Help needed from our NZ mates

[graham]

I'm off to the south island for 2 weeks next March and am seeking advice on best cellar doors and vineyards to visit. Am visiting from Nelson down to Queenstown/Dunedin. Advice greatly appreciated, ps I like BIG chardies and all reds
Graham

[Craig(NZ)]

Nelson:
Neudorf ( A MUST visit for chardonnay lovers, a pilgimage in fact)

Marlborough:
Fromm
Cloudy Bay
Forrest Estate

Waipara:
Pegasus Bay (Big rich chardy here)

Otago:
Felton Road
Mt Difficulty
Peregrine

They are the most memorable cellar doors for me

[Paradox]

It's a bit hard to give you accurate advice without knowing what else you are doing or whether this is all wine tourism, and how long you will be in each place.

Probably the best thing to do is visit the tourist information office at each place, get an updated wine trail map, and see what is open - not all wineries operate 7 day cellar doors, especially in smaller places like Nelson. If there is somewhere you particularly want to go, I'd suggest emailing them and setting up an appointment.

Nelson: Aside from Neudorf, none of the wineries are 'must visit' places IMO. Waimea has a nice cafe however, and Seifried some nice wines.

Marlborough: Heaps of cellar doors here. If you're a chardonnay fan I would visit Villa Maria as they usually have some of their Hawkes Bay wines available, and in March/April the Wither Hills cellar door is very interesting as they have a single row of pretty much every grape type grown in NZ in front of the building and they don't seem to mind people picking off the grapes and tasting them.

Good chardonnay at Cloudy Bay, Forrest, and St Clair, other good cellar doors are Lawsons, Nautilus, Spy Valley, Highfield, Isabel, Hunters.

Waipara: Always seems to be closed when I go through! Pegasus Bay is a must, and great restaurant too, personally I'd skip the rest although Mud House has a good tasting facility and a variety of wines.

Queenstown / Central: Because of the tourism numbers here, the wineries are pretty well organised. Most charge for tastings but will refund the cost if you buy something. In all likelihood you won't find a chardonnay you like here - they are all fairly austere.

Amisfield has a good cellar door and a great restaurant but you will need to book to eat. In Gibbston, Peregrine and Waitiri Creek are worth a visit, the drive to Chard Farm is creepy but worth doing. Gibbston Valley Wines is big and has lots of wines to taste but they never seem very good to me.

The Goldfields tourist attraction in Kawarau Gorge now has Wild Earth wines there for tasting plus fantastic platters. Well worth a visit.

In Bannockburn, Olssens/Terra Sancta, Felton Rd, Mt Difficulty, Carrick and Akarua are all worth a visit. Carrick has a nice restaurant, and Mt D do food as well. Felton is only open weekdays and doesn't offer the Block wines for tasting.

From Cromwell: Wooing Tree is nice, and the Central Otago Wine Company when open is a good place to visit. Northburn Station is a great cellar door to visit and does good food as well - one of my favourite cellar doors. The Lazy Dog Cafe on the way to Wanaka has a host of smaller winemakers wines for tasting, and is a nice place to stop.

Hope that gives you a few ideas.

[TiggerK]

Plenty of good advice there, not much more I could add! Let us know if you need any advice with travel times, restaurants etc..

[graham]

Sounds good so far . To help narrow it down, fly into Christchurch for 3 nights, 1 night Blenheim , 2 in Nelson , 1 in franz joesph, 2 in Queenstown and 3 in Dunedin . Restaurant advice happily taken.
Graham

[TiggerK]

Must say I'm really out of touch with Dunedin these days, lived there for 10 years, but haven't been back since 2000! Never had much in the way of good wine shops, other than one down near the uni area on George St. Hopefully all that has changed. And no doubt all the restaurants I remember are long gone. It's not a big CBD so a casual 2km walk down George St, through the Octagon and continuing down Princes St should cover a lot of places to eat and drink. If in doubt, pop into a few random shops and ask about the good restaurants and wine shops. 1 in 7 people in Dunedin are students, so you'll likely find plenty of food and drinking options!

Queenstown..... Depends what food you're after, but here's a quick restaurant list from memory.

Fergburger - $$ - cafe, great burgers, always full, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The Bunker - $$$$$, but decent food, cosy dim firelit ambience, good winelist, have to book.
The Cow - $$$ - a Q'Town institution, pizza pasta etc.
Vknow - $$$$ - slightly out of town (fernhill), looks good for food and wine, very popular.
Eichardts - $$$$ - OK Tapas bar attached to the stupidly expensive hotel, wine list not too bad.
Lone Star - $$$ - a NZ institution, I recommended highly. Delicious 'pub' style food, chicken(yum), ribs, steaks, seafood etc. Allows BYO wine, unlike most others. (there's a good one in Dunedin too).
Wai - $$$$$ - never eaten there but very good reviews for seafood, fine dining etc. Looks a bit stark, they'd need the heaters cranked up!
Vudu Cafe $$ - typical cafe, quite trendy and hip, popular for breakfast.
(Botswana Butchery used to be good but seems to have lost it's way from what tripadvisor reports say)

Blenheim
Hotel D'Urville - $$$$$ - good food and wine, close to the best in Blenheim.
Herzog - $$$$$ - check opening times first, but also very good.

Christchurch is slowly getting back on it's feet, but all the restaurants I used to know and love are sadly gone (Retour, Saggio Di Vino, Sezn).
Of those that I know are still open, or have re-opened, Cook'n' with Gas is pretty good quality NZ food, also Pescatore at The George Hotel is high end but mixed reviews, as is St Germain.
Lone Star have re-opened in Papanui, always a tasty, noisy and cheaper choice, and likely offer BYO wine too. Wine shop on Papanui road near the city is pretty good too (and still standing, unlike others) - Liquor King Carlton.
New stuff is popping up all the time (and often book out fast). Maybe have a look at trip advisor and just go for the ones with good current reviews. Or check with some locals who are into food!

Food in average to good NZ restaurants is often very expensive, luckily the exchange rate helps ease the pain....

If driving, at least the turning give way rule is now changed and is the same as Australia!! (As my Dad's civil eng masters thesis advised the Nz govt to do back in 1968!! He'd have been proud to finally see the change!)

Cheers
Tim

[burgster]

There is a very good wineshop in ChCh called Decant, which has a great selection of European wines, and there is a surprising restaurant in Blenheim called Fairweathers which has a lot of European wines on its list and at amazingly cheap prices.

[graham]

Thank you for that. I see this holiday as being a NZ food and wine affair, I intend drinking as my pinots as I possibly can over 13 days. Pickled in Pinot as it were

[Craig(NZ)]

Eichardts - $$$$ - OK Tapas bar attached to the stupidly expensive hotel, wine list not too bad.

Yeah been here it is very nice, quite, quaint and the wine list is good. I remember we got ourselve a 2006 Fromm Spatlese here very cheaply

Don't forget to visit Patagonias Icecream. Its bloody yum!