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Kidnappers Cliffs and Hawkes Bay Sound Intimidating, But Make Great Wines

All this week, Special Jaunted Correspondent Eric Rosen takes us on a whirlwind field trip to New Zealand’s Other Wine Regions. Sure, now that it’s summer down there they might be sipping on those tropical, grassy Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc’s we’re all familiar with. But as Rosen tells us, there’s more to New Zealand wine than Marlborough, and much of it is within an hour of New Zealand’s major cities.

Situated about halfway between Auckland and Wellington along New Zealand’s temperate east coast, Hawkes Bay is a region of stunning natural beauty, quirky tourist attractions, and the highest number of New Zealand’s premium wineries—and it has the awards to prove it, especially for the Bordeaux-style reds produced there as well as the up-and-coming Syrahs setting oenophiles across the globe atwitter.

Getting there from Auckland is rather easy: it’s either a straight four-hour drive, or a quick 45-minute regional flight in a small prop plane. We were half-thrilled and half-freaked out to find that there wasn’t even any security for the flight. We simply pulled up to the airport about half an hour before our flight on Air New Zealand, threw our bags on the conveyor belt, and waited in the public area for the flight number to be called. Then hopped on the plane. That was it.

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