Mike Yardley: Exploring the flavours of Blenheim

"Bracketed by the biscuit-brown Wither Hills and the lofty prongs of the Richmond Ranges, Blenheim’s vast blanket of the Wairau Plain bursts with possibilities. When it comes to winery finery, few venues can hold a candle to the elemental elegance of Wither Hills Cellar Door & Restaurant. Exuding a mix of contemporary design and relaxed sophistication, coupled with soul-rinsing views from their four-storey tower; the Wither Hills Winery is pitch-perfect for a wine tasting and bite to eat."

"Steve and I then headed over to Vines Village, which is homebase for Explore Marlborough’s wine tours. They offer a great range of options, included guided or self-guided tours. Kitted out with a trusty e-bike, over the next few hours, we tootled our way around the vineyards, mostly on off-road trails, including the fabulous stopbank of the Wairau River, which serves up elevated views of the vast bucolic canvas."

Read Mike's full article here.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Mike Yadi joins us now to talk travel.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Good morning, Good morning, Francisca happing you here. You must
feel like you're working eight days a week.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I might be starting to count down now, I've got yeah, no,
next next Sunday. I'm I'm working every day on through
till next Sunday and then I get a week off.
But I've had a lovely summer. I've had a great summer.
I've done all sorts of different shows, and I loved
talking to lots of our listeners on summer afternoons. And
you know, I've had a ball.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Loving that good stuff. Yeah, good stuff. You're doing God's work.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, not really, thank you very much, Mike.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Blenham gorgeous place, especially around this time of the year.
Let's start with the wine scene, shall we?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Definitely? And I think if you're looking for the ultimate
place to dine and Blenham, I think it's hard to
beat with the Hell's Cellar door and restaurant. Because the
namesake winery adorns those biscuit brown hells. You get the
most panoramic views across the Waida Plain. And when it
comes to winery finery, what I love about the venue

(01:19):
is that it is just the elemental brilliance of weather Hills,
cracking spot for lunch. In fact, don't miss the parmesan
Barantini Francesca. I think that is the for lunch there.
And you can swallow among the vines in the vine library,
which showcases several dozen varieties that weather Hells pumps out

(01:41):
best of all the barrel hall. I just think be
something incredible about the combined scent of oak and yeast,
which is what sort of consumes you when you go
in the barrel Hall at weather Hills. But obviously you
need to have a bit of a wine tasting, and
I would go with a single vineyard wine flight at
weather Hills because obviously they do very good sobernon blanc,

(02:03):
but they also do excellent pen and why. And what
I love about the opinion why is it's very fruit forward,
very light bodied pinot, bursting with plums and cherries and
I spice and all those good summary things. And if
you need bubbles, they also collaborate a lot with daniel
Le Broun, so you can go wrong with a bit
of Daniel's Bubbles.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
We're getting the travel and wind all in one today.
The great thing is, as you mentioned it as a plane,
and I do. That's when that's when I get on
a bike when there's a plan.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
It is quite a lovely area to travel around via bike, isn't.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
It tailor made for it? Absolutely? I hopped up with
Explore marlbra and they do really good wine tours, so
you can do like yourself guided to on a trusty
bike or e bike if you're feeling rather leisurely. They
also do sort of guided to us by vehicle if
you want to actually go beyond the white Oak Plane
and to say, like the Arba Terri Valley and so forth.

(03:01):
But yeah, kick yourself out with a bike and over
the next few hours just totally your way around white
Oak Plane. He's actually this fantastic stop bank on the
White O River which is close to Vines Village and
mccanna Chocolates if you so fancy. And the really cool
thing about riding along that stop bank, Francesca is you

(03:23):
get a little bit of elevation, so you just get
an even broader, more expensive view across all of the
all of the vineyards just bucolically, it is just gorgeous.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Any other special stumps.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
I really fell in love with Hans Herzog estate. It's
one of New Zealand's most acclaimed wineries. It's fully organic
and hands himself. He planted the Pinot Gris and the
Vigner and the mold Monty Paul jarn Nol over thirty
years ago and these were all actually really seen varieties

(04:00):
back in the day thirty years ago. And it's such
an intimate vineyard, so you can, you know, take wander
around the vineyard and then you really feel it one
with the whole hands Huzog spirit. The wine tastings there
are just so elegantly presented, quite sort of high end
without being pretentious, if you know what I mean. But

(04:20):
you just feel like you're somewhere really special. And they're
all small batch, artisan wines snapped up by discerning wine
lovers worldwide. Most of his wine ends up, you know,
in Europe and North America.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Wonderful. But it's not just all about the grape, is it.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
This is it if you want to swap your wine
for some bears. Blenham has a thriving craft scene and
I love Boomtown Brewing Company. They do fabulous, easy drinking
craft bears, and between now and until the end of April,
they've got this fabulous beer garden at Forest Wine. So

(04:57):
it's called Boomtown in the Forest, very park like setting
at Forest Data Wines. And yeah, fresh tap bears, so
unrelaxed vibes in the warmer months right through the wappril
its it must do. Also check out DNA Brewery and
I'm also a big fan of Moa Brewery once again
Shady Lawn's lots of food trucks. What I love about

(05:19):
Moa is they had kept all of their products affordable,
accessible and sessionable, and they're always switching up their repertoire.
I think this has got your name on it, Francesca
Ethel and Ruebarbs Cider, So this is like a very
sort of delicate tart flavor, very crisp cider. It sings
happy summer days. It's kind of like the cider equivalent

(05:41):
of a glass of rose.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Time to get thirsty. I've also had had a lot
of people talk about the Roots gin Shack. That's really
popular too, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Ah. It's a runaway hit and Roots is one of
our biggest global award winning gin so there dry Gen
won the World's Best Gin in twenty twenty three at
the World Gin Awards. So about a year or so
ago they opened up this magnific tasting room. It's at
Vines Village, got a garden setting, so once again very
family friendly. But it's such a cool place to go

(06:13):
and just get a signature g and T or a Negroni.
They have all sorts of seasonal cocktails in the tasting
room and also some really nice eats. So they've collaborated
with the team behind Boom Spice, Sauce and Barbecue. So
on a hot day you can just chill out with
some small plates, few gins, maybe a few cocktails, and

(06:35):
if it's really hot, I would recommend you go with
a greapefruit and gin sorbet. That is very restorative, I
can assure you and Mike.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Look, if you've got some room left in your psych
and you've got a bit of energy, what would you
suggest for dinner?

Speaker 3 (06:51):
I would go with Frank's Oyster Bar and ethy. So
this is in Scott Strait, downtown Blenham, under the command
of Sam Webb, who is a local hero it's got
a real old school New York bar vibe, Frank's Oyster
bar and eatery, lots of tiles, lots of industrial lightefact.
But despite its name that they do so much more
than just Marlborough's Magnificent mollusks. So their sheer plates run

(07:14):
the gamut from Marino lamb, shoulder and grilled zucchini to
chicken venus and sliders. And if you can choose, and
I did for Struggle, I would say just plump for
Frank eight's option and he'll just keep you happy all night.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Oh look, Mike, thank you for you know, putting the
body on the line and eating and drinking your way
round Leno for us all.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
What a great Francesca, what a great job.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Thanks so much, Mike. For more tips on sipping and
nothing your way through Blenhim. Mike's article is on the
website Newstalk zb dot co dot nz Ford slash Lifestyle,
Ford slash Travel.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live
to Newstalk z B from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.