Queenstown Wineries

[ticklenow1]

I'm off to Queenstown next week to tackle a few of the golf courses there. We will have a couple of hours spare on a couple of afternoons and was hoping I could be led in the right direction for a couple of winery visits. I'm not a big Pinot drinker but my mate is, so I'll take one for the team and suffer in silence . I accept that I will be in Pinot lovers territory but I'm hoping I'll find something interesting and maybe even something I like.

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers
Ian

[Mahmoud Ali]

Buy the best pinot you find (preferably lower in alcohol), cellar it for 15+ years, then decide if you like pinot or not. The reason behind my advice is that this year a couple of 17 year-old pinots from Chile and Australia have wowed me. They were single bottles bought on reputation and a recommendation. Should I have bought more, you betcha!

Cheeers ............. Mahmoud.

[Matt@5453]

Buy the best pinot you find (preferably lower in alcohol), cellar it for 15+ years, then decide if you like pinot or not. The reason behind my advice is that this year a couple of 17 year-old pinots from Chile and Australia have wowed me. They were single bottles bought on reputation and a recommendation. Should I have bought more, you betcha!

Cheeers ............. Mahmoud.

I kinda think they were after something more specific..

[JamieBahrain]

The New Zealand Duty Free Allowance is Australia's x 2. So 6 bottles!

So Queenstown is BYO for me. Otherwise you are drinking very overpriced wines for what they are.

[sjw_11]

I haven't been to Central Otago for years, but a few I might suggest would be Amisfield, Aurum, Mt Difficulty, Felton Road, Peregrine and apparently Cloudy Bay now has a tasting room in the region.

[JamieBahrain]

Personally, the better experiences are the long-lunches at the wineries. Closest being Amisfield I think? Another option is the wine shop in Queenstown where you can settle down with a platter and sample glasses of hundreds of local wines in coravin. Pretty cool but like anything in Queenstown its very expensive.

[TiggerK]

Personally, the better experiences are the long-lunches at the wineries. Closest being Amisfield I think? Another option is the wine shop in Queenstown where you can settle down with a platter and sample glasses of hundreds of local wines in coravin. Pretty cool but like anything in Queenstown its very expensive.

Was going to say pretty much this! Amisfield is a good lunch spot, and the wines are decent. Heard good things about the Mt Difficulty cellar door too, but not been.

There's a bit more variety about these days, try some of the Rieslings (usually off-dry), the occasional Chardonnay is good IF they can get the oak treatment right, and Quartz Reef do some good Sparkling wines. But the region is still very Pinot focused, in that black fruited bigger style it's well known for. I grew up near there, it's a beautiful part of the world, hope the weather is good, enjoy the golfing Ian!

[Wizz]

Hi Ian,

If you only have a couple of hours at a time, then you might not get very far from Queenstown. If that's the case, Amisfield is a good recommendation for lunch although I don't rate their wines. Chard Farm is worth a visit, not much further along the road, their Pinots seem a bit dialed down compared to many central producers and they offer a range of whites too. Peregrine is also worth a wee look. Gibbston Valley is a fairly commercial operation now, caters for coach tours etc.

If you can get further afield, then the Bannockburn area is a good option. Mt Difficulty Felton Road Akarua Carrick Bald Hills are all close by. Godo restaurants at Mt Diff and Carrick, and the Bannockburn General Store is great for a more casual meal. And if you head there you will be travelling through Cromwell which offers Rockburn, Quartz Reef (dreadful cellar door but great wines) and the local Co-Op which makes a lot of small labels wines.

Yes Cloudy Bay is in the region now having bought Northburn Station a few years ago.

PS where are you playing? I've never hauled the clubs across the ditch but would like to, Milbrook looks spectacular!

[ticklenow1]

Thanks Jamie, Tigger amd Wizz for the suggestions. It’s much appreciated.

Wizz, we are playing Queenstown Golf Club, Millbrook and Jack’s Point. I played Millbrook many moons ago but am really looking forward to Jack’s Point.

We’ll probably get to Amisfield (it’s close) and Chard Farm. Peregrine might also be on the cards too. We will definitely get along to the Wine Shop Jamie mentions as it seems a decent way, albeit expensive, to try a few wineries out. I’m told the platters are decent.

I haven’t been to Queenstown in a long time, so I’m quite looking forward to it.

Cheers
Ian

[brodie]

If you make contact with the owner in advance you might be able to go to Brennan. He makes a Tempranillo as well as PN. Amisfield wines are not my cup of tea. The wineries around Cromwell are too far away.

Brodie

[JamieBahrain]

Amisfield has fallen away according to local scuttlebutt.

In vogue amongst the locals is Akarua Kitchen & Winery a few minutes on from Amisfield . Delightful food though there’s little discount in their wines considering a cellar door winery . We had a few bottles of their Kolo single vineyard Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2016 at $145 a bottle .

I don’t believe they understand their wines. If sitting outside and it’s chilly ask to leave your bottles inside otherwise they chill too much and present too acidic!

[Mike Hawkins]

I was at Chard Farm and GV last week. The latter was disappointing and the former even worse.

[JamieBahrain]

Yeah GV is the worst rip off cellar door in the Southern Hemisphere !

Tonight I picked up a quaffer of theirs - GV Collection Pinot 2017. It is a quaffer but 47 NZD at cellar door. Extraordinary! Think I’ll drink the whole bottle and try solve the mystery where they get the cheek to charge this for a structureless quaffer .

