Wineries To Visit New Zealand South Island

WINE TALK
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I want to make a day or two of checking out some wineries on the South Island. Any recommendations?

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Which region are you thinking about and what wine styles do you like?

In South Island, there are three major wine regions; Marlborough , North Canterbury and Central Otago.

Brodie

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I’ve never visited, but enjoyed the wines from Burn Cottage before. Ted Lemon of Littorai has involvement in this project I believe.

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We really loved Burn Cottage, Felton Road and Amisfield (where we had a great lunch as well).

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If you are in the Central Otago area, Chard Farm is a must! the wines and people there are top shelf.

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We were there in November of 2016, right after the election and right after the Cubs won the World Series.

Marlborough

We spent about 2 weeks in NZ, covering both islands. We did an overnight in Marlborough after we took the ferry over from Wellington. I wasn’t overly impressed with the area, but then again, I am not a big fan of Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. I actually enjoyed the other varietals from the area better, such as Riesling, which, at the time, little of it made it to the US. So that was my major discovery of the area. Honestly, I liked the SB out of Martinborough better.

  • Giesen - Was one of our first stops. It fit the bill of producing a lot of wines besides SB. Plus, you can eat there (a lot of wineries in NZ also seemed to provide food, and this one was pretty good).
  • Spy Valley - Honestly, this is the only other one I remember stopping at. To this day, I still enjoy their Pinots.
  • We may have stopped at a couple of other places, but they just weren’t memorable. Also, I think we were there early in the week on what may have been some off days for the area. Regardless, not much more to offer, and as I said, I was a bit disappointed. It’s not like going to Napa Valley.

Otago

From Marlborough, we hugged the west coast, until we cut over to Wanaka. It’s a beautiful lakeside town. It’s also the home for Rippon. From there we drove down to Queenstown, stopping a couple of times.

  • Rippon - One of the more high-end Pinot producers. Biodynamic, organic, etc., etc. Oy! Delicious Pinots. Beautiful setting - just stunning. Highly recommend.
  • Gibbston - I know we stopped there, but it was not memorable.
  • Amisfield - Great place to stop. Wonderful wines. Great place to also eat. I remember really liking their Rose.
  • There were other wineries we wanted to go to, but we bailed out of going to more wineries (BTW, we stayed several days up in Hawkes Bay, and by Queenstown, we were wined out, plus the weather was crappy, and I was tired of driving on the left side of the road) - Burn Cottage, Carrick, Mt. Difficulty, Terra Sancta, and Felton Road were all highly recommended. I can’t overemphasize how much wine we drank in two weeks. Even if we didn’t make it to some of these wineries, we managed to find some of the wines locally to taste.
  • In Queenstown was a tasting room. It’s one of those places you load up a debit card and go get tastes out of a machine. It was a well stocked wine shop, and it had lots and lots of wines you could sample. Highly recommend the place. It’s called The Winery. www.thewinery.co.nz

Old threads:

NZ is one of those places I would go back to in a heartbeat. It’s also one of the places I would move to in a heartbeat if it wasn’t so expensive - and they would let me in. One of my favorite vacations.

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We will be starting in Queenstown and working our way north after spending some time around Te Anau. Will finish in Nelson. Most of the trip will be hiking and then want to do a day or two of wineries. I think Reds and Otago are more what we are looking for. Not much for Sav Blanc.

Rippon sounds great. Will try and make it there.

Are reservations required for tastings in NZ or is it like Australia where you just turn up?

We are also checking it out as a place to retire too. Wife is a dual citizen Aussie/US. Not sure we want to retire to Sydney/Australia, but Aussies can live in New Zealand and buy property. We like the universal healthcare idea better than medicare.

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We did not have any reservations. But if you also want to eat there, a reservation is recommended. Most of what we drank in Otago was Pinot and Rosé.

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+1 for Rippon, not to be missed. Also another +1 for Felton Road. Also, stop by Mt. Difficulty for a tasting and a terrific lunch! So many more to choose from, great region. And no reservations required (except for that lunch I mentioned)

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Thanks for the recommendations. Sounds like starting at Rippon and working back to some of the places around Cromwell will work.

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Greetings. Spotted your thread ‘bscott’ so I’ll pop down a few thoughts.

