1 Bushmere Estate
166 Main Road SH2
Road 1 Matawhero, Gisborne
New Zealand
Gisborne.
Lunches Wed to weekends. Weddings. Accommodation.
2 Casita Miro
Casita means little house and the Spanish artist Miro has inspired artworks and art which catches your attention from the murals lining the drive to the walls and the toilets and adds to a lively, happy mood. A colourful visit to excite the whole family, whether or not you do the tasting and like wines, and their wines. Also a lively restaurant and picnic area on the slope behind the restaurant.
3 Craggy Range
The premises are huge. They have a tasting room. A restaurant in another building. You can see the vines at the back.
The most exciting thing was where we were shown that if you rub two bits of pebble together, you sniff and get the aroma of the sea. These aromatic pebbles impart flavour to the water sucked up by the roots, which in turn adds to the aroma of their grapes.
Craggy Range is in Havelock North, on Hawke's Bay.
4 Dancing Petrel Paewhenua Island, Northlands
By contrast with big bustling places, the Dancing Petrel is a quiet secluded place. We phoned them to get the passcode to their gate. Drove down on the waterfront house where we found their place, run by a husband and wife team, plus a lady manager. The couple are attuned to nature and we sat sipping wine and smiling and admiring the sea.
But the label is distinctive and memorable. It shows a sea bird, the dancing petrel. We sat in the back yard of the owners who are small scale producers, nature lovers, whilst they described the petrel they promote on their label.
7 Man O'War
Named after the beach which is named after a war boat. Despite a drive along a narrow road, a tour bus comes this way.
I was there on Valentine's DayFeb 14th, 2025, and the staff and guests all seemed in the romantic, seasonal spirit. Handsome young men with ear-rings hurried back and forward. Pretty girls, guests and couples, flounced past and posed in their finery, like something out of a Shakespeare play.
Tasting room, plus an open sided lunch resturant overlooing the trees over the busy lawn by the car park behind the beach. They say it's the only beachside winery on the island of Waiheke, and probably New Zealand and possibly the world.
8 Marsden Winery, Russell, Northlands
Marsden Winery was big and bustling, a very popular eating place. A location with a story. The current, chatty, owner who we met, was greeting regular customers at the door and bar counter. In between, he was keen to tell us how he had bought the place and battled to keep it going as a winery. Competing interests were thinking the site was better used by uprooting the vines and tradition and introducing a modern new housing estate.
You can have wine tasting, a meal. Maybe meet the British owner in the UK. He was involved in enjineering gears for engines, motorbikes.
9 Matawhero
10 Millton Vineyard Winery
We saw the vines and orange trees outside.
Their label Libiamo is from Verdi's opera, the old Italian word which is the equivalent of 'Cheers!'
While the owner was away, we had a private chat with a knowledgeable staff member. He told us that their 2020 Te Arai (grape chenin blanc) is from the Maori words, te meaning the and arai, river. The cow is the symbol of biodynamic production.
I loved their muscat wines. I always love sweet muscat. The aroma was sweet, though the wine struck me as dry. About 30 NZ dollars a bottle, and $180 for a case of 6.
Fou can join their mailing list. Freight $12 North island and $18 South Isalnd, with a $4 rural delivery charge.
11 Mission Estate
Historic estate, in business of wine making since 1851. Lots of pictures downstairs. Lots to look at.
NORTHLANDS Wine Region has four places we visited.
11 The Omata Estate - for a perfect pizza
We stopped around lunch time, watched them cooking pizza in a hot pizza oven. After sampling wines, we ordered a pizza, the best pizza I've ever had. Just a thin base, not overwhelming you with filling flour, supporting and spread with a mixture of savoury white cheese and sweet red cranberry which was divine.
12 Paroa Bay - Gourmet Dinner at Sage restaurant
From Russell take a winding road, or the shuttle bus free for diners at the Paroa Bay restaurant. On the hilltop overlooking their vinery is a top grade restaurant, with a tasting menu. At lunchtime or early evening there is a fine view, which we captured when we stopped there and on seeing the menu immediately made a booking.
But for dinner, returning late at night with twilight we found outdoors breezy, chilly, and took their advice regarding tables and happily ate indoors. We had the tasting menu for food, which must be for two sharing, and one set of matching tasting wines.
We had a private look at the vineyards and winemaking below the next day. The novelty for me was seeing the wines drawn out of the barrel by the winemaking to check the tast, using what looked like a huge pipette.
13 Poderi Crisci
Their sign is on the main road. We drove up but they were closed to the public for a private function. We saw a helicopter land on the hilltop just above us. Very exciting.
From a distance, it looked like one long table along the bottom of the hillside under an awning, like one of those Italian films abut an Italian wedding.
So we did not get to taste their wines or speak to them. But just having visited the entrance had interested us enough to order one of their wines at our dinner with friends on our last night in New Zealand.
A family run business.
Their bottle had the fern sign for sustainable wine growing.
Podere is the Italian for farm, or small estate, poderi, like spagetti, ending in i being plural. Crisci is another Italian word, probably meaning curly-haired.
14 Soljans Estate Winery
366 State Highway 16, Kumeu, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone +64 9 412 5858
The Sojans family is of Croatian origin. Has a restaurant.
Great shop selling caps, bags, scarves. Wineglasses for sale with the letter S.
Winetasting NZ$15 for 5 wines. I loved the gewurztraminer.
15 Stonyridge
restaurant@stonyridge.com
Facebook and Instagram
www.stonyridge.com
Phone +64 9 372 8822
80 Onetangi Road, Waiheke Island 1081 New Zealand
16 Urban Winery
Napier. The place with the eggs, egg shaped barrels, in wood or concrete. Live music and events. I liked the wines Waterfront Madam Social, Casa (italian) and Hunger Monger.
17 Volcanic Hills
18 Vilagrad,
at Ohaupo, in the Wikato region,
Vilagrad Winery, Ohaupo, Walkato wine region,
702 Rukuhia Road
RD2 Ohaupo 3882New Zealand
T: +64 7 825 2893
E: wines@vilagradwines.co.nz
Useful Websites
Casita Miro
Goldie Estate
Leveret & Mills Reef Winery
Katikati Cellar Door
Mission Estate
Paroa Bay
Website
Thelindisgroup.com/paroabay
Email @paroabaywinery
Soljans
Stonyridge
Urban Winery
Vilagrad
Wine tours on Waiheke
Glenn Fowler, Waiheke Island Tours
Private tours, shared tours, corporate tours
mobile tel 021 565 680
www waihekeislandwinetours.co.nz
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