[Pat]

I was in Queenstown in May playing golf with mates. We has a day off and went to a couple of the wineries nearby at the recommendation of one of the local sommeliers. We only went to 2 of his recommendations as we were pressed for time and one of my mates was driving and a non wine drinker. I didn't take any notes and below is my general impression.

Amisfield - beautiful building and it looked like the food was delicious. Their wines were good without being showstopping great. The tastings are for 5 wines only and we mainly went with the different Pinot Noirs. Staff were knowledgeable and friendly.

Akarua - We ended up buying some wines from here, predominantly their whites. They let us taste everything including their premium wines. I bought the 2018 Chardonnay, 2018 Pinot Grigio, and 2017 Pinot Noir. They shipped it through for $109 a case to Sydney. Their restaurant was full with what appeared to be NZ locals.

Stoneridge Estate / Bald Hills Cellar Door - This was the last one we went to and it wasn't on the recommendations we'd been given, it was just on the way back. I actually enjoyed these wines, a couple had won some show awards, but I cant remember where from. There was a Games of Thrones themed wedding on at the winery at the time which was unreal/ disturbing. Everyone made it through the wedding while we were there, and on reflection was a better choice of theme than my own 'breaking bad' themed wedding.

[Luke W]

Hi Ian

We loved Felton Road, Lowburn Ferry, Chard Farm (you have to go there just for the drive)!, Brennan made a lovely pinot. Thought Amisfield was a bit of a rip off as was Mt Difficulty but that was 6 years ago so things will have changed. You have to drink a fair bit of pinot to "get it", but it's worth it. Have a good trip. As Jamie says there's nothing nicer than taking time over a glass and food. When we went to Felton Road, they gave us a glass of Bannockburn for $5 each and we took it outside on a table and had it with cheese. It was memorable. I think u would like the FR style as it's more a grenache drinkers pinot.

[Nick]

G'day Ian

If you can justify the drive across to Wanaka (which is a stunning drive, and probably only about 90 minutes), Rippon and Maude were probably our two favorite Otago cellar door experiences, ahead of anything else we visited on the Queenstown side. We also organised a tasting at Burn Cottage, whose Pinots were as good as anything we tasted while we were over there. Kika (tapas bar) in Wanaka was also pretty solid.

Have a great trip.

[Mike Hawkins]

G'day Ian

If you can justify the drive across to Wanaka (which is a stunning drive, and probably only about 90 minutes), Rippon and Maude were probably our two favorite Otago cellar door experiences, ahead of anything else we visited on the Queenstown side. We also organised a tasting at Burn Cottage, whose Pinots were as good as anything we tasted while we were over there. Kika (tapas bar) in Wanaka was also pretty solid.

Have a great trip.

Rippon is worth it for the views alone...

[Michael McNally]

Dates of the Original Post is Nov 2018. I think we have seen Ian since then.....

Cheers

Michael

[JamieBahrain]

He will return but .... as his palate drifts toward Pinot !

[JamieBahrain]

Good to keep Queenstown info in one place . I seem to end up their annually

[ticklenow1]

He will return but .... as his palate drifts toward Pinot !

Highly unlikely

I've been to Queenstown twice since the original post.

We ended up going to:
Chard Farm which was really enjoyed. They had the best Pinots of all the ones we tried. But I'm a terrible judge on Pinots. Their top Chardonnay was a very nice drink. The drive along the road is a little hairy but well worth it. Recommended.
Peregrine had a beautiful cellar door but the wines were a bit meh. Tried several back vintage Pinots and a couple were OK but they all lacked body and finesse for my tastes.
Gibbston Valley. Enjoyed the cheese factory more than the wines. We were taken there as part of a bike ride we did. Over priced and aimed purely at tourists who have no clue about wine. Give it a big miss. Some of the Chardonnay's were OK but that's it.
Wet Jacket Wines was a really nice spot. We didn't do the full tasting but bought a glass of Rose and Chardonnay and sat in the garden area. Both were decent wines. They also have a cheese shop that does tastings. Cheeses were nice and we bought some to have while sitting on the balcony of our hotel room overlooking the lake. Well worth a look and a nice place to relax. They even had a mexican van in the garden serving Tacos and Burritoes. They even had a local brewery's beer on tap.
Amisfield is a beautiful setting and the restaurant is OK but it is very expensive and the wines are only OK at best. Worth a look but I wouldn't put it in the must do catagory.
The Winery in Queenstown is a great concept, if a little expensive. On both trips there we visited and tried a variety of wines and enjoyed the cheese platters (which were very good). Tried several Pinots and all of them were bang average to my palate. What did impress me was the quality of New Zealand Chardonnay. The Sacred Hill Riflemans was the best wine I tried on both trips. Stunning Chardonnay.

I am looking forward to maybe going to the North Island next time and giving the wine regions there a look.

Cheers
Ian

[Mahmoud Ali]

What did impress me was the quality of New Zealand Chardonnay. The Sacred Hill Riflemans was the best wine I tried on both trips. Stunning Chardonnay.

You've nailed it Ian, many New Zealand chardonnays are excellent and Riflemans is most definitely one of them. A 2007 a few months ago was still pristine and elegant, the epitome of glorious chardonnay.

Mahmoud.