Petrolly, fallen over, and foxy are all wine tasting descriptors (thanks Wikipedia). Cat pee is another, and often describes the smell of New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Cat pee smell aside, visiting wineries for a platter and a glass of wine is one of the pleasures we’ve discovered over the last year or so.
We haven’t been to every winery that serves platters but we’ll give it a good go, any recommendations will be much appreciated. We recommend all wineries listed but if you twisted my drinking arm for three favourites I’d say Mills Reef Winery in Tauranga (moved to Katikati in 2020), Gladstone Vineyard in Carterton, and Brick Bay Wines in Snells Beach.
New Zealand Wine shows the wine growing areas and can link you to most, if not all, wineries in the country. If you don’t have the time for a wine enthusiast’s road trip you can taste your way through the regions at one of the country’s wine centres in Queenstown, Arrowtown and Waiheke Island.
Karikari Estate – Karikari Peninsula
Snells Beach – Brick Bay Wines
Tauranga – Mills Reef Winery
Rotorua – Volcanic Hills, you’ll find the Tasting Room at the top of Skyline Rotorua
Gisborne Wine Centre
Gisborne – Wrights Vineyard & Winery
Gisborne – Matawhero Wines
Gisborne – Kirkpatrick Estate Winery
Te Awanga (Hawkes Bay) – Clearview Estate
Carterton – Gladstone Vineyard
Martinborough – Margrain Vineyard
South Island
Blenheim – Wairau River Winery
Waipara – Waipara Springs Winery
Queenstown – The Winery
Cromwell – Wooing Tree Winery