NZ travel: Cloudy Bay's Secret Shack Escape luxury getaway in Marlborough

Cloudy Bay's Nicky Hewett, on board Voila, the winery's Voila, 16.5m Beneteau Oceanis sailing yacht. Photo / Jacqui Gibson

Its vibrant, aromatic intensity is vineyards and sunshine in a bottle. From here on the private lawn of Cloudy Bay, perhaps Marlborough's most famous winery, the Richmond Ranges are a mauve frame on a sun-burnished valley. Hugging the range, the Wairau River tumbles over pebbles and boulders on a course to Cloudy Bay and out to sea.

Surrounding me like a verdant green cape are rows of grapes, interspersed by rolling strips of emerald grass. At my back is a towering, rust-clad edifice with a roofline that vaults high into the clear, blue Blenheim sky. Just a few minutes' walk from where I stand, down a gravel path through a small stand of trees, is Cloudy Bay's cellar door and winery on Jacksons Rd.

Cloudy Bay's luxury accommodation The Secret Shack. Photo / Jacqui Gibson

My Cloudy Bay host hands me a glass of 2021 sauvignon blanc. A bouquet of fresh grapefruit, passionfruit and lime whooshes up to meet me as I take a sip. Zesty fruit flavours spread across my tongue – do I detect stone fruit?

The minerality, said to provide balance, is there. But does it really resemble licking wet river stones? Regardless, I'm taken by this intense, citrus wine. Marlborough's sauvignon blanc is said to be one of the most sought after white wines in the world and New Zealand's most famous tipple. Right here, as my host tops up my glass, I attest to being its latest convert.

For decades, people travelling to Marlborough have made a beeline to the region's wineries, restaurants and culinary festivals for a mouthful of the region's famous drop.

At Cloudy Bay, where the international craze for New Zealand sauvignon blanc began with the launch of its 1985 vintage, summertime is a flurry of on-site sales, wine tastings and warm breezy afternoons shuttling fizzing Pelorus rosé, freshly-shucked oysters and Cloudy Bay clams to customers relaxing on bean bags outdoors. Yet even in winter Marlborough enchants – the sapphire skies, the chilly air, the abundant sunshine and the welcoming cellar doors.

Cloudy Bay guide Jimmy Rawdon. Photo / Jacqui Gibson

Couples nibble soft cheese and sip silky pinot noir as they hover over cosy fires; weekend boaties sail the glassy passages of the Marlborough Sounds; and out-of-towners seek both luxury and relaxation in sumptuous lodgings with private chefs and vineyard views.

So bountiful are the options in Marlborough that I sign up for a Cloudy Bay experience called the Secret Shack Escape in an attempt to try it all. Touring the Marlborough vineyard in a renovated 1985 Land Rover Defender, I take in the sheer scale of Cloudy Bay's Marlborough operation before stopping at the foot of the vines to run the stony soil between my fingers.

At 27,000 hectares, the Marlborough vineyard is approaching the size of the Champagne appellation, explains my guide, Jimmy Rawdon, squatting among rows of golden grapes. On a hill overlooking the Mustang parcel, he offers me a glass of bubbly Pelorus NV suggesting I might pair it with something summery like päua patties and a fistful of grilled asparagus.

Nodding at the suggestion and the wine's apple-crispness, my tummy howls for the promised cheese- and fruit-tasting platter coming next as a thin tissue of cloud floats slowly across the sky.

Such talk encourages a ravenous appetite. After a day sipping wine, snacking on tasty finger food and breathing in the season's invigorating air, I'm excited to return to The Shack, Cloudy Bay's architecturally designed guest house where I'm camped on the second floor. Inside, a team prepares a wine-paired dinner that'll be served between stands of fresh flowers on The Shack's green copper banquet table.

The River Room at Cloudy Bay's luxury accommodation The Secret Shack. Photo / Jacqui Gibson

As darkness closes in, I start with fresh oysters topped in an icy Pelorus-and-grapefruit granita by the open fire. Salmon tartare and a glass of sauvignon blanc follows as I'm seated.

Candles flicker and splay twinkling light through glassware, while Cloudy Bay's Marlborough pinot noir is poured and tender pink slivers of lamb are served on a bed of baba ganoush risotto, semi-dried tomato, pak choi and a tangy stracciatella labneh.

To finish, I savour a voluminous glass of earthy Te Wahi pinot noir, from Cloudy Bay's Central Otago winery, and pick over a glossy donut of dark chocolate mousse dressed in tiny delicate pansies. Marlborough's flavours have utterly won me over, so I bid my hosts goodnight and fall into bed.

The next day shines as bright as the first, prompting me to rug up and make my way by minivan to the Picton marina. The skipper, crew and chef are hauling gear on to Voila, Cloudy Bay's 16.5m Beneteau Oceanis sailing yacht.

But today is more than a jaunt across the water in clement conditions. Cruising Grove Arm in the Marlborough Sounds, we're joined by two rare Hector's dolphins that dart across our wake and, later, a harem of chocolate-brown New Zealand fur seals lolling on the ocean surface going nowhere fast.

Cloudy Bay's Nicky Hewett, on board Voila, the winery's Voila, 16.5m Beneteau Oceanis sailing yacht. Photo / Jacqui Gibson

From the galley comes a constant outpouring of treats – fluffy pikelets blobbed with jam and cream, purple-fleshed figs capped in goat's cheese, nuts and a drizzle of mānuka honey, towers of smashed avocado and salmon (for gouging at with small rounds of buttery toast) and warm bowls of homemade pumpkin soup. All this, while under sail or moored in Kumutoto Bay sipping glasses of Cloudy Bay's crisp sauvignon blanc.

I could immerse myself in Marlborough's beautiful outdoors forever, but alas my stay draws to an end. Finally, I pack my suitcase and close the door on the elevated vineyard views from my bedroom.

Outside, the morning light flutters and the cool breeze strengthens. But I look forward to returning to this place – if only in my mind – when I eventually get home, unscrew the cap of the Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc that's resting in my handbag and pour myself a chilled glass of Marlborough in a bottle.

CHECKLIST
MARLBOROUGH
DETAILS
The Shack, Cloudy Bay's luxury guest house sleeps up to eight people. Book a vineyard tour by car (or helicopter), a tailored wine tasting, a chef-prepared private lunch or dinner and a half- or whole day sailing adventure in the Marlborough Sounds on Cloudy Bay's luxury yacht. cloudybay.co.nz
ONLINE
marlboroughnz.com/visit