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Savvy locals build a global reputation

Vines and Richmond Ranges in Marlborough / Pictures: Stephen Scourfield

Despite the international reputation of the Marlborough wine region and the fact that it stamped sauvignon blanc on the world's collective wine palate, and despite having 110 wineries and 45 cellar doors open on any one day, and producing 19 million cases of wine a year, and all the restaurants and cafes, this is a simple family story.

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Because for all the big-name wines in Marlborough, in the north of New Zealand's South Island, this comes back to master winemaker Hans Herzog experimenting by making a few bottles of something new and hand-painting each label himself.

It comes back to German backpacking brothers Theo and Alex Giesen adventuring the world on what Kiwis call their "OE" (overseas experience) and, after suffering both 40C and a snake in a swimming pool in Australia, skedaddling over the Tasman to New Zealand and buying a plot of land for grapes on a whim, and promptly calling brother Marcel and telling him to learn how to make wine quick smart.

It is about local Marlborough couple Shayne Olsen and Louise Bright setting out in 1997 to build Lochmara Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds, only accessible by boat, and remaining dedicated to "art, conservation and education as part of sustainable and responsible tourism".

It is about a newspaper reporter writing about an outdoor business and then, much later, she and her husband buying and running it - about their young son running in from the sunshine as we talk about it.

And it is about The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie director Peter Jackson growing up near here, doting parents Bill and Joan encouraging their young son as he made war movies in the garden with a Super 8mm camera. And about his love of World War I aircraft eventually becoming pivotal to the most extraordinary Marlborough museum.

And it isn't the story about the Marlborough wine-growing region that I set out to write.

But we should begin back at the beginning with what is now Australia's favourite white wine, for sauvignon blanc ended chardonnay's reign, and it was mostly down to Marlborough. The first Marlborough vines were planted in 1973 and the region now has 80 per cent of all sauvignon plantings.

In a cross-section across this wide and hugely fertile valley, there are clays and gravels deposited by a braided river system changing its course over hundreds of thousands of years. More than 200 days of sunshine a year pump flavour into the fruit, cold nights snap-chill it in. The tasting notes might read: crisp, fruity, zingy, crisply aromatic, varying from traditional-styled passionfruit and gooseberry characteristics to cut grass, tomato stalks and lime. Lemon and grass bursting with natural goodness and sunlight.

Enough of that.

Let's meet the family . . .

HANS HERZOG

Hans and Therese Herzog ran a vineyard and a fine, famous and busy Michelin- star restaurant in Switzerland (Hans comes from a wine-growing lineage dating to 1630) before buying an old Marlborough apple orchard, sight unseen, and heading to the end of the Earth for the quiet life. HA! Well, that didn't work, did it? They are busier than ever, with a completely organic orchard and winery, grapes all hand-picked and wines handmade, right down to the labelling, their original small family cottage now available for visitors, a year-round bistro and gourmet dining restaurant open seven months a year, complete with degustation and all staff with Michelin experience. Their merlot cabernet, as one example, is aged for nine years and Hans has a fine cigar collection. "It's as boutique as you get in Marlborough," says operations manager Samantha Young.

herzog.co.nz.

GIESEN

We are standing in a vineyard next to a cottage that Roscoe Johanson and his family recently called home. They had suddenly questioned "getting by" in Sydney and this young family moved to Marlborough; Roscoe into Giesen winery, and them temporarily into this house. We are tasting Giesen's sauvignon blanc and then a late harvest version, thicker and chock-full of sunshine. More than 12,000 bottles of Giesen Estate sauvignon blanc are drunk each day in Australia alone. Roscoe is a bundle of enthusiasm - Australia's loss is New Zealand's gain and that, after all, is the story of Giesen winery for the three German brothers who established and still actively run what was, in its early days, the most southern winery in the world. Despite being a successful business, it still has a homely feel. Dining is a range of platters (between $NZ9.90 and $NZ24.90 for two people). We'd met at the winery and Roscoe had simply grabbed some bottles and said "Let's kick some dirt" and so, here we are studying vines cut to two canes rather than four, to get more into the fruit and tasting the landscape in these bottles. "The 'hotspot' moves around the valley each year," Roscoe says. "But this year we feel we are probably in that hotspot."

giesen.co.nz.

