Private Marlborough Winery Tour

The wine tour was very nice with nice wine to taste. Amanda, our escort was very pleasant and nice. Is definitely recommended.

Sometimes in life what starts looking like a disaster turns into one of the most memorable experiences of a lifetime. My wife and I booked a private winery tour with Hop and Grape on the recommendation of our hotel, and had some preliminary email contact discussing options. On the appointed date we waited...and waited....and waited.... for our tour operator and after almost an hour reached out to the company, very frustrated and upset with the delay. As it turns out, the operator picked up the wrong guests at our same hotel, and it was not until I called that the error became apparent. Doug arrived to pick us up, very sincerely apologetic and upset with the delay he had caused us. He drove us to private Vineyards at Spy Valley, St. Claire (including lunch) , Cloudy Bay and Nautilus. At each location, he was well-known, and the hosts were extremely gracious affording us fabulous and very personalized tastings. The highlight of our day was getting to spend it with Doug, a published author, and highly inspirational person. He opened himself up to us, sharing his life and philosophies, his accomplishments and trials, and to quote him, provide us with "an experience that money cannot buy." It is rare to find someone thousands of miles away, who shares the same values and concerns, beliefs and insights, and makes you feel at home so far away from home. The tour itself was incredibly well structured, the wines awesome, the personal attention over the top, but the people behind it, Doug and Cameron, made it an experience to remember always. When I think of my travels to New Zealand, the day I will remember will be this one, sharing a very personal day with local down-to-earth people in their home.

Hop n Grapes from start to finish had excellent communication, customization, detailed instructions and updates that I appreciated. When we arrived and encountered our guide Doug I knew immediately it was going to be an amazing day. We started off with a lovely walk along an estuary with black swan, ducks and other birds. Then he whisked off to our first of 4 very different wine tastings. In between we had a wonderful lunch on a outdoor garden patio surrounded by vineyards. At the end he took us for a drive around the bay and made sure we were back to the port early for our cruise ship all aboard. I highly recommend this tour.

Excellent I'm all regards. Our guide Darlene was very knowledgeable and even adjusted our tour stops to meet our interests

Darlene is the BEST. She explained winemaking in a way that was easy to understand and that honored the art of making wine. I learned so much during this tour and tasted some of the best wines I've ever had. My friends and I had such a good time despite the day being rainy and chilly. This was a fantastic tour!

We had Doug Avery as our guide! What a treasure. He was so experienced and passionate. The tour was informative, tasty and fun. If you go, you must use this outfit.

Amazing day with Darleen we enjoyed the tour enormously. The knowledge she had was first class and we did learn a lot but in a fun way! All stops were great, the passion demonstrated by the employees at each stop was first class. We have done similar tours all around the word and this was certainly one of the best if not the best. We couldn’t recommend Hop and Grape any more. Cloudy bay and Forrest wines were particularly stand out and lunch at St Clare was beautiful and good value.

Myself and my wife booked in for a private wine tour with these guys and we absolutely loved it! Darlene was our tour guide and she was brilliant! She was so full of knowledge and made sure we had the best time. We got taken to a lot of smaller, family-owned vineyards which we loved. Would highly recommend!

Phil our guide was a wonderful humble man with long wine making experience, we were just a small groups of 6 people on a tour in Marlborough. There was 5 winery's on the route., All were good and interesting to visit The lunch at Allan Scott was superb. Thanks again Phil you made our day Take care /Peter and Ninni

The tour was customised for our family with two children - it worked so well with four adults and two little ones. Cam gave our daughter and partner time to relax and enjoy the wine and surroundings in each place without rushing us on. It was great to get the winemaker's perspective at the first winery, to see how a small, organic company works from the vines to the bottle. Lunch was leisurely, tasting happened while we ate a delicious meal. We visited one more winery, chocolate factory, then a brewery which was a good finish for our two men. Thank you, Cam, for a great day out, for your knowledge and very well put-together tour. Highly recommended.