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The Queenstown Wine Trail is a tour that takes you wine tasting and sightseeing around the fascinating and picturesque Queenstown and Otago wine regions. The tours run daily and cost NZ$ 106 per person. When I discovered this trip I was rather excited as I’d always had a desire to try wine tasting, to become a bit more skilled at choosing the right red or white to compliment a meal. I’d seen wine experts on television and had always wondered if they really knew what they were talking about, or if it was just pretentious nonsense! I wanted to find out so I booked a place on the Wine Trail. Full of enthusiasm, I joined my small group in central Queenstown at 12.30pm and we set off for our afternoon of hard drinking - I mean, cultured experience interspersed with wine sampling!
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We visited four wineries in Queenstown and tasted the delicious wines on offer. I could feel my knowledge growing with every sip. We also had chance to go on an underground cave tour, which was particularly atmospheric, where we sampled more wines and tried to attach the descriptive words to each one. It improved my vocabulary as well as my taste buds! We were also able to stop for lunch at Gibbston Valley Winery (though this was not included in the tour price) and enjoy a sociable and relaxed lunch (I had the mineral water!) The scenery on the tour was also wonderful and would be well worth the trip even without the crafty tastings.
The whole tour from start to finish took around 5 hours. The guides were entertaining and clearly very knowledgeable: I feel I am better armed to tackle the wine list in even the most upmarket of establishments! There is also a different tour available that only visits two wineries, though it does include a cheese factory tour and sampling session. I think I will try that one next time and attempt to become a connoisseur of the cheese board too!
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