Hi everyone,
We will be on Waiheke Island for a few days with friends and at least one of the days will involve touring around on e-bikes to the various wineries. Definite old world palate here. Any suggestions for wineries to nudge the group towards?
Many thanks,
Hi James, here are a few to consider. Worth doing a bit of research first to see if they fit your bill.
Stonyridge Larose is an iconic NZ bordeaux blend that ages beautifully but massively overpriced these days.
Stonyridge
Te Motu
Destiny Bay
Obsidian
Man O War
Brodie
Hi James,
Funnily I am right now on Waiheke Island visiting wineries. I visit once or twice a year.
The island is only 100 kms around so everything is pretty easily accessible by bike or car.
Brodie’s list is most of the leading wineries. I’d add Passage Rock and subtract Destiny Bay (appointment only and top wines over NZ200 a bottle, more than Stonyridge).
I’d also recommend some of the more idiosyncratic, smaller producers especially Jurassic Ridge, Awaroa, Frenchman’s Estate and Woodside Hill.
Some of the wineries have good restaurants particularly Stonyridge (fine dining, but fairly expensive), Miro (excellent Spanish themed cuisine, you can walk there from Obsidian) and Batch (excellent, look out for Cedalion wines).
One thing I do every visit is drive to the remote far end of the Island (some metal unpaved roads) and visit the Stony Batter Reserve and have lunch at Man O’ War. On the drive back - if you have time - you can stop at Passage Rock and Awaroa.
Feel free to PM me with any specific questions.
My suggestion would be to simply enjoy yourself no matter which winery you visit. I’ve been there and toured twice and I can’t honestly say any of the visits were particularly memorable for the wine. It was all good, but nothing was spectacular. What I do remember is the countryside vistas against the backdrop of the water and the people. Everybody we met at every winery was interesting and pleasant to talk with and all were very proud of their wine.
TL;DR: Beautiful country, beautiful people. You’re going to have a great time.
This is all very helpful. Many thanks, everyone. We have dinner planned one night at Te Motu.
I will try to report back.
Cool. I’m having lunch at Te Motu tomorrow. It’s a great place with some of Waiheke’s best wines IMO.
We really enjoyed our experience at Tantalus when we were there, and stayed at MudBrick. Agree with Jim that none of the wine blew us away, but the trip was great and the area beautiful.
Some good olive oil and honey out that way as well.
Hi James, I’ve just posted the TNs from my two most recent visits to Waiheke so some of this may be of interest:
https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=43883
Cheers, Howard
definitely have lunch at Cable Bay (nice wines, superb view, excellent food).
I very much like Stonyridge, and bought some Larosse last time I was there. Mudbrick was OK, but not great. The island is a nice place to spend a day, that’s for sure.
I don’t get why, when Wine Spectator does their annual NZ roundup, they omit Waiheke completely.