Escape the city and discover the award-winning wines, welcoming cellar doors, and picturesque landscapes of the Waipara Valley on this relaxed afternoon wine experience from Christchurch. Located just north of Christchurch, Waipara is one of New Zealand's premier cool-climate wine regions, internationally recognised for producing exceptional Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Chardonnay.
Escape the city and discover the award-winning wines, welcoming cellar doors, and picturesque landscapes of the Waipara Valley on this enjoyable full-day tour from Christchurch.
Your tour begins with departure from the Central City Tram Stop (#2 Cathedral Square) at 11:30am. Travel north through the rolling Canterbury countryside to the Waipara wine-growing region.
Visit three boutique wineries and enjoy guided tastings at each. Savour a delicious lunch at one of the cellar doors, paired with local wines.
Return to Christchurch in the late afternoon.
Age Requirement: Guests must be 18 years or older to participate in wine tastings. Non-alcoholic options are available.
Your tour begins with departure from the Central City Tram Stop (#2 Cathedral Square) at 11:30am. Travel north through the rolling farmland and vineyards of North Canterbury.
Upon arrival in the Waipara Valley, visit three carefully selected boutique wineries. Venues may include Waipara Springs, Torlesse, Pegasus Bay, or other premium local producers.
Each winery offers its own unique cellar door experience with knowledgeable hosts sharing winemaking traditions firsthand.
Throughout the afternoon, enjoy a minimum of 15 wine tastings featuring a diverse range of varietals.
A beautifully presented individual platter lunch is included and served in a relaxed vineyard setting.
Discover how Waipara’s limestone-rich soils, warm days, and cool nights contribute to the distinctive character of its wines.
Return to Christchurch arriving at approximately 5:00pm. Drop-off at the Central City Tram Stop (#2 Cathedral Square).
Winery venues may vary depending on availability and seasonal operations.
Dietary requirements and food allergies can be catered for with advance notice.
Guests must be 18 years or older to participate in wine tastings.
Non-alcoholic options are available on request.
Rated 4.8 out of 5 from 177 verified travellers
177 reviews
Graham did a wonderful job taking our group to the three wineries. He also provided some information on the Waipara area. Each winery had its own unique selection and tastings. My favorite was the first stop to George’s Wine, and Pepper the dog was a special highlight.
Jude gave us some great commentary on the way out of the city and learned about Christchurch. Visited 3 wineries and enjoyed a lot of wine. Special mention to torlesse wines who gave us a huge selection to taste. Bought 2 bottles to bring back to Australia. The lunch provided was a light platter and late in the day. So recommend you eat brunch before you start wine tasting. Definitely had a deep sleep on the way back to Christchurch
It was a good tour, but I wondered if I could eat my lunch while tasting wine, and after tasting the whole thing.Note that you have to order wine for lunch.
Lovely selection of three vineyards and a nice light lunch. Our guide, Joseph, was a Christchurch local who gave very informative and interesting commentary of the area. Would highly recommend this tour for those looking for meaningful but not too lengthy wine tour - was just the right amount of time.
We went today with Tania … with an “i” not a “y” … and thoroughly enjoyed it. Interesting sampling the local wines from around the Christchurch area compared to other parts of New Zealand.A fun way to spend the day!
Very nice tasting and lunch at the first winery followed by two other enjoyable visits to wineries. The guide was very helpful and kept the experience enjoyable
Our Driver Andrew was super friendly and we got some interesting information about Christchurch and its surroundings during the Drive. The winerys were well chosen, everyone was really nice and the wines as well. :)
Great experience. Our driver Tania was very entertaining.Tasted some lovely wines.Visited 3 wineries. Lunch at first winery was very good.Highly recommend if you like wine.
The wines in this area tend to be sweet whites. If that's not your thing, opt for.a wine tour in a different part of NZ.
Great commentary of McGill along with the wineries. A nice selection of stops and wines to taste.
Absolutely well worth the trip! Went to three great wineries and tasted some really lovely wines.Our tour director McGill was also an absolute delight and made the whole experience even better.
Stephanie, our guide for the day, was fantastic. Formerly from a vineyard in the region, she is both experienced in the location and the art of wine making. She was on time and professional as well as a great source of information. Her driving was excellent. The van provided was comfortable and well maintained. The wineries offered a good variety of tasty wines and the lunch was delectable. Thoroughly enjoyed the day out.
Trip was led by local New Zealander Stephanie who brilliantly conveyed a wealth of relevant and interesting information whist conveying us out on the tour. The first wine tasting at Waipara Springs included an excellent lunch followed by two visits + tastings at two further vineyards. A most enjoyable way of spending a day and with a leisurely 12:00 meet time. Well worth booking!!!
