COVER STORY
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Our last night in Blenheim was spent on the stunning “The Shack” of Cloudy Bay. It’s an impressive glass (dream) house in front of the vineyards adorned with plants and a garden of oranges and persimmons, among others. We had a barbecue of New Zealand’s finest meats paired with fresh greens picked from their farm. Sunsets in Blenheim come around 7pm, which was the perfect setting for an outdoor dinner by the vineyards. Never-ending bottles of Cloudy Bay wines, from vintages to the new ones were all served to our hearts’ desires. The night couldn’t be any more perfect than this. Since it was getting chilly, we moved to the long dining table of the house. Our hosts, showed us the ‘secret’ bar and cellar inside the house. We got more excited and helped ourselves to the most expensive bottle of Hennessy Cognac, the Paradis. What a night that was!
As the trip drew to a close, I couldn’t help but fall in love with Blenheim and Marlborough all over again. I’m honestly thinking of going back for a vacation—if you’re looking for a place where you can enjoy lots of wine (paired with great food and cheese!) and learn about the process of making wine from start to finish, this is a great place to visit. It’s less touristy, more peaceful, and has more quaint sceneries compared to Queenstown. I wanted to bring home all the bottles I could, specially those not yet in Manila, like the Pelorus, the Rosè, Te Koko, and Te Wahi—if only—but I settled on buying just about 10 bottles to give to friends as pasalubong. It was already a hassle bringing it home, so I'd like to thank my newfound friends for taking a bottle or two for me back to Manila. It was indeed a wonderful trip and experience. Was it worth the two plane stops and a total of 12 hours of flight? My answer is a resounding yes. Cheers!