BRANCOTT ESTATE

Brancott Estate is the birthplace of Marlborough sauvignon blanc in this valley that was once covered with sheep farms. Everyone said it was too far south but vines were planted at Brancott in 1973, the first sauvignon blanc vines followed in 1979 and just a decade later it was judged to have produced the world's best sauvignon blanc wine. I am sitting in its contemporary, glassy restaurant, on a hill overlooking the vineyard now, looking down at that spot where those vines were planted. Lunch up here might be scallops or crayfish, various meat courses or today's risotto. The winery prides itself on its history as much as its contemporary story, with tutored wine tastings and its conservation work with the rare and endangered New Zealand native falcon.

brancottestate.com.

YEALANDS ESTATE WINES

Peter Yealands is in his office, which might be quite an event. Far more often the founder of Yealands Estate Wines is out on a tractor somewhere around the 1000ha property, perhaps working on the 25 wetlands he has been establishing for local birdlife, with hundreds of thousands of local flaxes planted. Peter is third-generation Marlborough, born and raised here, farming and shearing, and has lived by his motto "think boldly, tread lightly and never say it can't be done". Yealands Estate Wines is the embodiment of that - it is an enormous winery, with vines marching away in all directions, often as far as the eye can see. Peter says: "It is a carbon-neutral winery - the most sustainable winery in the world."

The wines produced from this are exported to more than 70 countries and Yealands welcomes almost 10,000 visitors a year to its cellar door. Some of them will take a map from reception and follow the 15km drive trail around the property, which I am doing now. With the window down, something odd happens. I hear classical music. For on big posts, speakers are booming it out over the vines. In his office, Peter tells me there's science behind the belief that playing music to vines improves their crop - and in his free-range chicken houses within earshot of the speakers, the eggs are 20 per cent bigger. Move those chooks out and another lot in, and the old lot's eggs get smaller, those of the new ones get bigger.

Small Babydoll sheep graze between the vines, keeping the grass down. "What we are trying to create is its both a farm and a home, and it's where people belong," Peter says.

There is, of course, sauvignon blanc but Peter also went against expert advice and planted 1000 tempranillo vines, and their wine has become a favourite. Peter looks like he's ready to go back outside.

yealandsestate.co.nz.

LOCHMARA LODGE AND ECO RETREAT

I wake in my comfortable room, high on the side of a hill at Lochmara Lodge and Eco Retreat, the world shrouded in fog. And, it's not like me, but I don't get up. I just pull the curtains right back and lie, propped up, watching the mist move somewhat mysteriously in the still morning. As the sun rises, it slashes the top of the fog, this gold band brushing against the stark white of the rest, over silver-black water.

Just lying here for a few minutes is fitting enough, as Lochmara Lodge, which climbs a hillside and can only be reached by a 15-minute boat trip from Picton, is a place of reflection in every sense.

There are the literal reflections of the ridges and trees around Queen Charlotte Sound but Lochmara is also full of art in all mediums, including owner Shayne Olsen's own carvings. Shayne and Louise Bright, who are Marlborough locals, built Lochmara Lodge in 1997.

In addition to the art and its art gallery, it is also home to the Lochmara Wildlife Recovery Centre, and particularly a Kakariki recovery program. Lochmara is breeding the yellow- crowned of these parakeets, which have declined with the loss of old-growth podocarp and beech forest since European settlement. There's a big walk-in aviary, and guests are welcome to join in as the birds are fed by hand once a day.

Apart from just wandering its trails, there's a glow-worm cave, bushman's camp, 90m flying fox, tight rope, hammocks, paths of crushed glass made by the bottles put through an oppressor, beach, kayaks, sculpture trail and usually an artist in residence. Around the place, there are kunekune pigs (small pigs that are ideal as they graze rather than dig for their food), alpacas and free-range chickens.

