By Freelance Travel Writer, Sally Scott. If you're seeking experiences that offer both charm and local flavour, exploring cellar doors can be a delightful addition to your journey.

Alluxia Founder & Freelance Travel Writer Sally Scott was commissioned by International Traveller Magazine. She was asked to write a story on the best cellar doors in Central Otago and Best Cellar Door Experiences in Queenstown. She chose Appellation Wine Tours to show her around the best of the Gibbston region.

Just a 15-minute drive from town, the Gibbston Valley places you at the heart of New Zealand’s youngest yet most exciting wine regions. Former farmland has transformed into a thriving viticultural hub. Whereas now, it's home to more than 75 wineries. Many of these have cellar doors offering tastings, tours & gourmet dining.

For a self-guided tasting journey, follow the Gibbston Wine Trail. Alternatively, let experts from Appellation Wine Tours curate a private experience tailored to your palate. Queenstown’s wineries promise exceptional pinot noir and distinctive tasting settings no matter which option you choose.

What wineries did I visit?

Amisfield Winery pairs world-class wines with a celebrated dining experience. Their ‘Trust the Chef’ menu is a highlight, available as a multi-course lunch or a seven-course dinner. The estate is one of the region’s largest single vineyards and offers a refined cellar door experience near Lake Hayes.

Wet Jacket - located in a converted woolshed. They offer fireside tastings and an open plan feel. In light of this, it offers a unique experience that feels more like sharing wine with friends, than a traditional tasting.

Gibbston Valley is home to New Zealand’s largest wine cave—perfect for tours, tastings, or private events. Enjoy a meal or a cheese board with your pinot, and explore the estate’s evolving offerings. These include a luxury lodge and spa.

Other choices include the picturesque Chard Farm, organic-focused Peregrine Estate, and the collective-style Kinross.

Short on time? Head to The Winery in central Queenstown. Here, you can sample 80+ wines via self-serve dispensers. This is perfect for a quick yet comprehensive taste of the region.

Read the FULL blog here:

Best cellar door experiences in Queenstown

By Robin Lensi - wine tasting in Otago

Recently I had an amazing chance to travel to New Zealand, which offers some of the best wine tasting tour experiences. Wow, they really live the sweet life there!

The area around Queenstown, New Zealand is surrounded by soaring snow capped mountains & glacier lakes. However, there is so much more to see and do. It’s time to get out and enjoy the clean air and amazing outdoor activities with awesome wine and food to boot for the best wine tour experience!

Whether you drive yourself or hop on a group wine tour you’ll find many amazing vineyards on the South Island.  We toured the wine region of Central Otago and the Gibbston Valley with Appellation Wine Tours for a premium wine tasting experience.

When travelling, it helps to stay flexible in case the weather cancels your plans or someone gets sick. (Been there done that!!) This happened to us twice recently as inclement weather conditions grounded our helicopter trips to Milford Sound. Plan B! Drink wine.

We explored the region around Queenstown and the gorgeous Kawarau Gorge where bungy jumping was born. OMG!

We learned this area faces North, which at first totally confused us Northern hemisphere folks. This enhances the wine by allowing the vines to ripen later with warm days and cool nights, as well as sunshine all year around. This contributes to the best wine tasting experience one can have.

Our first stop was the boutique Kinross winery which has both a tasting room, a restaurant and cute cottages. Our wine advisor was incredibly knowledgeable and guided us through 6 wines from local producers without their own cellar doors. They featured wines from Hawkshead, Kinross, Valli and Wild Irishman and gave us the stories of each label and winemaker and why their wine was unique.

Wine pioneer, Grant Taylor was the force behind this wine region although wines were first planted here way back in 1864. Today, there are over 100 wine brands in this region. Taylor is one of New Zealand’s most awarded Pinot Noir winemakers. Besides Italy’s Brunello I am a huge fan of Pinot Noir!

Our next stop was Gibbston Valley Winery which again has both a tasting room and a restaurant. People were just hanging out enjoying some spring sunshine. We got a tour through the vines and a wine tasting in the largest wine cave in New Zealand.

Near Lake Hayes was our third stop of the day. Akarua Wines and Kitchen by Artisan also has a tasting room and a restaurant. Let me just say the food is stunning and delicious! It is matched to the wines creating a lunch you’ll never forget for the best wine tour experience.

Akarua encompasses a small historic renovated cottage and lovely gardens that were just starting to bloom as it was early spring.

Not sure if you can have too much wine but all the nibbles kept us from getting tipsy 🙂

Just incredible food and wine to match. I was lucky enough to go here twice. Once for photography and then just to relax and enjoy. I highly recommend stopping in for breakfast, lunch or dinner and it’s only 20 minutes from Queenstown.

READ BLOG HERE

Written by A March Among the Vine

A Tour Down Under, Otago

We love it when people either blog about us, or blog about the Central Otago Wine region. Its a win win for us, because it helps get this fantastic cool-climate wine region on the international radar. There are enough international award-winning wines coming from Central Otago, with vines only just reaching adolescence. Read here insightful and interesting blog on his recollection of the wines, the cellar doors, and of course, his experience on tour 🙂

If you would like to have a similar experience, Book Now our Boutique Wine Tour