About Appellation Wine Tours

Queenstown’s leading premium wine tour company with over 25 years of experience.

Appellation Wine Tours was founded by Philip Green and Wendy Johnston in 1999; two New Zealanders with a passion for Central Otago and its wines, and a desire to share that enthusiasm with others.

Appellation’s mission remains to take people far from Queenstown’s adrenalin attractions to the quieter parts of the region. There we can immerse our guests in the culture of fine wine, gorgeous food and stunning alpine scenery, a side of Queenstown that people often miss on a short visit.

In 2005 the company undertook an extensive brand review and changed the trading name to Appellation Wine Tours, reflecting the development and recognition of the Central Otago wine region and the growing popularity of their Queenstown-based wine tours.

Our greatest acknowledgement of success is being the only wine tour company in New Zealand to have been awarded trophies at the Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism awards. Appellation Wine Tours was the New Zealand Wine Tourism Services winner in 2011 and 2013 and the International winner in 2012. From 2013, New Zealand was no longer included as a region for these awards.

Since then, we have also been recognised as Leading Operator in Wine Tour Services 2019 by Global Business Insights, Service Excellence 2018 by Luxury Travel Guide, a Gold Level Qualmark status and have consecutive Certificate of Excellence’s on Trip Advisor creating “Hall of Fame” status.

Multi Award Winning Wine Tours

Don't just take our word for it! Our reviews speak for themselves...

“Such a brilliant day out. Perfect for couples or groups of friends. We were 7 girls and completely looked after by our guide.

All wineries are beautiful and all different. There is so much information about the surrounding areas, how each property started an abundance of knowledge on wine. Highly recommend.

Pick-ups from Queenstown hotels and back. We felt very lucky to be able to experience such a wonderful tour with an excellent tour company!”

sunnytimes0, Sept 2021 (Trip Advisor).
“After tossing up whether to do the hop on hop off bus I am so pleased we chose Appellation Tours instead. Door to door service and Gary our guide was knowledgeable, fun and professional.

We were guaranteed seating at all wineries and there was no queuing or waiting around for tastings and cellar tours. Something you need to think about when it’s cold outside! Just so seamless and easy.

Beautiful wines and a great afternoon with lots of information and laughs.”

Quest64601253864, Aug, 2021 (Trip Advisor).
“Such luxury to be collected from our hotel by Gary in a comfortable modern vehicle to be driven from vineyard to vineyard through the magnificent countryside of Central Otago – and Gary knew the history of wine growing in this area, and the details of each vineyard and its wines, our perfect host, companion and guide for the day.

Gary’s personable style, with friendly introductions to each cellar door manager and brilliant driving, helped make our day perfect”.

Observer4242, Nov 2021 (Trip Advisor).
“Third time around for us on this wine tour, once again did not disappoint. Excellent tour great wine and food very informative and funny tour guide was great.”

richf10975, Nov 2021 (Trip Advisor).
“Paul was incredibly knowledgeable and easy to talk to with all sorts of great information about wine making, the vineyards and about the history of Queenstown itself.

We’re glad that we chose to do the tour as you can leave the decision making to the experts!

We got to visit 4 fantastic vineyards and had a great lunch, it was incredibly good value. Next time we come to Queenstown we plan to do a private tour.

Thank you so much Paul!!! 10 stars!”

teresas376, Oct 2021 (Trip Advisor).