My wife and I are headed to New Zealand for a week and I’m looking for some winery (and food) recommendations. We’re spending 3 nights in Hawke’s Bay and 3 nights in Queentstown. As we live in Washington, DC, I’m interested in wines that are under the radar and would be difficult to taste or find in the states. Some of the wineries our friends have already recommended in Hawke’s Bay include Black Barn, Unison, Zeppelin and Sileni (also Mission, Church Road, Brookfields, Te Mata) so any feedback on those is also helpful.
Any and all recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Hi Bobby
Might also be worth posting this in the travel section
It’s been a while since we’ve been, but the names you mentioned are good/established (Zeppelin is new to me though). Te Awa would be another to add to your list - ‘Boundary’ used to be their fancy wine, but it looks like the range has been revamped.
Church Road - Tom might be the prestige wine, but their Church Road Reserve Chardonnay is the most brilliantly clichéd butterball chard. Awful if you don’t like the style, but a hoot if you can enjoy the style on occasions. Te Mata’s Elston is (IMO) more classy, but occasionally it’s fun not to be classy.
Newton-Forrest (Cornerstone) is well worth a try. (?) Newton is the grower and John Forrest the winemaker. Drinks well at 6-10 years old.
Mission Jewelestone range well worth trying, though in a way it may be the history/setup that leaves the most striking impression
Napier. A treat for the eyes. I never used to like art deco. It was (in UK) often tired & stuck out like a sore thumb. However build a large chunk of a city in that style, and maintain it, and all of a sudden you get quite stunning / inspiring architecture. Visually possibly my favourite city for the visuals.
Food. I’m too long away, but the range of fish is awesome, and a visit to the fishmongers left me amazed at the variety, and at prices I felt guilty about.
Bobby,
Have a great trip.
It has been a couple of years since I have been to Queenstown, but agree Saffron is worth a visit.
As for wineries, lunch at Amisfield or Gibbston wines is always good. For wines suggest Brennan in Gibbston, owned by Sean Brenmnan who happens top be a native New Yorker. Felton Rd for an excellent range of Pinots and pretty handy Chardonnay. Also the wines of Rippon and Peregrine Estate are worth seeking out.
If you are into golf, there are a few great tracks with the course at Millbrook a great challenge with stunning back drops.
In Hawkes Bay there are a few restaurants checking out.
Pacifica does a five course degustation for only 50$ which is pretty hard to beat for value and quality, best chance to get a real taste of the area.
Craggy Range and Elephant Hill both have excellent restaurants, although the head chef at Craggy has just changed and I’m not convinced he will match the quality that his predecessor was turning out.
Mister D or Milk and Honey for breakfast/lunch. For wine, Craggy Range spends a lot of money on making their wine, and the prices are amongst the highest now locally for their flagship releases their Le Sol is a bit sappy for my taste though. I had a 2005 Selini Chardonnay recently that was great so need to investigate them further. Te Mata has a good name and Elephant Hill tend to punch above their weight for the price. The top range from Sacred Hill is also fantastic.
Queenstown is far more tourist oriented with most restaurants being fairly forgettable. Rata cooks good food but the pricing is terrible compared to the rest of the country, I’ve heard good things about the restaurant at The Rees hotel (True South Dining Room) but the name puts me off wanting to give them my money.
In terms of wine… yes as above Felton Road is well worth checking out, I would also recommend Mt Edward, Rippon and perhaps Burn Cottage if you can swallow the biodynamic preaching that their branding pushes.
in queenstown there is a great Italian place with home made pasta and wood fired pizza called Bella Cucina- really friendly and if you ask them to direct you to the wine shop they allow you to BYO.
Schubert pinot is worth a look if you can find it
Terrific feedback on the food and wine. This has definitely helped our planning. Saffron is exactly the type of place we’ve been looking for and we’re visiting Amisfield for lunch as well.
Craggy Range is on the itinerary for lunch and I hope the food lives up to the previous chef’s reputation.
Thanks again to everyone for the info. My wife and I are in the Tahiti international terminal right now and having real trouble waiting to arrive in New Zealand!
