Marlborough
Marlborough produces more sauvignon blanc than anywhere else in New Zealand, and it shows in the tidy rows of vines that cover the valley floors around Blenheim. Just north, the Marlborough Sounds form a maze of drowned river valleys, their ridgelines running down into the sea in a pattern you only really appreciate from the water. Combining a few days tasting wine with time exploring the Sounds by boat is, for us, the ideal way to see this corner of the South Island.