Martinborough and Wairarapa Wine

Martinborough is a village of a couple of thousand people about ninety minutes from Wellington over the Remutaka hill road, and its selling point is scale: most of its cellar doors sit within walking or cycling distance of the town square, on a gravel terrace that turned out to suit Pinot Noir unusually well. Planting only began in the late 1970s, and the producers are still mostly small and family-run, often pouring their own wine at the counter. Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Syrah fill out the range, and vineyards spread north through the wider Wairarapa. The square itself is laid out as a Union Flag pattern of streets, an oddity left from the town's founding in the 1870s.

Highlights

• Cellar doors on foot - a dozen or more within walking distance of the village square.
• Martinborough Pinot Noir - the wine the terrace is known for, tasted where it is made.
• The town square - the Union Flag street layout and the shops around its edges.
• The wider Wairarapa - vineyards and olive groves spreading north towards Gladstone and Masterton.

When to go

November to April is the reliable window, with harvest in March. Many cellar doors open only Friday to Sunday or by appointment, so a midweek visit can find the village largely shut. The annual wine and food festival in November fills every bed for miles around. Autumn gives the vines colour and the quietest tastings of the year.

Practical notes

Accommodation in the village is limited and expensive, and it books out on festival and long weekends months ahead. Weekday visits can be frustrating, with half the cellar doors closed. The Remutaka hill road is winding, and it closes occasionally in bad weather or after a crash, with long detours as the alternative. Tastings are charged almost everywhere now.

Nearby

Wellington is over the hill to the west; Cape Palliser and the Wairarapa coast lie about an hour south.