Full Day Winemakers Tour in Marlborough
Description
With a winemaker or local legend as your guide; your tour starts with an informative vineyard stroll. You can ask all those curly questions, and capture some great vineyard photos. During your full day tour you visit 4-6 wineries which could include a local brewery (depending on the preferences of the group), with over 40 cellar doors to choose from, if you’ve got a favorite we’ll do our best to get you there. We generally focus on a new Zealand family owned vineyards and wineries but can also visit the small boutique and organic vineyards. This tour does not include a visit to Cloudy Bay, Fromm and Hans Herzog. If Cloudy Bay is a must see then please book our Gourmet Gold Tour or a Private Wine tour Lunch at a vineyard restaurant is always a highlight and is at your own cost. There is opportunity to visit the Makana Chocolate Shop. Visit 4-6 wineries.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We begin the day by talking about the Marlborough wine industry, with informative vineyard stroll tasting the grapes and an ultra premium wine tasting at a boutique winery. Lawson's Dry Hills Wines showcases the unique characteristics of the region's terroir through their elegant and expressive wines. Their commitment to sustainable practices and innovation further contributes to their reputation as a respected and sought-after winery.
This is one of our favourite winery restaurants that we often stop at to enjoy a relaxed gourmet lunch.
If you enjoy beer, cider or wine, we can finish the tour relaxing at our favourite local DNA brewery. It is an opportunity to taste local hand-crafted, and award winning beers! If you don't want to taste the beer, they also have award-winning Ant Moore wines.
If you like Chocolate then a stop at Makana confectionary is a must.
Fantastic wine and food and is one of our preferred lunch restaurants on the tour depending on the weather and the size of the group.
Visit a very unique organic wine producer. Potentially enjoy a behind the scenes tour of their wine cellar with an in-depth explanation of the winemaking process. Enjoy a tailor made wine tasting of a selection of their wines.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Free pick-up from all central Blenheim and Renwick accommodation, or from the Blenheim "I Site" If you are staying in Picton or further than 15km from Blenheim, there may be an additional cost of NZ$20-55 per person, to cover additional travel time. This can be paid on the day. We will message you to inform you or you can use Google maps to check how far your accommodation is from Blenheim.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(335)
My wife and I did the tour in winter so I suppose we were lucky to get Cameron as our guide. He was knowledgeable, friendly, and genuinely a nice guy to spend the day with. The wineries we went to were a good mix showing what Marlborough has to offer including some ones not readily available outside of New Zealand. I would recommend this tour to anyone looking to have a relaxing day tasting and learning about different wines in pleasant company!
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We're delighted to hear you enjoyed your day with Cam and appreciated the mix of wineries and wines that Marlborough has to offer. It was a pleasure having you both along, and we're so glad you had a relaxing and memorable experience. We really appreciate the recommendation and hope to welcome you back to Marlborough again someday! Ngā mihi, The Hop n Grape Tours Team
Our tour Guide Cam, was very knowledgeable about the Wine industry. He was pationate about the wines & wine making which made the tour extremely interesting. He engaged well with all the guests on the tour. The wineries we visited were great, especially Lawsons Hill with Nigel their winemaker providing excellent information on the wines we tasted. The last stop at the chocolate factory was a great finish to the day. Thank you Cam for a great tour, hopefully will visit again.
Thank you so much for your lovely review! We're glad to hear you enjoyed your day with Cam and appreciated his passion and knowledge of the wine industry. It sounds like you had a fantastic time, and we're especially glad you enjoyed your visit to Lawson’s Hill and the chocolate factory to finish the day. We’d love to welcome you back to Marlborough again in the future! Ngā mihi, The Hop n Grape Tours Team
We just had a wonderful day with Cam from Hop and grape. We were really interested to meet a winemaker leading a tour while we were in Malborough. Great advice on our recent move to a property with grapes. Really well managed to explore a diverse range of wines. Great lunch and very relaxed and informative experience. Would recommend this wine tour to anyone who is looking to experience taste and learn about wines and how they are created.
Thank you so much for your lovely review! We're delighted to hear you had such a wonderful and relaxed day with Cam. It sounds like your new property with grapes will make for an exciting journey, and we're glad Cam could share some helpful insights from his winemaking experience. We're also pleased you enjoyed the variety of wines, lunch, and learning more about how the wines are made. Thank you for recommending us, and we hope to welcome you back to Marlborough again soon! Ngā mihi, The Hop n Grape Tours Team
We had a wonderful time, visited 5(!) wineries and learned a lot about Marlborough wine and winemaking in general. Our guide Darlene was super knowledgable, and great to be around. Great variety of wines and wineries, and all around fun and informative. Highly recommend to any wine lovers!
