Wonderful sport to sip and shop your favorite local and Australian wines. Purchase by the oz, 2 oz…read moreor 6 oz options of Reds , whites, blends and bubbles!

I came here for the whiskey and man, was it worth it. The card driven tastings were very appealing…read moreand so easy to manage. The whiskey selection here, although small, was of great quality. The wine selection is massive though, and they have good food selection to pair with your libation. Highly recommend stopping here for a few hours to drink.

We had some extra time in the afternoon and decided to do a wine tasting. You must have a…read morereservation so reserve your spot before you head out. The road there is a bit scary but don't let it deter you. It's not meant for two cars and it's gravel so drive slowly and stay safe. We were early and joined two other couples in their tasting. It was a hoot. The lady who was our host was entertaining and very knowledgeable about the wine. We compared travel experiences with the other couples. Even found an Aussie Timberwolves fan. We bonded in our love of basketball. The grounds are beautiful, located between towering mountains and a deep river gorge. So glad we chose this place to try a variety or wines.

We headed to Chard Farm Winery, a picturesque spot located on a rugged, winding road with views of…read morethe Kawarau Gorge. You will miss this winery if you're not looking for it. Known for its elegant Pinot Noir and vibrant whites, Chard Farm delivered exceptional wines with every pour.

Our first day in New Zealand proved to be quite the adventure. Andrew picked us up right on time, a…read morekind and informative guide. We visited Gibston Valley, Brennan and Kinross. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Queenstown. Thank you Andrew for truly going above and beyond from the minute we "hopped" on your bus to follow through the next day. You truly made our experience a great one.

Queenstown Wine Trail was a very enjoyable experience!…read more We were picked up by Grant in Queenstown and took a 45 minute drive to our first stop on the 'Wine and Food sampler'. Our Fist stop was Wild Earth winery where we sampled three Pinot Noirs (the type of wine Central Otaga is most famous for, a Riesling, and a Pinot Gris. Each was paired with delicious, and well presented food items made in a unique wine barrel smoker - very cool! Our second stop was to the Gibbston Vally Winery were we toured their wine cellar cave. The cave was very fascinating, it housed at least one hundred barrels of wine and has a cut out where at least one bottle from each vintage is locked up in a special room. The cave is a constant 56 degrees Fahrenheit year round (amazing for a region with such drastic temperature changes throughout the year). We tasted some fantastic cheeses and wines! Grant then dropped us off back in Queenstown after a quick scenic tour and stop at a beautiful viewpoint. Overall, I highly recommend the tour!

Had a great day out around Queenstown's wineries. Our driver was very friendly and helpful and the…read morewine was superb. Mt Rosa was our favourite. My partner and I would definitely do it again

From the owner: Join our flexible & hassle-free local winery shuttle service. Departs daily from Queenstown at…read moremidday/12.00pm. With no set timetable & no stress, you simply discuss with your friendly onboard wine guide, the options of where you'd like to be dropped off to & picked up from. You will be well entertained with lots of freedom at an array of winery restaurants & tasting rooms, all highlighting our amazing Central Otago wines. There’s lots to do, such as wine & cheese tastings, or enjoying a local craft beer. All the wineries are very close together making it easy to give you the best day out & we'll have you back in town by 6pm approx. Our Wine Hopper service offers you the easiest way to enjoy the wineries at your own pace, in your own way, on the day. Check out our reviews & give us a call if you have any questions. Our Wine Hopper Bus is proudly locally owned & operated by a wine-only specialist company in Queenstown NZ.

Incredible tasting with great customer service. The ambience and views were incredible! We will…read moredefinitely be back!

