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Rock Ferry Wines, Blenheim, New Zealand

I’d never heard of Rock Ferry wines, but when our friend suggested we go the vineyard for lunch we were happy to oblige! Our friend had decided to try the top listings on Tripadvisor for her local town, Blenheim, and this was one of them.  Rock Ferry produce organic wines and the cellar door and café are in the converted former home of the owners.  It was a busy Saturday, all the more so probably with it being a long holiday weekend, and we booked a table to secure our lunch!

We sat in the downstairs restaurant, close to the fire and a fine view out of the window, across the vines, to the Marlborough hills.  We chose to order our food then do a wine tasting while waiting for the food, giving us the chance to decide on a wine for accompanying our lunch.

It was so busy, that the lady taking us through the tasting disappeared mid-tasting, leaving us just part way though the tasting when the food arrived!  So, we didn’t quite get to make the informed wine choice as intended, but selected a bottle of their Trig Hill Central Otago Riesling and it accompanied our meal beautifully.

The star dish was the Herb marinated chicken on creamy lentils with bacon, kale and roasted pumpkin ($24.50).  It had us all trying to figure out what was in the dish and how we could re-create it – a dish that inspires is always a sign of a great food!

RockFerrySteakSammie

Steak Sandwich on rye

Star dish - chicken

Star dish – chicken

Salmon dish

Salmon dish

The Kiwi enjoyed the Roasted Aoraki salmon served on roasted winter veg and durham wheat with a preserved lemon and yoghurt dressing ($26.50).  My Steak open sandwich with roasted truffle oil mushrooms and beetroot on rye break with a spinach and anchovy cream (without feta, as I can’t eat it, $26.50) was delicious but didn’t stop me from getting menu envy of the two other dishes served to our table.

The desserts were tempting enough to see

Dessert delights

Dessert delights

the Kiwi order one of his own – his usual response to dessert is “I’ll have a spoon”.  I had the lemon tart, and it was spectacularly citrus and all you’d hope a Lemon tart to be.  The other two had the orange and walnut cake and were left very content.

I have heard of Rock Ferry now, turns out Tripadvisor was right, it’s definitely worth a visit, the wines are certainly worth tasting and a lunch here will leave you satisfied and happy.

Rock Ferry Wines, Cellar door & café, 80 Hammerichs Road, Blenheim – +64 (0)3 579 6431

Posted in Restaurant Review, Travel.

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