Renwick: Wine Routes, Tastings and Local History

Renwick combines wine experiences with a history rooted in the town and its surroundings. You can explore the landscape by bike or on foot along car-free routes; the museum and library offer insights into the region’s past. Whether you’d like to devote your stay primarily to wineries or local history, you’ll find a range of ideas for your trip here.

Wineries on Routes Around Renwick

The Heritage Trail near Renwick describes a car-free walking and cycling route as a popular way to visit nearby wineries and taste Marlborough wines. If this kind of exploration appeals to you, you can choose to walk or cycle. No specific distance for the entire trail is given; the Bike-&-Sip route, by contrast, provides a separate, stated distance.

This route through Rapaura and Renwick is 6 km long and passes nine wineries. There are also stops for food, art and cold drinks along the way. This means the route offers more than wine tastings. When planning an outing, you can use the 6 km distance and the nine wineries as a guide, without confusing these details with the Heritage Trail, which is described differently.

Another option is Bike 2 Wine, an offering run by Olde Mill House B&B in Renwick. More than 20 wineries offering tastings are located within a 5 km radius and can be reached by bike. This figure refers to the wineries within that radius and should not be confused with the length of the 6 km Bike-&-Sip route.

Pinot Gris and Tastings

Gibson Bridge Wines is a family-owned winery in Renwick. It covers 6 acres and has 5,500 vines. A wine experience is offered in the Tasting Studio, which opened in 2007. A visit therefore provides a specific insight into the work of an individual winery, while the cycling routes take in several wineries and other stops along the way.

Gibson Bridge Wines specialises in Pinot Gris: the winery mainly grows this variety and offers ten Pinot Gris wines. It also has a small quantity of Gewürztraminer. If you enjoy exploring wines by grape variety, you’ll find a particularly wide selection of Pinot Gris here and can also try the Gewürztraminer. Along with the tasting opportunities in the surrounding area, this offers different ways to plan a stay focused on Marlborough wines.

Discover Local History at the Museum

The Renwick Museum collects and exhibits the history of Renwick, Marlborough and the surrounding areas. Its special exhibitions include topics related to Renwick and the region. The Watson Memorial Library complements this focus with part of the original collection assembled by Herbert Watson almost 100 years ago. It also holds books by early settlers, children’s literature and one of the best collections of School Journals outside the National Library.

The diverse collection also offers plenty to talk about for families interested in local history: children’s literature sits alongside books by early settlers and historical journals. The museum also assists with research into Renwick family history and has information on more than 700 families. Visitors who would like to explore their own family connections can include this in their visit.

A Heritage Trail guide from the museum offers a historical walk through Renwick, focusing on the town’s history beyond the exhibition spaces. Renwicktown was a Presbyterian settlement and had the first church of any denomination in the Wairau. The town’s history therefore extends beyond individual exhibits and also encompasses its religious heritage.

More places to explore: Canvastown, Grovetown, Te Rawa, Portage, Havelock, Raetihi, Picton and Kenepuru Head.

For the wider travel overview: Marlborough District.