Wet Jacket is a relatively-new winery that is worth a visit…read more The tasting room (once you find it) is quite novel. Rather than a large wall of bottles or lots of other visual noise, there is a simple table where you can sample ($5 a person) 4-5 of their nice wines. Wet Jacket does a Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and a Rosé among others. The wines are all nice and at a moderate price point. The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were my personal favourites. After sampling the wines, take time (on a nice day) to enjoy their beautiful outdoor space. Here you can grab a wine by the glass (your favourite from the tasting) and have a taco or cheese board from the Taco Medic food truck. The space out here is relaxing and the service is excellent. At the entry to the winery, there is a quaint cheese shop where you can sample and purchase some delicious cheeses as well.

Akarua Wines & Kitchen was our second winery that we checked out in Lake Hayes. Akarua means two…read morevines, which is how they originally started out. It's a couple minutes drive from Amisfield. We dropped in on a Friday afternoon (around 4:45pm). It's a cute spot with a garden and plenty of tables/bean bag chairs to lounge about. The wine tasting is done in a cool converted industrial box. They do tastings ($5.00 NZD/person) where you get to try 5 wines; all five are pre-picked for you. Our server was friendly and gave us good descriptions about each wine. But man, the pours were tiny. - Akarua sauvignon blanc 2017 - decent but we've had better elsewhere. - Akarua riesling 2017 - RUA pinot noir 2016 - this one was young, light and had a very dry finish to it. We didn't enjoy it. - Akarua pinot noir 2016 - this one was aged for longer. Much smoother. - Akarua alchemy ice 2017 - intensely sweet. Our host said to try, then eat a bite of chocolate and try again. That actually worked wonders. Akarua paled in comparison to our earlier visit at Amisfield. Wines were decent but that's about it.

What a great place for a tasty lunch! The food was amazing, fresh and artfully prepared. We all…read moreenjoyed our wine and menu choices. The wait staff was very helpful in suggesting the appropriate amounts for a table of 5. It was all so delicious we ate almost every bit.

Fantastic dining experience at Amisfield dinner tasting menu. It's a visual, educational, and…read moredelicious journey. Throughout the entire 3+ hour experience the staff was knowledgable, friendly, and painted a beautiful picture about each dish and its connection to New Zealand. Highly recommend. We also added on the wine pairing to taste through their current wine offerings. All wines were great but their selection of Pinot Noir was the best.

Horrific experience with the host/hostess. We bought an expensive bottle of their Pinot and opted…read moreout of taking a bag cause we are eco like that. Host acted as though I stole the bottle. We let it go and asked for a table outside in order to buy another bottle and sit outside to enjoy. They said nothing was open and they had to turn tables over for dinner (it was 4:30 pm). We left only to see two other couples come on after and get seated. It was either they are homophobes or we didn't fit the aesthetic they were hoping for. Either way we won't be back and don't recommend it. We left and went to @ChardFarms down the way. The staff was AMAZING and the Pinot was so much better. #poorcustomerservice

We ended up with a free afternoon on our short visit to Queenstown and was able to arrange a…read morelast-minute private wine tour of the Gibbston Wine region with a few emails back and forth with Matthew. This small company, only 3-people, is able to be flexible and deliver a bespoke, high-quality experience tailored to the needs of its clients. With our excellent guide Matthew we visited Three beautiful and unique wineries customized to our interests. We had asked him to take us to small, boutique wineries where the passions of the winemaker combine with terroir to produce something special. His recommendations did not disappoint and we tasted a wide number of varietals across the wineries in the Gibbston sub region of Otago Valley. He picked us up promptly at the promised time in a comfortable van provisioned with fruit, chocolate and water and even took care of shipping some wine back to the states for us. We were only 2 in the van but it could comfortably hold 8. He is VERY knowledgeable about wine in the region and beyond and provided us with some great information throughout the tour. Plus he's such a personable guy. We even stopped off at the charming city, arrowtown, on our way back (reminiscent of Carmel CA) for a short walking tour. Beautiful. Highly recommended

Jake runs the most informative wine tour that I've ever done. His education in Oenology and…read moreprevious experience working in the local wineries shows through. Not only is the overall tour he provides highly illuminating, but if you ask him specific questions, there is clearly great depth to his knowledge. There are several tour options. We did the Degustation Tour which includes food pairings with the wine. This is an excellent way to taste Pinot Noir, which is really meant to be enjoyed with food, and is the specialty in the Queenstown area. We also tasted Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling, Gruner Veltliner, and Gewurztraminer. The first stop includes a wine and appetiser pairing at a winery cellar. The second stop is a full lunch with several pairings. After that, there were two more stops at wineries. You will taste about five wines at each stop, for a total of 20 wines.