Don’t forget distances and roads when you are planning your trip. Queenstown to Nelson for example will be ten and a half to eleven hours. Even our main highways can have sections of winding roads where your speed will be much reduced so allow yourself time. The trip up the West Coast on State Highway 6 from Queenstown to Nelson is certainly like that but more than compensated for by the breathtaking scenery. It can be very quiet on the roads on the West Coast outside of the major holiday periods, so if you pull over to explore/hike/take photos it can make it easy to forget which side of the road you are driving on as you may not have that marker of other cars passing. Remember to drive on the left hand side of the road.

Thinking about Central Otago the two major visitor destinations are Queenstown & Wanaka. Each offers a large range of activities with excellent restaurants & cafes. A note though: the road into Queenstown can be a bit of a bottleneck for traffic, so if you have a day out visiting wineries and have a restaurant booking, do allow yourself sufficient time to get back. It’s about 45 mins drive from Cromwell to Queenstown but this can stretch to an hour in peak times (often exacerbated by slow driving campervans).

A number of good winery restaurants: Amisfield has already been mentioned and is close to Queenstown. Carrick and Mt Difficulty are in Bannockburn (about 5-6km from Cromwell) while The Bannockburn Hotel is also located there. This last not only has great food and service but an excellent wine range that is strong on local producers (often with small parcels of museum releases), as well as well thought out imports.

There are several sub-regions in Central Otago (us locals just call it Central) from a wine perspective. Gibbston Valley which is closest to Queenstown, Bannockburn near Cromwell, Lowburn & Pisa (on the road from Cromwell to Wanaka), Northburn & Bendigo (on the opposite side of Lake Dunstan from Lowburn & Pisa), Wanaka (which includes the Queensbury sub-district) and Alexandra. In terms of cellar doors, the greatest pickings are in the Gibbston Valley, Bannockburn areas and in and around Cromwell.

Felton Road, Rippon and Burn Cottage have all been mentioned but note that these are all now by appointment only
also Burn Cottage tastes at their winery in the Cromwell industrial estate and not at the vineyard itself. All are well worth making an appointment for, and if you do get to Rippon don’t overlook their marvellous Gamay produced from now 30 year old vines! In terms of appointment only I should also add Prophet’s Rock in Bendigo to that list, the wines are also excellent.

Given it’s proximity to Queenstown the Gibbston Valley can be quite ‘touristy’ and that can be particularly evident at Gibbston Valley Winery which has lots of bus parking. They are one of the founding fathers of the local industry and winemaker Chris Keys is making some very smart wines. Chard Farm has also been mentioned and the tight road in to the place deters the busloads. Always guaranteed a great welcome and stylish wines. Don’t overlook Kinross which is nearby. A restaurant/cafe with accomodation and acts as a selling place for a collection of small local wineries that do not have a cellar door with Valli, Wild Irishman, Coal PIt, Hawkshead and their own Kinross wines available there. Amisfield have had a couple of changes of winemaker over the last couple of years, so I’m not as up to date on their wines. Brennan worth a look too.

In the Cromwell area in another part of the industrial estate you’ll find Quartz Reef run by Rudi Bauer. Super Pinot and top notch methode traditionelle as well as a GrĂ»ner Veltliner recognising Rudi’s Austrian heritage. They are near the two large contract winemaking facilities Vinpro & Cowco so when you see their signage you’ll know you’re on track. On the edge of Cromwell you’ll find Misha’s Vineyard cellar door with another good lineup to try. Not far from Cromwell on the Wanaka Road is Domaine Thomson. The owners have a toe in both Central Otago & Burgundy with the local vineyard being biodynamically farmed.

Bannockurn is a bit of a hub for cellar doors. Felton Road itself has Te Kano, Mt Difficulty, Gate Two, Desert Heart, Domain Road, Terra Sancta and Felton Road Winery off the top of my head so you could easily lose an afternoon there. As well as the obvious Felton Road Winery I’ve tasted some cracking wines from Te Kano, Mt Diff and Domain Road in recent times; I don’t get to see the others often for some reason
I only have one liver. Over on the Cairnmuir side of Bannockburn (as you drive over the bridge coming from Cromwell into Bannockburn turn left) there is the aforementioned Carrick which not only has a great restaurant but also some very smart wines incl some in the more lo-fi & orange scheme of things. Across the Road is Akarua which has recently been purchased by a large overseas interest so I’m not sure what will happen to their cellar door? There is also the by appointment only Dicey Wines. Brothers Matt & James Dicey who have been in the local industry for years, now doing their own thing. As well as the usual great Pinot & Riesling (and Chardonnay) they also produce Gamay & Chenin Blanc.

