Marlborough wine country is small enough to cross in half an hour, but it is spread out. Picton sits on the sea to the north, Blenheim on the plain, and the vines fill the valleys between and beyond. Get the layout straight here before you choose your best Marlborough wine tour.
Most van tours collect you from your door, so your own address is your starting point. The rest start from a handful of named places, and the table puts each one on the map.
| On the map | What it is | Who starts here |
|---|---|---|
| Picton i-SITE, The Foreshore | Picton's visitor centre, by the ferry and cruise berths | The shore excursions; ferry and train arrivals on one afternoon tour |
| Blenheim i-SITE, 8 Sinclair Street | Blenheim's visitor centre | Marlborough Tour Company's days at 9.15am; Hop n Grape on request |
| Seymour Square, 37 Seymour Street | Blenheim's square, under the clock tower | The private day, at 10am |
| 42 Alfred Street, Blenheim | The bike hire's town base | The bike hire |
| The Vines Village, 193 Rapaura Road | The bike base among the vineyards | The bike hire and the Explore Marlborough bike days |
| Omaka, off Aerodrome Road | The aviation museum, on Blenheim's edge | No tour: a morning on your own |
| Your accommodation | Central Blenheim, Renwick or central Picton | Most van tours, door to door |
Where to stay so the pickup is free is set out in where to stay.
Picton is the ferry town at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound. The ferries from Wellington and the cruise ships come in here. From Picton, the road runs south to the Wairau plain and Blenheim, 20 to 30 minutes away.
That drive is part of every tour that starts in Picton. It is why Picton pickups come earlier than Blenheim ones: the full day collects you in Picton from 9.30am and in Blenheim at about 9.45am.
Blenheim is the main town, with the i-SITE, the railway station and Marlborough Airport close by. Most tours start and end here.
Renwick is the village west of Blenheim, in the Central Wairau. Both sit inside the free pickup zones, and the first cellar doors are a few minutes from each.
Rapaura Road runs through the Central Wairau, lined with vineyards and cellar doors. The Vines Village, at number 193, is the base for the bike days: over a dozen wineries sit within 3 km of it.
The ground here is flat, which is why the bike days start here. You ride between the rows from one cellar door to the next. Compare the rides on Marlborough bike wine tours.
The Wairau Valley is the region's largest and most planted valley, and most tours spend the whole day in it. The braided Wairau River runs east through it, from the mountains to Cloudy Bay. Almost all the cellar doors sit within a ten-minute drive of each other.
Wine Marlborough splits the valley three ways: the Central Wairau around Rapaura and Renwick, the Lower Wairau toward the coast, and the Upper Wairau to the west.
South of Blenheim, a row of smaller valleys runs into the hills: Brancott, Omaka, Fairhall, Waihopai, Ben Morven and Taylor. Together they hold around a fifth of the region's vineyards.
The Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre sits on this side of town, and Brancott Valley is where the first commercial vines were planted in 1973. The cellar doors here are covered on the wineries page.
The Awatere Valley lies further south, beyond the hills, running up toward the Inland Kaikōura Range. It is cooler, drier and windier than the Wairau.
Few tours drive this far. You meet Awatere wines in the tasting rooms of the Wairau instead.
Marlborough sits at the top of the South Island. By road, you are 1.5 hours from Nelson or four hours from Christchurch. By sea, the ferry from Wellington takes about three and a half hours to Picton, and by air, Blenheim is a 30-minute flight from Wellington.
Each way in is set out in getting to Marlborough.
Marlborough wine country
Picton to the north, Blenheim on the plain, the valleys to the west and south
The map loads from Google only when you press the button. Picton is at the top, on Queen Charlotte Sound. Blenheim is in the middle, with Renwick to its west and the Southern Valleys below.
The subregions, travel times and distances come from Wine Marlborough and New Zealand Winegrowers. Each start point comes from its tour's own booking page.
Tastings and a light lunch in the morning, then three hours on the Sounds with salmon and greenshell mussels on board. Be ready by 9.15am in Blenheim, or in Picton for a surcharge.
From $185 per person
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Four and a half hours in a group of nine at most: four wines at each of three or four cellar doors, all in the fare. Blenheim pickup at 10am; ship passengers are met at the Picton i-SITE.
From $98 per person
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The lowest fare in the region: a bike, helmet, lock and cellar-door map from a base among the vines or in central Blenheim, any time after 9.30am. Tasting fees, around NZ$10 a door, are yours.
From $37 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: choose a base on where to stay, see the wineries the tours visit, or compare every tour on Marlborough Wine Tours.