La Esencia de Waiheke Wine Tour

First Class; Top Wineries Paul gave wonderful history & trivia about The people & places we visited Kept on schedule

Our guide — Debbie — was friendly and knowledgeable of the island and the vineyards we visited. The natural beauty and delicious wines made for a fantastic day. Lunch was great, too. Would go back and do a combination of wine, art and gardens.

What a gorgeous day we had! From the moment Grant greeted us at the ferry until he dropped us off, his enthusiasm for Waiheke was infectious. The land and sea are beautiful and the weather was perfect. Our first stop was Mudbrick Cellar Door. The view was stunning and the wine bright and tasty. I would have liked to have stayed there longer, just based on the view. But we had more in store! Our next stop was Te Motu where we not only had great wine, but freshly baked bread and a conversation with one of the Dunleavys, the winery owners. We ended our tasting at Stonyridge, which has hosted many celebrities over the years as evidenced by the photos on the wall. Our lunch was a delicious stop at Three Seven Two, a beachfront restaurant with choices of lamb, seafood, and pasta. The day flew by and it definitely made our memory jar. Big thanks to Grant for the commentary and welcome.

Pick up on Waiheke was good, mini bus was comfy and it is easy to get the ferry across from Downtown Auckland. We visited 3 wine cellars, all quite different from one another and the staff at each were very informative and interesting. We were unlucky to have really heavy rain all day, but this is a good way to spend a wet day as we were in the minibus or wine cellars most of the time. We did miss some of the stunning views and I imagine the island is really beautiful in the sunshine. The only improvement would be if the driver could give additional information about both wines and the island. An enjoyable day which is well worth doing.

Great way to enjoy some of Waihekes vineyards in a casual manner, plus a yummy lunch to end trip. Small group so make new friends & enjoyed every minute of trip. Our tour guide Martin was exceptional.

Great tour overall! Nick was an excellent guide, and all of the wineries we visited were fantastic. One suggestion would be to either offer light snacks at each stop or schedule lunch midway through the tour rather than at the end. Otherwise, I’d recommend bringing your own snacks to hold you over between tastings.

Excellent tour guide, Grant. What a fun afternoon, drinking great wines, beautiful views and meeting people from all over the world.

We were picked up from our hotel at 11am and our guide Nico drove directly to Mudbrick Winery, this is one of the largest on the island and you can see how they became it (nice location, good wines and very professional) Next was a visit to the oldest winery Goldie Estate, quite a contrast from the first, however an enjoyable stop. Last, but certainly the best, Casa Miro, it is a piece of Spain in NZ, You would think you were in Parc Guell with all the Gaudi type architecture, the host Aries was knowledgeable and enthusiastic and brought all the wines to life. Highly recommend this winery and the food on tables looked excellent, alas ours was only a tasting. Next was lunch at 372 Restaurant, again very good food and great location. This tour was very good and perfect in a maximum number of 8 people. Highly recommend this tour and Nico as our guide.

Michael our guide was very knowledgeable and funny. The tour was well organised & professional.

We enjoyed our visit to Waiheke Island. Craig our tour guide was informative and very pleasant to be with! The wines were interesting. Some were just good but others were a surprise. The lunch stop at the end was amazing! Our favorite winery was Mudbrick with Jake!