Its restaurant is excellent (I dine on very local salmon with Paula Martin, one of the welcoming staff) and at breakfast am treated to the most excellent coffee, all served in a restaurant that is as much art gallery. It is all close to the Queen Charlotte Track, to which a linking walking trail has been made, and overlooking Lochmara Bay in the Queen Charlotte Sound.

There are spa treatments in the Bath House, which also has two big baths that can be filled for couples to sit there, alongside one another, looking out at the view. And just at this moment, I don't need anything but that view.

lochmaralodge.co.nz.

WILDERNESS GUIDES

I am so pleased to see Wally Bruce. I am perhaps even more pleased to see a yellow sea kayak sticking out of the back of Shayne Olsen's boat. I am leaving Lochmara Lodge this morning, and the kayak has been brought out for me to paddle with Wally back to Picton across what turns out to be a dead-flat Queen Charlotte Sound. Surrounded by beautiful, forested high ridges and islands, we spot fluttering shearwaters, a couple of little blue penguins and eight New Zealand fur seals up on the rocks enjoying the morning sun. The kayak's good, the paddle's good, the morning's brilliant, Wally's great company - and has a story to tell. He is a guide with Picton-based Wilderness Guides, and not only talks keenly and with knowledge about the landscape, flora and fauna, but tells me that he originally set up Wilderness Guides but sold in 1999 to Steve and Juliet Gibbons. Juliet had been a writer for a local newspaper and went out with Wally (as I am now) and wrote about Wilderness Guides. Like it says in the ads, she liked it so much, she and Steve ended up buying it. They have a prime spot on the Picton waterfront but do more than sea kayaking. For they also have a series of options for the Queen Charlotte Track, a four-day walk trail which starts in Ship Cove, where Captain James Cook made his base in 1770, climbs to offer views of Marlborough Sound, and finishes in Anakiwa, closer to Picton. "It's an amazing track," says Wally. "You feel you are totally off the beaten track."

Wilderness Guides' many tour options include guided kayaking trips and kayak and gear rentals. There are guided tours from half and full days in Queen Charlotte Sound, and a full Ship Cove day in the Outer Queen Charlotte Sound. They also have multi-day trips, with accommodation. For walkers, there are independent or guided walks on the Queen Charlotte Track (from basic to "boutique", on which walkers are dropped off and picked up each day, with excellent overnight accommodation). There are various mountain-biking options (and hire) and riders can use the Queen Charlotte Track. There is also a combination of walking, kayaking and mountain biking "combo tours".

"How was it?" Steve asks as we land on the beach near their premises in Picton. Fine, but we were going the wrong way. It's over too soon - I would have rather been paddling out, and on.

wildernessguidesnz.com.

MARLBOROUGH TRAVEL

Marlborough Sounds is famous for its green-lipped mussels - and now for its salmon, too. And the tour company Marlborough Travel not only has day boat cruises to both mussel and salmon grounds (with a good taster and wine, of course), but wine tours in anything from a mini-coach to a luxury car. It can also supply cars and drivers for longer and personalised itineraries in South Island.

marlboroughtravel.co.nz.

Now here's a nice combo . . .

For those who really want to explore the wine region, there are rooms at Marlborough Vintners Hotel and apartment-style accommodation (up to three bedrooms) at Marlborough Vintners Retreat, both in the heart of the wine growing area. There is local bicycle hire and a bike touring map to follow around the vineyards of Marlborough - a good way to do it.

FACT FILE

See travel agents, many of whom have recently been trained by South Island tourism representatives and are focused on putting together packages there, as Air New Zealand begins its direct flights between Perth and Christchurch on December 4. And visit airnewzealand.co.nz.

More on Marlborough from Destination Marlborough: lovemarlborough.co.nz.

Information and planning: newzealand.com.