Marlborough & North Canterbury to the Hurunui

This is dry country that stretches from the deep gravel soils of the Wairau Plain in Marlborough to the Hurunui where the rainfall never gets above an average 1600mm a year, even in the steep country. The north-eastern tip of the region, at Cape Campbell, registers slightly more than one day of rain a week.

Heating degree days are between 2000 and 3000 annually, and the Blenheim region receives as much bright sunshine as any other region in the country – over 2400 hours. Frost risk is low in the coastal areas, but there is hail risk in the Blenheim area.

Natural vegetation is predominantly grassland, both lowland and subalpine, with lowland mixed beech forest at the coastal margins of the Sounds in the north, and north and south of Kaikoura township.

The Wairau Plain is the one dominant winegrowing region in New Zealand, while the rest of Kaikoura is noted for an impressive range of seafood and game. 

Contemporary, distinctive regional foods include: possums, red deer, hare, boar, goat, chamois, salmon and trout, squid and hapuku. Farms produce dry country sheep meat (mutton especially), freshwater koura, fresh water salmon, green lipped mussels, cherries, saffron, wasabi, garlic, manuka and vipers bugloss honey and wine (sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, riesling, pinot gris, gewürztraminer, sparkling wine, chardonnay).