Had a good time, bit of a slow start though and felt a little disconnected in comparison to other tours we have done.
Jude was a great guide and driver - very friendly, knowledgeable. Good mix of wineries and selection of tastings. Pretty good value and group size.
We had an awesome day out, it was everything we hoped for. Lunch at Waipara springs was delicious, gorgeous setting. Stephanie is a fantastic guide, such a lot of knowledge of the area and the industry. Would definitely recommend this trip.
Felt David wasn’t particularly interested in this trip . Little negative about certain areas. Also didn’t get much information at the actual wineries.
Really amazing -- great tour guide, lovely and beautiful wineries with knowledgeable staff and good tastings. Wonderful experience. Would definitely recommend.
Had a lovely day with Jude. Enjoyed the food and wine at Waipara Springs Winery was brilliant. At George’s Road wines loved the wines and the wine maker talking us thru his selection was awesome. Also Pepper loved our pats 😉.
Stephanie was a great guide. Was very knowledgeable about the region. The lunch was lovely. Enjoyed the company. A good day.
A great day with a great driver. Highly recommend. The employees at the wineries were lovely and highly informative regarding their wines.
Wines were unique and varied, everyone will find something that fits them. Fun experience and be prepared to make friends Lunch platter was great paired with wines
Our driver and guide was very enthusiastic and interesting to listen to during our drive.She demonstrated a lot of interest in all the passengers and we enjoyed her stories.The wineries were beautiful to visit and the selection in wines was great.
The wineries were very impressive. Everyone was friendly and having lunch was worth the extra. Our guide/driver was knowledgeable and helpful. A good afternoon with lots of good wines to taste.
A bunch of us boarded the van as strangers, and by the time we were at the third winery we were all chums. The visits to three wineries showcased a good variety of the Waipara region’s products. We tasted varietals new to us. It was a delight.
The leader is very nice and others are nice too. We had tried any least 15 wines in this trip. I love this trip! I will recommend to my friends to attend this trip!
It was a very small group so not crowded. We were almost canceled due to not enough customers which I was not very happy about but some more joined at the last minute and made it possible. The wines were very good and the lunch was good as well.
Just 45 mins out of Christchurch is the Waipara wine region. We started at Waipara Springs which has a gorgeous timber cottage and garden for tastings and a fabulous food platter for lunch. Onto George River winery which in a blue sky sunshiney day had the most stunning backdrop of vines and mountains capped off by their wine. Finished at Torlesse. Driver Andrew was pleasant.
Such a fantastic tour! Scotty was an amazing guide and provide some fun and interesting commentary on our ride out to the vineyards. Would highly recommend!
Excellent wine tour with some delicious wines. Majority were white wines so if you prefer reds it might not be the tour for you.
They love wine because they were traveling alone, so the conversation will nod when they are together on tour. I was a native English speaker except for me, so I think I only understood about half the tasting explanations. It was fun to have an international exchange with the tour people over lunch at the first of the three wineries. You can also buy your favorite tasting wines at a discount. He said that Waipara had a similar soil to Burgundy, but when I actually tasted it, I personally thought it was more like Alsace, where a few white wines taste good.
The tour was exactly as advertised: we were picked up and driven to three different wineries to taste different reds, whites and rosés, and have a meal at one of the wineries. Meal was adaptable to different diet types. Our group size (9) was very manageable and pleasant. Small suggestion: it would be great if the wineries could give cards with the names of the wines tasted (or write them on a blackboard so we could photograph) so we could have them for future reference/purchase. Our guide (Rob) was very pleasant.
Tania Britton was ann amazing guide. Please tell her thanks for a wonderful time. She made it so great for all of us. Would take a tour with her anytime.
We had a very interesting day and turned lemons into lemonade! We were picked up at our hotel and my wife and I were the last of 7 guests so had to sit at the back of the van. The van’s ac was not working and it was a warm day so not the most pleasant ride to the first vineyard - about 45 minutes. As we pulled into Waipara Springs winery the van died - right in the middle of the lot! This is where we made lemonade! We had and enjoyable tasting and then were served a nice lunch. At that time our driver let us know that the company was sending a new van. So the group ordered 2 bottles of wine and we had a nice hour or so to enjoy them on this warm and breezy day! The new van arrived and we set off to our second winery - Georges Road. We had a nice tasting provided by the owner and I loved his tee shirt so much I bought one. At our third winery Torlese we had some nice wines but the port they make is so good. Unfortunately they can’t ship those wines! If you go hopefully you will have room in your bags for a bottle - we didn’t. We had a nice group on our tour and the weather and wines were enjoyable but the initial van was disappointing. The second one was much newer and comfortable- we would have given the tour 5 stars if they had sent that van first.
