Lovely winery in the heart of Marlborough. Excellent wines and perfect food from their Number 11…read morerestaurant. Very nice staff. Dine inside or out by the vines

Am touring for a trade group of wine distributors. Came by for a tasting -- admittedly without a…read morereservation -- and was promptly seated outside. Wairau was at maybe 1/3 capacity. Waited at our table for 20 minutes without service while staff faffed about. Walked inside to inquire about table service and the bar tender said he wasn't sure if our server might come by. He didn't offer to inquire further or help in any way, so we left. Lacking in service. Wairau lost out on a couple cases today. No need to return when there are several excellent wineries within 500 meters.

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.

Our fifth winery (out of six) was at Giesen Wines Cellar Door. This was our other favourite winery…read moreof the day. There's a restaurant inside with a very small menu: a vintage platter, cheese platter, kid platter and two desserts. As for the wine tastings, it's $5.00 NZD/person and you get 6 tastes. The best part is you can choose ANY of the options. All the expensive ones please! It's standing room only but has a smart layout. Service was fantastic as our server was friendly, knowledgeable and approachable. Very down to earth and knew when to leave us alone. - The fuder sauvignon bland - Matthews Lane - pretty decent but not worth the $45.00 NZD price tag. - The brothers riesling - this one was very, very sweet. - The brothers gewürtztraminer - almost heading into the territory of a riesling for sweetness. Full bodied. - Classic cuvee - you taste the Chardonnay at the end. - Single vineyard clayvin syrah - good mouth feel. You can taste the lingering savoury finish. - The brothers late harvest sauvignon blanc - a dessert wine for sure. Super good with tones of pineapple and honey to finish. It's sweet but would be perfect in small doses. We almost got a bottle of this. Definitely worth checking out Giesen.

Free tasting! Our vintner was very knowledgeable and lovely to talk with. She was able to…read moreaccommodate a tasting of entirely reds. They have a nice garden patio for lunch, but only had a meat platter, a cheese plate and mussels on the menu.

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 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.

We came to this winery on the recommendation of an employee of another winery, saying that they…read moreoffered really nice wine and cheese antipasto platters. We arrived just before they stopped serving, but they let us order anyway. Located in a lovely old chateau, we decided to go up to the top of the tower while waiting for our platter. From the top, there are panoramic views of the entire valley. After enjoying the view, and taking our photos, we went below for our wine tasting. They do charge $5 for the tasting, but the cost is refunded upon purchase of wine. I was quite surprised how lovely the wines were here. The chardonnay and sauvingnon blancs were lovely and we bought several bottles to take on our way. The platter of food was completely delicious and very filling. The freshly baked bread was absolutely scrumptious, a wonderful accompaniment to the antipasto platter. Sitting at an outdoor table in the warm sunshine, sipping the wine and eating delicious food served to create an afternoon to remember.

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.

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

This winery is owned by a doctor who created fruit focused wines & wines lower in alcohol content…read more The grounds were beautiful Jan gave us 3 free complementary samples of delicious wines. She was knowledgeable, friendly and generous. I really enjoyed the Forrest rosé it was creamy summary and had strawberry flavors. TheSauvignon Blanc was quite good as well and the Forrest Albariño was smooth & zesty. My husband enjoyed his doctors Riesling but preferred the Forrest Petit Manseng. We were told that we can get some of these wines in and 400s of dollars contract and shipped to the United States.

Third winery stop (out of six) was at Forrest Wines. Lucky us, we managed to bump into the same…read moremassive bus tour group. The outside is where most of the seating is; a bunch of bean bags looked loungy. Service is friendly and helpful. There's a couple of tasting options. You can get 2 free bar tastings per person otherwise, you have to pay. There's a tasting tray (7 wine tastes) that seemed the most popular. There's also a small food menu: picnic hamper, platters, cheese and proper crisps (aka. chips). Didn't see anyone eating here. - The Doctors' bubbles for Beth 2010 - you don't see bubble reds often. Interesting, sweet and different. - Forrest sauvignon blanc 2017 - you can smell the guava. Much softer and subtle than other blancs we tasted. - The doctors' rosé 2017 - very light - Forrest albariño 2016 - pretty different; we've never had an albariño before. It's a little salty. - The doctors' riesling 2016 - way too sweet for our tastes. - Forrest pinot noir 2014 - this one had a dry finish. - Forrest petit manseng 2017 - this would be a good dessert wine. You can smell the mango. Not as sweet as the riesling. This one was our favourite out of the seven. A couple different wine types that may peak your interest. 3.5 stars.