A World Class Wine Tour

New Zealand has some great wines but have you actually picked your own grape from the vine and experienced the original flavour - I did, thanks to Discovery Travel’s Waipara Wine Tour which can be booked at CentrePoint on Colombo Motel Reception, and it’s a great deal at $105 for the afternoon – including lunch, and wine tasting!

The day was sunny and warm and it was just a short 45 minute drive to the Waipara area.  On the way I learned about why the land that was barren when I was a kid is now covered in grape vines!

This ½ day Wine Tour visits 4 award winning wineries – it depends on the day which ones you actually visit.  

We had lunch at the first winery – a myriad of local delicacies and flavours – delicious! And wine to match.  

Over the day there were 25 odd wines to be tried – Wow!  This time of the year (end of March) was just before vintage – wine talk for time to pick the grapes!  And while we were having lunch the barrels were being readied for this year’s process – really made the atmosphere!

At the second winery we stumbled across a mine of information person and were baffled by his knowledge and willingness to put up with all our ‘really want to ask’ questions.

At the 3^rd. winery we headed to the vines and sampled the ripe product and had a look at their north facing slope planted in Shiraz vines – my favourite!

The 4^th and last winery had a beautiful garden and also served up great coffee!

After 4 wineries and 4 different experiences it was a most relaxing ride back to Christchurch.

Christchurch has just been appointed as one of the Great Wine Capitals – by The Great Wine Capitals Global Network - an alliance of just 9 cities, including Bordeaux and Florence. What does this mean? There’s great wine to be had only a short drive from Christchurch – and you can experience it all with a world class wine tour.