Our driver, Jude, was friendly and helpful. Our van broke down at the first winery we visited. They sent a replacement van while we did our wine tasting and had lunch. We had no wasted time even though we had this mishap. The three wineries we visited had good wines and friendly staff. I was solo, but had fun with the other six “strangers” in our group!
Carmen was a very good guide and chauffeur. The winerys was good, served many nice not pricey wines. I bought a couple of bottles. Very good trip. Not too far away from the city either.
This was a beautiful afternoon to visit the wineries. Stephanie was our guide and she was so engaging and delightful to have for our tour. She was very knowledgable and wanted to make sure we had a great time. We went to some very nice wineries and had a wonderful day.
6 hour trip with three winery’s and lunch. The winery’s got better during the trip with the final one (Torlesse) being the best. All wineries offered 5 tastings but at Torlesse you could additionally choose between two wines and the amount given was more generous.
I don't remember the drivers name, but I'll add a picture. The driver was full of knowledge of the area. She was funny and inviting. We went to 3 different wineries 🍷.2 of the 3 were excellent, and the other one was good.
Excellent value for money. Visit of 3 small vineyards. Very good lunch at the first (I had dietary restrictions that were well respected; they are very attentive! Our guide, Di, was perfect.
Fantastic afternoon visit to three vineyards with great wine and a lovely lunch at the first one. Jude was a great tour guide and driver. We met some lovely people on the tour too which added to the experience.
The wineries were great but even better was the tour guide Tania Britton. Was Amazing. She told us everything about the country.
Sort of last minute booking ( we booked 2 days before the actual day) and luckily still have seats available. Friendly guide who explained thing deluding the trip. Very good weather and consider a warm day at ChristchurchWe visited 3 vineyards and had lunch at one of vineyards. The lunch portion is reasonable for Asians ( I believe) We had 14 of us all together and everyone is very relax and chitchatting at the last vineyards. Definitely enjoy the tour
Lovely afternoon spent with Tania (Driver) and the gang! We were picked up on time at the Observatory hotel, right from the off Tania made everyone feel welcome. She got everyone to introduced themselves and the conversation flowed from there.As we drove along Tania was very knowledgeable about the local area and kept everyone entertained. It was a comfortable journey and mini bus had air con.At the first winery, Waipara Springs, we enjoyed sampling several very nice wines (sauvignon blanc was definitely my favourite) with a brief explanation of each one and then had a lovely lunch. We purchased a couple of well priced bottles of Sauvignon blanc then we were on our way to George’s Road wines. There we sampled several of Kirk’s wines in some of the most beautiful surroundings. We all chatted happily and I would have sat there feeling very content all afternoon but we had yet another winery to get to. Finally we went to Torlesse winery, again I couldn’t fault the wines- everyone had their favourite and we also got to sample a port and blackcurrant liquor, which I can highly recommend and we also purchased! I would say the tour was well worth the money, we were lucky to have lovely company and a fabulous driver.All in all a fantastic day, I would highly recommend it.
Very well organised tour, lovely vineyards and hosts at each. Nice to start tour with lunch at our first stop and each vineyard was different in terms of location, style of presentation and atmosphere which I liked. Great variety of wines which were available to buy along with other souvenirs but no hard sell. Great afternoon, great guide and great company!
The whole experience was so much fun. The scenery was so beautiful and the wines were really good, even wines I don’t typically like. It helped that we had a really fun group as well. Highly recommend if you like wine and good views!
Visited 3 great wineries, plenty of tasting’s at each and an enjoyable lunch at the first winery. Would highly recommend this tour while visiting Christchurch.
Had a wonderful day touring some of the wineries that Christchurch had to offer. Met some lovely people and our driver Tania was lovely and friendly and very knowledgeable about where we were going. Highly recommend 5 stars
We had a great afternoon visiting 3 wine vineyards with Tania our driver, who was very knowledgeable of the area. The lunch was perfect too. We had an enjoyable time, with the small group we were traveling with in the van as well.Thank you.
We had an awesome time on the trip Last weekend when we visited Christchurch for the first time, the driver was great and very accommodating, especially for my weak bladder after spending the day sipping on beautiful Vinos. I even beat her at connect 4 but I won’t rub that in. Overall a great day out and would recommend
