Food and wine in New Zealand: 12 days, four regions, both islands
New Zealand makes four things at a level that justifies planning a trip around them: Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough, Pinot Noir in Central Otago, Syrah and Chardonnay in Hawke's Bay, and Bordeaux blends on Waiheke. They are spread across both islands and a thousand miles, and this route strings them
- Duration
- 12 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 6
- Best months
- Feb, Mar, Apr, Nov
- From
- $3,720 per person
Late February to April is the window we would choose. Harvest is happening, the weather is settled, and the cellar doors are staffed by people who have time to talk.
Who it suits: travellers who plan around lunch, and anyone who wants a version of New Zealand that is not built around adrenaline.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Auckland. Transfer, and nothing. Dinner within walking distance of the hotel.
Day 2: Waiheke Island. The ferry across the gulf, forty minutes, to an island that grows Bordeaux varieties on north-facing slopes and does not really believe it is part of the same country. Three estates, a long lunch above a bay, and the last ferry back.
Day 3: To Hawke’s Bay. Fly to Napier, about an hour, rather than driving five and a half. Napier was rebuilt in art deco after the 1931 earthquake and is the most coherent small city in the country. Afternoon walking it.
Day 4: Hawke’s Bay. Gimblett Gravels for Syrah and the limestone hills for Chardonnay, with a driver. The producers here are generous with time and most visitors never come, because they are all in Marlborough. Farmers market if the day is a Saturday, and we will move a day to make that happen.
Day 5: To Wellington. Drive south, about 4 hours, through the Wairarapa with a stop at Martinborough for Pinot Noir if the legs allow. Evening in Wellington.
Day 6: Wellington. The best eating city in the country for its size: a morning coffee walk that explains why New Zealanders are insufferable about coffee, the Sunday market at Harbourside if the day lines up, and dinner on Cuba Street. Te Papa in the afternoon.
Day 7: The Cook Strait and Marlborough. Drop the car, cross as foot passengers, about 3 hours 30 minutes, with the Marlborough Sounds at the end of it. Collect a second car in Picton. Afternoon at a Sounds mussel farm, where greenshell mussels come out of the water and onto a plate within the hour.
Day 8: Marlborough. The region that made New Zealand wine famous, and the interesting part of it now is the producers who have moved past the style everyone knows: single vineyard Sauvignon, aged in oak or on skins, plus Pinot Noir and aromatics. Five cellar doors would be too many. We do three, with a driver, and lunch at one of them.
Day 9: South. The travel day, and we do not disguise it: Blenheim to Queenstown normally connects through Christchurch or Wellington and takes most of the day. Evening in Queenstown or Arrowtown.
Day 10: Central Otago. The southernmost commercial wine region in the world, and the Pinot Noir is the reason to come. Bannockburn and Bendigo in the morning, lunch at a vineyard on the Cromwell basin, Gibbston in the afternoon. A driver throughout.
Day 11: Arrowtown and Queenstown. A slow morning in Arrowtown, gold in every direction if it is April. Afternoon free, then the dinner we book two months out.
Day 12: Departure. Queenstown airport is ten minutes from town.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast, two hire cars either side of the ferry, the Cook Strait crossing as foot passengers, one internal flight and the southbound connection, a driver on every tasting day so that nobody has to abstain, tastings and lunches at the producers we name in your proposal, the Waiheke day, the Sounds mussel farm, the Wellington coffee walk, Te Papa arranged, restaurant reservations, a day-by-day document with the places we would book and the ones we would not, and a WhatsApp group with your specialist and our partners on the ground.
What we would change, and when
- Only want the South Island? Start in Christchurch, do Waipara and North Canterbury, then Marlborough by road, then Central Otago. Ten days, one island, no ferry, and a better ratio of wine to driving.
- Travelling at harvest, roughly late February to April? The cellar doors are busy in the best way and some winemakers will show you the ferment. It is also the hardest time to get their attention, so we book everything well ahead.
- Not a big drinker? This route still works. Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough are serious food regions in their own right, and we rebuild the tasting days around growers, orchards and the mussel and crayfish coast instead.
Related
Shape this trip around us All New Zealand, where the drive always takes longer than the map says trips