Cloudy Bay is located at the northeast of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

, to the south of the Marlborough Sounds

Marlborough Sounds

The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels at the north of the South Island of New Zealand...

. The area lends its name to one of the best known New World white wines (Cloudy Bay Vineyards

Cloudy Bay Vineyards

Cloudy Bay Vineyards is a winery in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. The winery is primarily noted for its Sauvignon Blanc wines, and have played an important pioneering role in establishing New Zealand's and Marlborough's reputation. Cloudy Bay's first commercial vintage was produced in 1985...

 Sauvignon Blanc) although the grapes used in production of that wine are grown in the Marlborough wine region further inland.

The bay faces Cook Strait

Cook Strait

Cook Strait is the strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It connects the Tasman Sea on the west with the South Pacific Ocean on the east....

, stretching north-south over a distance of 30 kilometres from the southern extremity of the Marlborough Sounds (Port Underwood) to White Bluffs. Along its length is the delta

River delta

A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...

 of the Wairau River

Wairau River

The Wairau River is one of the longest rivers in New Zealand's South Island. It flows for 170 kilometres from the Spenser Mountains , firstly in a northwards direction and then northeast down a long, straight valley in inland Marlborough.The river's lower reaches are noted for the surrounding...

, which reaches the sea at two points. The southern of these forms an entrance to the Big Lagoon, just to the north of White Bluffs.

Archaeological excavations at Wairau Bar indicate that Māori were living there in the 'moa-hunter' period (c.AD1000-1300). Cloudy Bay was named by Captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 on 7 February 1770. Sealers first visited about 1826 and set up stations at Port Underwood, the deep inlet at the north of the bay. They were followed by whalers with John Guard

John Guard

John 'Jacky' Guard was an English convict sent to Australia who was one of the first European settlers in the South Island of New Zealand, working as a whaler and trader.-Early life:...

 setting up a whaling station at Port Underwood in 1828. By 1840 there were approximately 150 Europeans in the area, probably the largest concentration in the South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

 at that time. On 17 June 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi

Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....

 was signed by South Island chiefs at Horahora-Kakahu Island, just off-shore from Port Underwood.

See also

• New Zealand wine
  New Zealand wine
  New Zealand wine is largely produced in ten major wine growing regions spanning latitudes 36° to 45° South and extending . They are, from north to south Northland, Auckland, Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury/Waipara and Central...