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We're happy to hear you had such a fun and informative day with Darlene and enjoyed the variety of wineries and wines. Five wineries is certainly a great way to experience the best of Marlborough! We're so glad you enjoyed learning about the region and winemaking along the way. Thank you for the recommendation, and we hope to welcome you back to Marlborough again someday! Ngā mihi, The Hop n Grape Tours Team
We had fill day tour with Darlene. Darlene was very professional, not only driving but also providing us useful wine knowledge. The wineries she picked yesterday was all amazing! Thank you again I would 100% recommend it!
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We're delighted to hear you enjoyed your full day tour with Darlene and found the wineries and wine knowledge valuable. It was a pleasure having you along, and we're so glad you had such a great day exploring Marlborough. Thank you for the 100% recommendation, and we hope to welcome you back again someday! Ngā mihi, The Hop n Grape Tours Team
Darlene was a very friendly and knowledgeable guide. We enjoyed visits to Lawson’s Dry Hills, Framingham, St Clair (also had an excellent lunch), Whitehaven, and Villa Maria. All of our winery hosts were also excellent! We highly recommend this tour!
Thank you so much for your lovely review! We're glad to hear you enjoyed your day with Darlene and the wonderful mix of wineries, especially the lunch at Saint Clair. It’s great to know that all the cellar door hosts helped make the experience special. We really appreciate your recommendation and hope to welcome you back to Marlborough again someday! Ngā mihi, The Hop n Grape Tours Team
We loved this tour! Our guide Amanda was informative, so lovely to talk too and really made an effort to learn what we liked. We said we didn’t like red wine so she ensured we only had white and rose wine. She also helped us with our dinner plans and dropped us off at the wine experience which made it much easier for us. We found it worth the money, we visited five different wineries with 4/5 tastings at each place. Also we found it amazing that it ran even though only two of us had booked onto it essentially making it a private tour!
Thank you so much for your wonderful review. We're delighted to hear that Amanda made your day so enjoyable and tailored the tour to your preferences. It's great to know you enjoyed the wineries, tastings, and the personal touches along the way. We truly appreciate your kind words and hope to welcome you back to Marlborough again someday! Ngā mihi, Hop n Grape Tours Team
Took this tour when visiting Blenheim in February, and what an excellent tour it was. An extremeky knowledgeable guide/driver and several well tutored wine tastings. Our favourite was Spy Valkey, where, amongst others, we tasted an exceptional sauvignon blanc, which we discovered we could buy back in the UK. Very close behind were Saint Clair - (more exceptional wines, and an amazing lunch platter of local food), and Hunter's, both of whose wines we are able to source back in the UK. Highly recommend this wine trip, though suspect vineyards visited will vary.
Thank you for your wonderful review and recommendation. We're delighted to hear you enjoyed your day exploring Marlborough's wineries and that Spy Valley, Saint Clair, and Hunter's left such a lasting impression. It's always a pleasure when guests can continue enjoying their favourite Marlborough wines once they return home. We're also pleased that you found the wine tastings informative and enjoyed learning more about the region from your guide. Thank you for choosing to tour with us, and we hope to welcome you back to Marlborough again in the future. Ngā mihi, Cameron 0211. 574. 094
We were the only ones on the tour. Darlene was informative and very good tour guide. She appeared well known at the wineries we went to and everyone made us feel very welcome despite only being 2 of us. Would recommend to anyone interested in wine. We were taken out of our comfort zone and introduced to wines we previously had ruled out. Amazing day
Thank you for your lovely review. We're happy to hear you had such an amazing day with Darlene and felt welcomed at the wineries we visited. One of the things we love most at Hop n Grape Tours is helping guests discover new wines and step outside their comfort zones, so it's wonderful to hear that was a highlight of your experience. Thank you for your recommendation, and we hope to welcome you back to Marlborough for another wine adventure in the future. Ngā mihi, Cameron
If you’re remotely into wine and want a taste of the best of New Zealand, you’re in the right place! Our guide Amanda was very knowledgeable, friendly and funny. Unlike some other wine tours, you don’t get food pairings with your tastings though. As a family, we had a lot of fun, great conversations, learnt about winemaking and made new friends with other people on the tour.
Thank you for your lovely review. We're so pleased to hear that Amanda made your day enjoyable and that your family had fun, learned about winemaking, and enjoyed meeting fellow wine lovers along the way. Thank you for choosing Hop n Grape Tours. We hope to see you back in Marlborough someday! Ngā mihi, Cameron 0211. 574. 094
