Na Clachan wine tours Easter Sunday, April 21…read more We found this tour company through Cruise Critic recommendation. Our ship docked about ten minutes from town and we took the provided ship's shuttle to the parking lot of the town's tourist information Office. We Met Chris, two other ship passengers and two people on a world tour. Wineries were about 20 minutes outside of Picton and there were plenty to choose from. Chris took us to six wineries where the predominant regional wine was Souvinon Blanc with a smattering or other whites, some Roses and some Pinot Noir. We liked the Pinots best, a much lighter product than our favorite Oregons. We found Chris to be both knowledgeable and gregarious, fun to be with. We found some of the wines a bit repetitive but their take on Pinots exciting. Our tour ended with a visit to a chocolate factory then a trip to a high lookout to photograph our ship. We found the experience fun, entertaining and informative, our six person tour far and away better than the 50 passenger busses from the ship we kept skirting. We highly recommend Na Clatchen for your Picton adventure. PS. Neglected to say tour included stop at winery for lunch which was excellent. Sometimes we were a" wined out" but this break for lunch revived us....until the chocolate. Chocolate we could easily bring on the ship, wine was questionable.

From the owner: Small group wine tours with knowledgeable tour guides. We introduce each winery and provide…read moreinformation on growing grapes and the Marlborough region during the tour. We DONT have a set timed itinerary to ensure a relaxed tour

For $79 pp we purchased a wine tour wristband @ were given a map.. Vans stopped at 26 wineries &…read moreliquor themed venues. Vans came every :30. It took :20 minutes to get to Blenheim for our first winery. A wine museum, gift shop, gin distillery, confectionery, vine village, beer garden ... we drove through magnificent wine country with rolling hills, sheep & of course vineyards. Our driver was knowledgeable sharing info about the area, wines & stops. There were people running to the van @ he was frequently running late. We had time to stop at two wineries for :30 and one for an hour lunch. At the end of the day they checked that everyone made it back to the port. We were told that we shouldn't have an issue getting lunch at any stop. We wouldn't need reservations today. However, there were cruise ships tours & Viacor tours that tied up many kitchens & wine tastings. We would have like to make more stops.

We spent a fantastic day visiting wineries, amazing lunch, and chocolate factory with Cam and his…read moreteam on our private tour arranged by Hop 'n Grape. We were picked up in a great coach at the port (shore excursion) and taken to several wineries in Blenheim and the Marlborough area. We had an amazing lunch and tasting at one local vineyard they put together for us. Additionally, we had many great tastings throughout the day, learned about New Zealand's wine making industry and living in this beautiful part of the country. Cam made this visit so personal and tailored it to our group. We met with winemakers and a local brewmaster. If you go to wine country, Hop n Grape will not disappoint. It was one of the highlights of our trip to New Zealand

"Explore Marlborough Wineries By Bike" was a ship tour offered to us while in the Port of Picton…read more We tend to opt for a small group tour while in port, but this caught our eye. It would be a bit physical, scenic and at the same time some fun comparing New Zealand's wine country to our own here in California. This tour had to be one of the best wine tours we've been on. Our guide, Andy picked us up at the ship in a comfortable small van, and narrated along the way as we drove inland to where "Explore Marlborough Wine Tours" has their gear and office. When we arrived we were all able to outfit ourselves with the correct height bicycle, set the correct seat height, get situated with correct helmets, learn the gears, and given safety vests. The bicycles were like new and top notch with a basket for your belongings and a bottle of water & a treat. We went over all safety instructions, and tested our bicycles prior to commencing our ride. We had three really nice winery stops and really enjoyed the ride. The narrative by Andrew when we stopped in the vineyards was so great and super informative with the field harvesting process. Our last stop on the bike ride was at Mahi Winery, which was our favorite. Beautiful grounds, beautiful architecture, beautiful wines! Unbelievably hospitable and generous with their wine, and the fantastic lunch that was prepared by their fabulous chef "Marcia". I'm still trying to replicate the potato green bean dish, the corn with cucumber salad, and the recipe used for the salmon. Oh my gosh it was incredible! After the fantastic lunch, we all jumped in the van and drove back to our starting point for anyone that wanted to purchase wine before driving back to the ship. Sometimes you wonder about your choices of excursions, but at the end this was a no brainer and one of our favorite excursions. We highly recommend this tour, and would probably do it again if it was in our backyard.

From the owner: Explore Marlborough Wine Tours runs guided biking and driving wine tours of the Marlborough wine…read moreregion.