Other than the appointment only wineries mentioned, the majority have regular opening hours which you can check on their websites and just rock up as you will. Some free, some may have a small tasting charge refundable on purchase, or waived if they like you.

New Zealand Winegrowers has a website that may be useful in your planning and reading.

Various bike hire places in the district and there’s a very popular bike path that runs from Cromwell out to Bannockburn, up the hill past Carrick and on to Cornish Point (one of the single vineyard wines for Felton Road Winery) before following the edge of Lake Dunstan to the little township of Clyde and even on to Alexandra if one wished. Open for a bit over a year and has very quickly become super popular. An option if you need some exercise to burn off the excesses of dining and wine tasting. Don’t forget your sunblock though
sunburn happens more quickly here than in the northern hemisphere.

Cheers
Mark

PS:One small pointer in the use of American English vs Kiwi English. If an American is angry about something you will say that ‘i’m pissed!’ We say I’m pissed off. In NZ the term ‘pissed’ by itself means drunk/inebriated etc etc. Such are the vagaries of language.

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Wow Mark, great write up. Thank so much for the info.

The biggest chunk of our time will be spent day hiking for most of the day through Kepler, Milford Sound, Mt Cook, Abel Tasman, etc
 We had planned on doing Hollyford Tramp, but found it would eat up most of our time with jet lag and travel up to Nelson. So, no there will be noproblem with getting exercise. Just working on a couple of days of wine tasting and where to eat/drink at the end of our hikes.

Your information is super helpful and will make some bookings.

Regarding vernacular, pissed vs pissed:-) I’ve been married to an Aussie for 30 years so am well versed. This is my wife and her brothers 50th birthday trip and he is coming over from Sydney to hike with us.

Cheers!

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Well Mark has you covered. A few extra thoughts

  1. If you want to taste at Felton Rd, book via their website and try and get an afternoon tasting. This was you can have lunch at Mt Difficulty - worth it
  2. Amisfield is a “destination” restaurant and needs to be booked well in advance. A bit of drive out of Queenstown but a top rated NZ restaurant.
  3. In Cromwell, visit Aurum, small family run place. Wine Maker is Burgundian and she is married to a kiwi. Nice wines and a very personal experience.
  4. Rippon in Wanaka is one of the most beautiful locations for a winery any where in the world. Wines are very good but not (IMO) in the very top echelon of Kiwi wines. Worth visiting
  5. Go to Arrowtown some nice places to eat there and very pretty

Brodie

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You’re behind the times Brodie. Aurum is no more with the cellar door facility and winery taken over by Matt Connell. There will be Aurum wines in the market for a wee while yet though as existing stock is sold through. Lucie & Brook have started a new label called O Naturel Wines across the road though there is no cellar door as yet. Newer plantings that were destined for Aurum but now form the focus for their new label.

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I don’t think Valli has been mentioned, also Central Otago. Terrific wines, esp Pinot, and really nice people.

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Brodie, you stated Rippon is not at the top of the NZ wine heap. Regardless, will make it there at the view with a glass of wine in your hand looks amazing! Brodie and Mark, what wineries would you put at the very top if you had to pick 2 or 3?

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This is very personal choice as there is quite a lot of wines that are really good. Personally Bell Hill from North Canterbury and Ata Rangi from Martinborough would be my top two. For my personal taste, the Central Otago Pinots tend to a bit bigger and riper and darker fruited than I prefer.

brodie

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Hi Mark, yup I am definitely behind the times. Any ideas on where are the existing stocks might be available?

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This is where Valli can be tasted

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A majority of my favorites have already been mentioned (shout out to Felton Road where nearly 20 cellar workers/interns helped get our mini-RV unstuck from their “RV Parking”), but I would very much add Black Estate in North Canterbury.

Additionally, Pyramid Valley and Bell Hill up there are also quite good.

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