Marlborough has more than 30 cellar doors, most within a ten-minute drive of each other. A tour takes you to three to six of them. Which ones depends on the tour, and before you pick a New Zealand Marlborough wine tour, it helps to know who pours where.
Start with the cellar doors the tours name in their own itineraries. Then come the three subregions they sit in, how Marlborough wine began, and what grows here.
Most tours do not publish a fixed list: the guide chooses on the day, from the cellar doors that are open. The ones that do name their stops are in the table.
| Cellar door | On the tours that name it |
|---|---|
| Saint Clair Family Estate | Hop n Grape half-day (Vineyard Kitchen); the Gourmet Gold day (two-course lunch); Hop n Grape winemakers' day (lunch stop); the private day |
| Allan Scott Family Winemakers | Hop n Grape half-day; the Gourmet Gold day; Hop n Grape winemakers' day |
| Framingham Wines | Hop n Grape half-day; Hop n Grape winemakers' day |
| Hunter's Wines | Hop n Grape half-day |
| Cloudy Bay | The Gourmet Gold day; left out of some Hop n Grape days |
| Clos Henri Vineyard | The Gourmet Gold day; the private day |
| Rock Ferry | The private day, 1 hour 30 minutes |
| Bladen | The private day |
| Huia Vineyards | The private day |
| Lawson's Dry Hills | Hop n Grape winemakers' day |
| Ant Moore Wines | Hop n Grape winemakers' day |
| Makana Confections (chocolate) | Hop n Grape days, Jade Tours' full day and the shore excursions |
You will not find opening hours below, and not by accident. Wine Marlborough says hours found online may be out of date, and some tasting rooms close in winter. Your tour knows who is open.
Saint Clair Family Estate appears on more of the named itineraries than any other cellar door, often as the lunch stop. On the Hop n Grape winemakers' day you stop there for lunch at your own cost. On the Gourmet Gold day the two-course lunch at Saint Clair is in the fare.
Lunch mains at the winery restaurants run about NZ$25-40, as one listing puts it. Wine Marlborough advises booking ahead if you plan lunch at a cellar door; on a tour, the operator books it for you.
Cloudy Bay is one of the best-known names in Marlborough, and one tour is built around it. The Gourmet Gold day starts with a tasting at Cloudy Bay, then goes on to Allan Scott and Clos Henri, with lunch at Saint Clair. It costs $340 per person.
Other tours leave it out. The Hop n Grape half-day lists Cloudy Bay and Fromm among its exclusions, and one listing of the Hop n Grape winemakers' day excludes Cloudy Bay, Hans Herzog and Fromm. If Cloudy Bay is the one you want, book the day that names it.
The private day is the one where you know every stop in advance. It collects you in Blenheim at 10am and visits Clos Henri, Rock Ferry, Bladen, Huia and Saint Clair, with about an hour at each and 1 hour 30 minutes at Rock Ferry.
A tailor-made private tasting at Mahi can be added at extra cost. The day costs $228 per person and takes up to four people per booking.
The Wairau Valley is Marlborough's largest and most planted valley, and it is where nearly every tour spends its day. The braided Wairau River runs through it from the mountains to Cloudy Bay on the coast. Wine Marlborough splits it three ways: the Central Wairau around Rapaura and Renwick, on free-draining gravels; the Lower Wairau, with deep silts and sea breezes; and the cooler Upper Wairau to the west.
Its Māori name, Kei puta te Wairau, means the place with the hole in the cloud. Many of the families who planted here in the late 1970s and 1980s still make wine today.
The Southern Valleys run south from the Wairau plain: Brancott, Omaka, Fairhall, Waihopai, Ben Morven and Taylor. They hold around a fifth of Marlborough's vineyards, on older, clay-rich soils. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grow on the hillsides.
Brancott Valley is where it started. In August 1973, Montana planted the first commercial vines at Brancott Estate, and Sauvignon Blanc followed two years later.
The Awatere Valley lies south of the Wairau, climbing inland toward the Inland Kaikōura Range and Mount Tapuae-o-Uenuku, Marlborough's highest peak at 2,880 m. It is cooler, drier and windier than anywhere else in the region.
Vines arrived here in the 1980s, on land that had been vast high-country stations. None of the itineraries here names an Awatere cellar door, so taste Awatere wines in the Wairau.
Today almost 31,000 ha of vines grow here, around two-thirds of New Zealand's total, which makes Marlborough the country's largest wine region.
Sauvignon Blanc put Marlborough, and New Zealand, on the world's wine map in the 1980s. It still covers most of the vineyard. But Marlborough grows over 25 varieties, and a tasting flight usually runs from sparkling to red.
| Grape | Planted in Marlborough | Where you taste it |
|---|---|---|
| Sauvignon Blanc | 22,777 ha | Every cellar door |
| Pinot Noir | 2,722 ha, the second most planted | The Southern Valleys' hillsides |
| Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling | Among over 25 varieties | Most tasting flights |
| Méthode Traditionnelle | Sparkling; its harvest closes in late March | Some cellar doors |
Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand certifies 97% of Marlborough's producing vineyard area, Wine Marlborough says.
Many cellar doors sell wines you can buy only in their tasting rooms, and many ship within New Zealand and overseas. Wine you buy is never in a tour's fare, so budget for it.
On a bike, you do not have to carry your bottles: the self-guided bike day collects what you buy along the trail. Compare the rides on Marlborough bike wine tours.
The subregions, history, grapes and shipping come from Wine Marlborough and New Zealand Winegrowers. The cellar doors each tour visits come from its own itinerary.
Six guests at most from Blenheim or Renwick: tastings at Cloudy Bay, Allan Scott and Clos Henri, a two-course lunch at Saint Clair, then chocolate at Makana, with the fees and the lunch in the fare.
From $340 per person
Check Availability
A private day for up to four from Blenheim at 10am: about an hour each at Clos Henri, Bladen, Huia and Saint Clair, and 90 minutes at Rock Ferry. Tasting fees in the fare; lunch is not.
From $228 per person
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Six and a half hours from your Blenheim or Renwick door with a winemaker as guide: four to six wineries, every tasting fee in the fare, and a lunch stop at Saint Clair at your own cost.
From $124 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: see the valleys on the Marlborough wine map, check the fees and lunch on the visitor guide, or compare every tour on Marlborough Wine Tours.