Martinborough is a tiny village situated on the southern tip of the North Island of New Zealand, in the midst of the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail. We stopped in for just one night, to partake in a wine tour with Martinborough Wine Tours.

Wine Tastings with Martinborough Wine Tours

We thoroughly enjoyed stopping at Schubert, Ata Rangi, Tirohana and Martinborough vineyards. We enjoyed Tirohana so much that we jumped at the chance to dine at the vineyard when a last minute table for two opened up. They even picked us up for dinner! A lovely town with even nicer people who showed us warm Kiwi hospitality. Next time we’d love to stay longer and consider a leisurely bike ride along the wine trail.

A four-person wine tour – much more our speed than the 10-person tour in Napier.

Schubert Vineyard was small but award-winning.

Schubert vines.

Ata Rangi was all about local conservation efforts.

Walking into the tasting like…

Being creative…

Tirohana Estate. We loved it so much we went to dinner on the vineyard!

We loved all the historic photos of Tirohana.

Martinborough Vineyard – one of our faves!

I made John pose…

All the heart eyes…

They also had gin, which we really tried to like! But we’re just not gin people, unfortunately…

We Stopped at an Incredible “Overlook”

We stopped at Rimutaka Crossing, a random pull-off-the-side-of-the-road overlook that provided incredible views and even more interesting historical facts. New Zealand is full of unexpected discoveries…

Just a casual overlook on the side of the road…

…and this is the view!

John showing Peterson the view.

Indescribable.

Enjoying life.

So much history in this area. This is where the local boys marched through to join the WWI forces. We learned much more about this in the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, thanks to Aunt T’s recommendation.

On to Wellington! But first… isn’t our accommodation cute?? Martinborough Mews provided just what we needed (except for the AC)…