We actually stayed at Craggy Range for a few nights, had a few meals at the restaurant, food was okay but prefer Black Barn Bristro. Too bad those “cheap” Armand Rousseau and Mugnier wines were gone from the Craggy Range restaurant wine list, I was hoping to raid the list. Te Mata is very near Craggy Range if I remember correctly. There is a little pizza place called Pipi’s at Havelock North which is interesting.
Enjoy your trip, I love NZ very much. I wish it’s a lot nearer so I can visit regularly, still a long 12 hrs flight from Singapore.
We had a brief visit at Craggy Range, ate lunch in their very nice restaurant, then climbed Te Mata (399 meters), which was gorgeous. Spent one night in Martinborough and had a nice time at the cellar door at Ata Rangi. Stayed at the Rising Trout B&B in Rotorua and had a great time; the innkeepers are gems. Hiked several km of the Rotorua Alpine Crossing, which was unworldly (site of Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie so I’m told). Had great mussels in Coromandel. Ate Pavlova, meat pies, whitebait all over the place. Went to a glow worm cave in Waitomo Caves complex. You’ll have a great time.
tentwentyfour: check out the website and search for Kent Baddeley in general to get an idea
Clearview winery
Mission Estate has had a decent restaurant for a long time
Craggy Range’s “Terroir” restaurant is, as you’d expect, a bit pretentious but has been one of the better formal dining places
Wineries: Te Mata, Clearview, Craggy Range, Stonecroft, Esk Valley. From your list, Mission and Church Road are pretty mainstream, Brookfields a bit more interesting (though I haven’t tasted in years)
Around Queenstown: Yes to Saffron for food, but also Amisfield. The other main food places go through swings and roundabouts, so best to just check Tripadvisor or something if nobody chimes in here with recent experience. Eichardt’s (flash boutique hotel) has been very good for “tapas” a couple of times for me, basically ordering one of everything and making it dinner.
Wineries: Amisfield, and then many of the other Otago ones are accessible if you’re up for a drive (Rippon and so forth)
In queenstown, the FergBakery does some great quality products, their burgers (fergburger where you’ll see a long line all day long) are over hyped and average tasting but their baked goods are excellent quality.
I’m late to your thread. For Hawkes Bay wineries I’d particularly look for Elephant Hill (maybe NZ’s best '13 Syrahs) and Unison.
For something on the Hawkes Bay wine trail read post 18 of:
A friend who is not on WBs but who knows Central Otage very well wrote to me to pass on:
Re eating: paramount (for breakfast/lunch/coffee or tea anytime) would be Provisions at Arrowtown; Relishes Café (all day) in Wanaka is also outstanding; for fine/evening dining a couple of those mentioned already - Saffron in Arrowtown & Rata in Queenstown are good; I’d add JSH (Jervois Steak House) in Queenstown to that list. Winery restaurants: I’d say Amisfield at Lake Hayes, and Carrick at Bannockburn. Plus the recently revamped (with new owners) No.7 Restaurant & Bar, 7 Cromwell Mall, Cromwell is currently hot. And if visiting Cromwell during the day on the way to Bannockburn and other Cromwell Basin wineries, I would suggest looking in at a butchery/cheesemonger/delicatessen called The Fridge, also in the Cromwell Mall.
Re wineries: suggestions made of Rippon, Peregrine, Brennan, Felton Road and Burn Cottage to visit I would second. And then add both Aurum and Quartz Reef as lovely wines and places to visit. Other wines perhaps not hitherto heard of to look out for: 2012 Doctor’s Flat Pinot Noir and 2013 Lowburn Ferry Home Block Pinot Noir; also anything from a tiny producer called Sato. Word too is that for those that knew what they were doing (and still have Riesling in their stable), 2015 in Central Otago could be a great Riesling year, and many of these are already on the cusp of release.
Top of your Central Otago list IMO should be Felton Road and Mt Difficulty, just about next door to each other.
I think it’s all largely been mentioned here. One notable Hawkes Bay absence in the lists above is Trinity Hill. The black label wines especially are strong. 2013 Homage may be the best (certainly among the best) Syrahs i’ve ever tasted out of NZ. Fully priced though.