a stunning place. The 100 hectares of rolling vineyards make it the single biggest privately owned winery in NZ.  Environmental sustainability and the effort on carbon zero footprints is admirable and the winery is beautifully incorporated into the landscape. However the wines seemed to lack the punch I was expecting, although I did like the Grüner Veltliner and all the wines are reasonably priced.

The view from Wither Hills winery

We finally picked the last of the Pinot Noir during the night so a day off was well earned (well I believed so!)  I decided to explore the region where I have been living for the last five weeks and thought that I would do the classics of Marlborough. It would be good to see just how they stand up to the brand image so famous throughout the rest of the world’s wine-drinking countries.

I awoke to a beautiful morning and a ferocious, blustery, warm wind. For me, this is nearly the fastest clothes drying place in the world, second only to the Roussillon and its mighty Tramontane wind and where clothes pegs with the grip of a panic-stricken cat are required. After collecting my washing from the amongst the vineyard, I set off.

I headed up the Wairau Valley from Blenheim in the direction of the small fishing town of Picton, before swinging southwards into another tributary valley, The Waihopai Valley.  The producer here is the well-known Spy Valley Winery and so named for its proximity to two giant, hidden, squatting golf ball satellite communication ‘spy’ stations located in the valley.

The cellar door is nicely incorporated into the winery and a very friendly place indeed. I tried the 2012 range and was very impressed. The Sauvignon Blanc very pungent and tropical. Loving the fat but fresh Pinot Gris; the Riesling varietal; the nicely off dry, Gewurztraminer (aromatic, but not sickly); and a superbly well made 2010 Pinot Noir from the Outpost label. I bought a bottle of the flinty Chardonnay.

I drove up to the main road, crossing back into the Wairau Valley to a biodynamic outfit called   Seresin Estate. All cool and trendy is this place, a painted hand print on the big rock lets you know where you are!

The winery oozes that bio style and the shipping containers converted into offices and cellar door are fit beautifully. The wines however are much more aromatically subtle but I loved the 2011 off-dry Riesling and the complex 2010 Leah Pinot Noir.

From here I made my way back towards Blenheim and to the Wither Hills Winery on New Renwick Road. The magnificent tasting room and cellar door is hard to miss and has a very spacious interior allowing that unique natural kiwi light to pour in. An excellent cellar door and I was welcomed with a friendly reception. Good restaurant skills, too, as although fully booked, I took a 10 dollar tasting of the ‘cellar door only’ cuvees whilst they made space for one.

I loved the wines, all of them. The Sauvignon from the far-flung Rarangi vineyards on the coast of Marlborough was all that I want from NZ Sauvignon Blanc at this price. The 2010 Kerseley Riesling was delightful and well balanced; the Gewürztraminer lovely; and the single-vineyard Taylor River Pinot Noir impressive. I had a light bite to eat in the airy, buzzing restaurant: pan fried salmon and a 2009 Chardonnay, flinty.  I bought a classic Sauvignon for home.

Turning back onto the New Renwick Road the obvious stop was Villa Maria. My mate Josh is a winemaker there and rather like myself has been somewhat occupied over this crazy 2013 harvest. We have only managed one pathetic beer together before we almost fell asleep at the bar. Josh was nowhere to be seen so I didn’t ask after him. I suspect he was asleep somewhere!

At my winery, one of the old ‘caustic cleaning in progress’ signs had been placed outside the winemakers office. However the words ‘Caustic cleaning’ had been worn away and had been substituted in permanent pen with ‘sleeping’ by a cellar rat!

Yet again, though, an energetic and friendly welcome at the cellar door with knowledgeable staff. I liked the wines here too! Such clean aromatics and well-made wines available. I walked away with a Grenache from the Auckland vineyards (not quite as good as the Roussillon but I liked it).

It’s refreshing and comforting to see the big names maintaining such a high level of wine quality in times of such high wine demand.

The growth in popularity of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc over the last ten years has meant that the Wairau Valley – home to the household names such as Brancott Estate, Wither Hills, Villa Maria and Cloudy Bay – has quite simply no space left for expansion.  So to meet demand for wine the vineyards have uncontrollably spilled over the Wither Hills and into the Awatere Valley.

The Awatere Valley is still technically Marlborough but the soil and climate are very different and unique.  As you cross into the Awatere the change in landscape is quite obvious and rolling brown windswept hills that define the valley refreshingly take the place of the sharp famous dark mountains that encompass the Wairau Valley. But the thin, exposed topsoil of the hills is far too inhospitable for vine growing and only hardy sheep can be farmed on them.

The vines, however, flourish on the fertile and protected valley floor. Like a green river the vineyards flow all the way to down the Cook Strait to just 100 metres from the cliff edge. From here, the North Island can clearly be seen out on the horizon some 50kms away.  This main river of vines spawns hundreds of small tributary vineyard streams and they run out finger like in every direction between the brown hills creating a spectacular landscape vastly visually different from the classic Marlborough we know.

The Awatere, albeit different, is slowly building a reputation of its own and if vineyards are cropped reasonably, it is very good indeed for growing Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. I spent some time tasting in the vineyard it’s not as intense as over in the Wairau, but these vineyards do allow everyone to be able to drink very good Marlborough wine. The Sauvignon Blanc characteristics are citrus-driven and the Pinot Noir has fresher red fruits and for me it creates a wonderful new dimension to the Marlborough region.

Some estates such as Yealands Estate have invested heavily. Although many others are sourcing from the Awatere Valley to meet the consumer demands, I am sure these investments will eventually lead to a very unique valley ‘terroir’ in its own right. The Awatere expresses the youth and diversity of New Zealand as a wine growing country perfectly.

I tried good wines from Triplebank but there are also many more who will add the Awatere Valley name to their Marlborough wines. I think this development is important for the future and to the consumer.