'The Cellar Door' is the place to go for a memorable wine-tasting experience!…read more Foxes Island offers a delicious selection of white and red wine including Pinot Noir (2008/09), Chardonnay (2009), Riesling (2009), Sauvignon Blanc (2011/12) and lastly, Lapine (2010) from the 'Icon' Series, equivalent to their hero wine. From walking in the 'Cellar Door' on Williamson Avenue, to greeting one of the team from Foxes Island, to tasting a drop of your choice, to taking in the ambience of artwork from Dick Frizzell is definitely a hedonistic experience, for any wine and/or art lover. They have monthly masterclasses to educate and showcase their wine, along with other speakers and artists intermittently. Open 6 days a week as well! Yelp out.

We're so lucky to have such a wonderful cellar door right on our doorstop! Foxes Island, of course…read moresells Foxes Island wine but they also have a lot more going on in their beautiful space. They sell the amazing Zalto glassware, which is beautiful and dishwasher friendly plus they host a ton of events be it exhibitions, meet the maker nights to new vintages of their wines. Owners, Kelly and John are lovely and well-respected in the wine industry. Highly recommend popping and picking up a bottle (or case) of their beautiful wine!

My husband and I were visiting Auckland for a few days, and we had the pleasure of having Phil to…read moreourselves for a tour of the fish market and several shops that specialize in products of New Zealand. We also toured three wineries for tastings, with lunch at one of them, and Phil provided a wonderful array of cheeses to accompany the tastings. Phil's knowledge of the wineries and of New Zealand, in general, made our tour fun and educational as well! We can truly say that the day with Phil was our favorite of all our excursions in New Zealand. We would highly recommend him and hope to have the pleasure of engaging his services in the future.

From the owner: Personal Tour Guide - Phil Parker is your host. Phil is a fourth generation New Zealander and has…read morebeen running his highly recommended, one-man tour company since 2000. Phil is also a local wine writer, and published author of Random House's 'The Mad Keen Wine Buff's Road Trip' Phil will show you the beautiful Auckland wine growing countryside and breath-taking coastline. His wine tours aren't just for the serious wine enthusiast. They are for anyone who's keen to enjoy NZ's world-famous wines, share our beautiful scenery - and most of all - have fun! Phil looks forward to meeting you.

I had the best time on the Coast to Coast tour - definitely one of the highlights of my trip to New…read moreZealand! John was a fantastic and knowledgeable host, and he impressively runs all of these tours on his own. There are several different ones to choose from, but I believe he only runs 1 per day, so make sure you contact him well in advance to get the tour you want. I ended up making a last minute reservation and it just so happened he was running the tour I wanted the next day. I chose the Coast to Coast tour because I had limited time in Auckland and wanted to get a feel for both the east and west coast regions and wineries. We visited 5 wineries total and got to sample a plethora of wines at each one. We also got to enjoy a beautiful and delicious platter lunch at Ransom Wines against a stunning backdrop. The price of the tour was very reasonable with the 5 winery visits, lunch, door-to-door transportation, and tour guide. All very high quality, and much less expensive than the other wine tour companies I researched. Overall a fantastic experience - highly recommended!

I and my friend from Japan, we had very good time together with this tour…read more Waterfalls and sightseeing, Karekare Beach where has black sand, wine tastings... All good We had nice platter lunch, we wish we could had more time to enjoy our beatiful lunch and wine though. But we learn N.Z. culture as well. It was amazing day! John, Thank you for everything.

This is funny but sad because we wanted to have some wine at Game of Rhône's. We followed the map…read moreon yelp and where it took us was an empty building. I ask the hotel we where staying at if they knew what here it was and they had no idea. So if you want to go there maybe call them. I love yelp and use it all the time but somewhere there is a miss communication.

A wine tasting with a massive twist... A Game of Thrones twist! And the first time that it has…read morecome to NZ after three years in Australia. A great collection of vineyards represented, some very well known, some lesser known vineyards from across NZ and also Australia. All the vineyards were presenting the best of their Rhône Valley wines, so it was a fantastic way to sample a range of Syrah, Viognier and Grenache varietals. Was very impressed by the effort put in by the wine merchants to dress up. Really added to the atmosphere. Fantastic location as well, as it really suited the theme. Beautiful views of the harbour as the sun set. Got a couple of Riedel glasses to boot. Would have been amazing to have had a few more food options available, as was very easy to stay on for a long time. Great event!!

