nzenjoy Waipara Valley Wine Tours

All of the activities at nzenjoy are designed to provide our guests with a wonderful opportunity to enjoy New Zealand’s unique recreational and leisure lifestyle. Participation, fun, entertainment, enjoyment and personal satisfaction are our paramount priority.

The Waipara Valley consists of more than 67 vineyards and is one of the fastest growing regions in New Zealand. There is currently over 500 hectares of vines planted, and this region is a popular destination for vineyard and winery tours.We are pleased to be able to offer you a winery tour taking in a selection of New Zealand's finest wines, all from the Waipara Valley, just 40 minutes north of Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand.

nzenjoy offers both half day and full day wine tour options and these can be designed to suit our clients' individual wishes. The half day tour takes in three vineyards and the full day tour five vineyards. Because we wish to keep our tours very personal nzenjoy limits group numbers to a maximum of 10 people. You will be driven by luxury vehicle and you will be picked up from your accommodation and returned there at the end of your wine tour. We have been able to arrange our tours to visit some of the more exclusive vineyards in the Waipara Valley, offering our clients something special. Also available on our wine tours are exquisite food hampers prepared by Christchurch's top restaurant, JDV of Merivale. These hampers are prepared especially to accompany the wines that you will be tasting on the day of your tour.

Because many of the wineries and vineyards we visit on our wine tours are by appointment only and very personal, itineraries are designed based on availability. Below are some of the magnificant wineries and vinyards you will visit on your nzenjoy wine tour.

Black Estate
The vines were planted at Black Estate in limestone and mineral rich soil by Russell Black and his late wife Kumiko in 1993 and 1994 and have had minimal irrigation forcing them to develop a deep and extensive root system. This combined with the very best vineyard practices and low cropping has resulted in fruit of intense flavour and ripeness. The first harvest was in 2000.

Pegasus Bay
Pegasus Bay is a team effort, with the Donaldson family fully involved in all aspects of wine making and marketing of their premium wines. In a decade they have consistently made top wines in often-adventurous styles. The hill-sheltered vineyard is planted on a base of stones, which retain heat in the ground. This enables full ripening of grape varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, not normally successful when grown this far south.

Floating Mountain
Floating Mountain began as the Waipara Springs Wine Co. in 1989, was renamed Mark Rattray Vineyards in 1992 and subsequently became Floating Mountain which is the translation of the Maori name for a local landmark, Mt Grey. The development of a new purpose-built winery began, with a focus on Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and limited releases of Sauvignon Blanc. The 1993 Pinot Noir was the only New Zealand red to win a gold medal at the 1995 International Wine Challenge in London and very recently the same wine achieved a Diplome d'Honneur at the 7th International Wine Awards in Zurich.

Daniel Schuster
Daniel Schuster Wines Ltd was established in 1986 as a small, quality focused producer of Canterbury wines, and is nestled on the sunny, limestone-rich slopes of the Omihi hills in Waipara. Daniel Schuster Wines produce finely crafted, classically structured Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. These elegant and characterful wines proudly display the terroir from which they originate and are sought after by wine enthusiasts, both in New Zealand and overseas.

Muddy Water
Muddy Water is a direct translation of the Maori place name wai (water) and para (mud). Handcrafted wines from Waipara, New Zealand, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinotage and Syrah, produced in small quantities, have been released to medal winning standards. You will enjoy drinking Muddy Water wines.

Fiddler's Green
Fiddler's Green "the happy land imagined by sailors where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing for dancers that never tire". The 1997 Riesling was the first wine produced. Olive trees are also planted on the property. Owned and operated by the Johns family in Waipara, North Canterbury, New Zealand, Fiddler's Green is rated by Cuisine Wine Annual as a "must visit, not to be missed" vineyard. Fiddler's Green has a mission to produce handcrafted, estate grown wines of consistently high quality, style, and elegance for the discerning consumer.

Mountford Vineyard
Offering quality winery/homestay accommodation, Mountford Vineyard is situated on the northwest hills of the Waipara Valley, with stunning views. Mountford Estate has some of the highest and steepest vineyards to be found in the Waipara Valley. "I have to tie myself into the tractor with a seatbelt," jokes Michael Eaton, a former art lecturer who set up the vineyard in 1991 with his wife Buffy. The estate's steep gradients do make viticulture hard work, but Michael is able to console himself with the thought that some of the greatest wine in the world is grown on the hillsides.

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