Hey everyone! Lauren here to tell you about our visit to six wineries in the Central Otago Wine Region!
I should preface this post with: I am no way a sommelier.I realize all I am saying about the different wines is “the wine was delicious”. All of the wine was delicious, and all of the wineries had a great atmosphere!
The Central Otago Wine Region
There are 11 wine regions across New Zealand. Marlborough, known for excellent sauvignon blanc, is by far the most popular and famous wine region in New Zealand. Hawke's Bay (link to article), is the 2nd largest region in New Zealand, and has a wide variety of styles and flavors.
The Central Otago is New Zealand's most scenic wine region, and is known for incredible views and excellent Pinot Noir. Fun fact: Central Otago is the world's southernmost wine producing region!
Birthday Winery Celebration
On Lauren's (my) birthday, we went to three wineries: Rippon, Archangel, and Mt. Difficulty
Rippon Winery Tasting
The first winery we went to on my birthday was Rippon. Rippon is right outside of Wanaka, and has beautiful views of the vineyards right along Lake Wanaka. The tasting was free, but they were asking for donations to support wildlife in the Otago region in lieu of a fee. We decided to donate $10 NZD to support local wildlife.
We tasted a few varieties of pinot noir and some riesling, and they were all delicious. The pinot noir was especially good but I may be biased because pinot noir is one of my favorite types of wine.
Archangel Winery Tasting
After our tasting at Rippon, we stopped at a winery called Archangel on our way to a lunch reservation at Mt. Difficulty Winery. The tasting was $15 NZD, and the wine was delicious. I guess the problem with doing posts retroactively is things change. It seems that the winery has been purchased by Nanny Goat Vineyard. I am sure the new wine is also wonderful, since it will have the same incredible scenery and the same delicious grapes.
Mt. Difficulty Winery
Next we drove to Mt. Difficulty to do a wine tasting and have a special birthday lunch! Since we had lunch reservations, the wine tasting was included. Typically the wine tasting is $5 per person. It started raining really hard as soon as we got to Mt. Difficulty. Luckily they had a nice covered patio for wine tastings, and an indoor dining room with lots of windows to enjoy the view.
The lunch was incredible! I had a seafood dish and Gerrod had a steak dish. I can't think of a single improvement they could have made. We also had a celebratory birthday dessert and of course, more wine.
Drive-by Wine Tastings
We stopped at three different wineries that we stumbled upon along the road. We didn't make reservations for these, we just walked in and hoped for the best!
Wet Jacket Winery
First was Wet Jacket. Wet Jacket has a cool outdoor area to hang out and get snacks and wine without doing a tasting. It seemed relaxing, but we opted to do a tasting instead. They also had cheese tastings, so we tried four types of cheese and four different wines for $5 NZD each. The wine and cheese was delicious, and we decided to buy a bottle of wine to enjoy later in the evening.
Stone Ridge Estate
Second was Stoneridge Estate Queenstown. The gardens were gorgeous leading up to the tasting room, and when we got there they asked if we would like to do our tasting outside! The Tasting was $15 NZD for 6 types of wine. We were pretty hungry when we got to Stoneridge, so we ordered a platter of delicious meats and cheeses ($38 NZD).
Chard Vineyard
While we were driving around the Kawarau River looking for The Gates of Argonath/The Pillars of Kings from the Fellowship of the Ring move, we stumbled upon Chard Farm Vineyard.
Chard Farm offered a free wine tasting for the purchase of a bottle of wine. We tasted 6 types of wine, and decided to purchase one of their rosé wines at the end for $10 NZD. I love how cute pink wine is, but tend to think it is far too sweet. Chard Farm had a nice dry version which was just perfect.
Until next time!
Lauren (and Gerrod)