We'd mistakenly booked the wrong day, but they were accommodating…read more It's a beautiful site. I thought the restaurant is a little pricey. The beef tartare was bland. The fish was excellent. The cheese board was $$$. Wine amazing. Not much of a gift shop, which was a little disappointing.

Owned by Louis Vuitton. Beautiful beautiful grounds, a lovely restaurant and wine tasting room. We…read morestarted by sharing their fresh shucked oysters and a charcuterie platter. Everything was delicious, service was knowledgeable & impeccable. I enjoyed my Sauvignon Blanc tasting sample & my husband a Riesling. Our oysters were icy cold & perfect. The charcuterie hit the spot! A wonder stop, lunch & wine experience. We left with wine.

We stopped by for lunch and a little wine! Great outdoor…read moreseating. Wonderful menu for lunch and DESSERT!!! We also enjoyed several of their wines. Service was excellent and helpful. I highly recommend.

Awesome Really…read morechatty friendly staff and very knowledgeable with great wines. There is an excellent restaurant which we had to give a miss and a little gift shop area.

Hubby and I came here for a late lunch and wine tasting after several people recommended it. When…read morewe arrived, there was no one at the hostess station to greet us, or inquire of our visit. There was a large group of seniors, all taking up the seats in front of the windows, and the beautiful view. I had to seek someone out, who seemed rather clueless as to whether they were serving lunch or not, even though it was at least an hour before the time stated on the sign when they they stop serving. Finally, a young woman came up and told me they had run out of food because of the bus group. Now it seems to me that if you are set up to accommodate large groups, you have enough food on hand to NOT run out. That just seems like very poor management. We decided to leave at this point and didn't even bother to taste the wines. I will not buy any more of their wines when I return home either.

Nothing could have been better! The service, the view, the food and the tasting. We arrived at…read morelunch time and they must have had an eye out as the shuttle rolled right up as we got out of the car. Moments later we were seated in the dinning room over looking the mountains, vineyard and with the mountains of the North Island in the far distance. We had a marvelous lunch whilst our server gave us a wine map and noted places that we might enjoy seeing while we were in the area. After lunch we had a splendid tasting and took home some real gems. It was one of the best wine experiences we ahem ever had. We took the falcon trail down and learned about the birds and who they are helpful to the vintners and the vines.

We went here while visiting some of the wineries in the area. We were based out of Blenheim, and…read morethis winery was about as far from there as you could get, but I wanted to come to this one because I remember seeing one of their wines at the store and thought they had a cool name for their business. We went there and sampled some of their wines. I got to try 5 different ones; they charge for this but not much. As we talked to them, we learned how they got their name. There is some secret defense facility that I guess supports spying somewhere nearby. They had fun with it though and used it to set their business apart. Their wines had messages in morse code on their labels, and they had a huge poster from a James Bond movie on the wall. The setting was nice. It's not on the main road, so it was very quiet and peaceful. In the end, we bought a bottle of the merlot/malbec, which was very good and is only available there. You can buy a case, which they will ship for free, but for them a case is 12 bottles. Too bad - if it had been 6, we would have done it. Bottom line, this place was great. If James Bond drank wine, this it what he'd drink. I couldn't have asked for more. I would definitely go here again.

Our second (of six) wineries we visited. Spy Valley was on our list as it had a fun spy theme going…read moreon. We dropped in around 2:00pm and the place was packed because of a huge bus tour. Luckily, they were packing up for the next spot. There's an outdoor backyard area with picnic tables to sit and do tastings at. Service was okay but not very informative. Our server didn't tell us much about the wines. At least the wine tastings are complimentary here. We ended up trying four. - Sauvignon blanc - nice balance, a little sweeter than the norm. - Pinot gris - a typical gris. - Gewurtztraminer - the bottles are cool as each one has a different morse code on it. This one translated to "spice". Decent but nowhere near as good as the one we had back at Wither Hills. - Syrah - this one had black peppery tones. Spy Glass was pretty average in our books. Not really worth the detour.

Excellent place to stop in for a tasting. The man running the shop when we were there was super…read moreenergetic and eager to show off all the wines. The vineyard grows smaller batches of a larger variety of grapes than most other places. It was a nice break from the standard Marlborough tasting of sauvignon blanc, pinot gris, rose, and pinot noir. Though not noted on the wine trail map, they did serve a meat/cheese platter which was just what we needed after arriving around lunch time. It was actually our favorite platter of the trip - tasty swiss meats and cheeses and a bunch of crusty bread. One of the cheeses (an apenzellar) was one I'd never had, but is now one of my favorites. Overall, this is one of my top picks to visit in the region.