Luscious is a gourmet health grocery store located just past the top of Parnell rise. A specialty…read morehealth food store which also stocks an extensive range of wines (they even have vegan wines) and an impressive array of hard to find health and specialty gourmet foods just to make your diet a little more interesting. You will find fresh vegetables, frozen yoghurts, specialty breads, pastas, grains, cereals amongst your more common ingredients (only organic) and some not so common like date paste and red quinoa. Down the back of the store is a fantastic selection of specialty juices, coconut waters and iced teas and much of the product here is sourced from New Zealand. This place is popular with those who work in the area who want a healthy lunch on the go with a decent amount of cabinet food to choose from and fresh juices and smoothies. The coffee is pretty amazing too, very strong. Chateau Kiwi use beans from Organica. Whether you have food allergies, a specialty diet or just like your food to be not so common then this is a place you should check out.

The chateau kiwi is very like 'The Barrow' in the central city. Aimed at providing a more gourmet…read moretake on regular grocery shopping, they both chase the same sort of niche. I like the Chateau kiwi as it stocks a really good range of organic and health foods. Nowhere else can I find my favourite range of little bird organics apart from their original shop in Kingsland . You haven't lived until you have tried the strawberry and White cacao macaroons. And then of course there's the frozen dumplings which I often buy from here and make my own dipping sauce and trick my friends into thinking I am a real life masterchef.

We booked this activity through Viator several weeks in advance. We received confirmation and…read moretickets. We arrived at the pickup location early and messaged the operator to ensure we were in the right location. We did not receive a response. Contacted Viator directly who spoke with the operator wan advised that we had not been out on their calendar. We had one day in Auckland and were left with no tour as everything else was booked. So unprofessional and they didn't even respond to us. I would give them zero stars if I could. Nothing was offered to compensate for this oversight.

We took many wine tours during our New Zealand vacation and this was by far the best. John, the…read moreowner operator provided our group with a great selection of Auckland area vineyards and wineries. We didn't just visit the tasting rooms, John provided us a detailed cellar tour where he explained the entire wine making process. We were given excellent commentary on New Zealand, various trends, and the economic forces at play. It was a very informative drive through the region as we made our way from winery to winery. It was a perfect way to spend our final day in New Zealand as we were also able to hire John to transport us straight to the airport at the conclusion of our tour. I highly recommend NZ Wine Pro.

Wine Direct is the best place in Auckland for buying European wine on a budget, and Parnell's store…read morehas a little something extra to offer. Clearly defined wine regions and appellations makes it simple to find the type of wine you are after. Staff there can easily describe the wine they have in stock, matching it to your dish and palette, more than once finding something better than the bottle I was contemplating. The real advantage of Parnell's Wine Direct is their location inside La Cigale. Their symbiotic relationship means that while dining at La Cigale you can choose a bottle of wine from the shelves here to enjoy (although on hectic nights it can be hard to find the busy sommelier). This store stocks cheap champagne, craft beers, end-of-line bins and monthly bargains. They also have a small range of aperitifs and digestifs like Armagnac or Lillet. Though a little hard to find, this is the perfect place to stock up your cellar, organize an event or just to grab yourself a tipple.

The Village Winery is a richly stocked liquor store that was originally a working winery. Now they…read morestock a large selection of fine New Zealand and Australian wines, along with a selection from France, Chile and Spain. They also provide port, whiskey and some boutique beers. The staff are obviously very experienced, if a bit reserved, but offered bread and dipping oil while I was browsing. Another exciting aspect of the business is the upstairs tasting room, which you can receive invitation to via their newsletter, be it for wine or whiskey tasting or an exhibition they may have on. And the bus stops directly outside.

It is the ferry normally runs in all port of Auckland. We travelled to Waiheke Island through them…read more It was very comfortable ferry. Has food , coffee counter. Restroom available and the crew was really friendly. There were upper and covered decks. Nice to be above to see the view. The sail was kinda rough because it was windy and it rained. Tickets can be purchased through website or on the spot. Just go to the Auckland Ferry terminal. The brick booth house .

We bought round trip tickets in advance of our trip. Loading was only a short walk from our hotel…read more We were headed to Rangitoto. The shuttle took off exactly on time. We sat on the upper floor and it was very neat and clean. Seating was tables and we had nice views out the window. The ride was smooth. Staff was friendly. The shuttle arrived right on time to pick us up as well. The return trip was on a bigger boat. Again everything was clean inside with some comfy couches to lounge on after a day of hiking.