As I was planning activities to do while in Queenstown, I stumbled upon this place that offers bike…read moretours that had really positive reviews. However, since I have never really done long distance biking before, I was hesitant to sign up for one of the tours that takes you further in and you bike back to the shop in downtown Queenstown. I decided to just rent an e-bike for half a day which would allow me to go at my own pace and return when I wanted to. Honestly, it was one of the best days of my life-the breathtaking scenery of Queenstown and the comfort of my own solitude exploring the bike paths overlooking Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown trail, Shotover bridge/river, Kawarau River... The person helping me at the shop was really friendly-helped walked me through how to use an e-bike (it was my first time using an e-bike but thought it would be the safest option in case I tired myself out later) and helped to adjust the seat as well when I had some trouble. The e-bike had different levels of support (eco, medium, and high)-I used eco mode for most of the time but used medium and high on my way back and it hardly used any of the battery life at all (there is a level usage on the screen). They provide you with a map which I used along with my phone to ensure I was on the right path but there are also many signs along the way, so I would say it would be hard to get lost. I would totally recommend this bike shop if you want a little adventure during your stay in Queenstown -something not as crazy as bungee jumping but will give you a thrill and some amazing views.

VISIT: end of February 2020 TOUR: Bike the Bridges -…read moreArrowtown to Gibbston Supported Tour VIEWS: 5 stars HELP FROM TOUR GUIDE: 5 stars SUITABLE FOR ALL ENDURANCE LEVELS: 4 stars DEALS: I found them through Chase Ultimate Rewards and several other sites MEETING SPOT: close to Fergburger and Fergbaker This tour was an honest pleasant surprise for us. The videos online looked cool, but mostly we got to experience so much that I don't think we would have seen. I would have never made a special trip to Arrowtown or Gibbston just based on the research I did, but what a beautiful way to view this amazing country! You meet at their meeting spot where the tour guide will drive you to your starting point. The tour guide stayed with everyone until they were comfortable on which path they were following and made sure that bikes and helmets were all sized appropriately. Our tour guide even gave special care to someone in our group that didn't speak English. You can leave items in the van, if you'd like, but my husband and I just had everything in our backpacks as the van is only there during certain check points. After that you are pretty much on your own with the bike tour, which was refreshing that you could go at your own pace. You see your tour guide at regular intervals along your track and that's always refreshing, in case you get tired you can always hop in the van. Along the way, you ride by the AJ Hackett bungee jumpers which was a nice stop to watch and use the restrooms and grab snacks, if you need. Then our tour ended at the Gibbston Winery which was just a nice treat after a good workout. ACTIVITY LEVEL: one of my biggest tenets is that the company dubs the Bike the Bridges tour a relatively easy ride and although it was, I was personally surprised at how much of a workout was. There was a good amount of inclines/declines and I workout regularly and have an active job, so I was relatively surprised. However, I realized after being in New Zealand that many of their residents are so active that I'm sure this would be an easy ride. For those on the fence, they do have electric bikes for rent, so that might be the way to go. NAVIGATION: the navigation is very easy and the trails are clearly marked. As mentioned above, your tour guide also makes sure he's waiting at regular intervals along your trail, so I wouldn't let that deter you I WOULD 100% DO THIS AGAIN: I am not a typical tourist that would return to do things again, but I cannot begin to explain how magical this was. Plus the tour was a half day, so we actually booked this the afternoon of our first full day in New Zealand to give us time to adjust to jet lag and the long tour the day before