Waiheke Island Half Day Scenic Wine And Lunch

GREAT day of wine and great vistas. Charcuterie board topped off with great wine and great views. Highly recommend.

The tour was as described and excellent. Our driver, Stew, was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. While we enjoyed the wines and view at the first winery, Mudbrick, more, we can’t say enough about the “snack” and glass of wine at the second, Batch. It all made for a picture perfect first day in Auckland.

Our guide Grant was amazing, his passion and knowledge of the island, its wine industry and hidden gems was outstanding. Fantastic way to spend a few hours, with a delicious lunch grazing platter to soak in the views. Highly recommend if you are in Auckland, the ferries over to the island are easy to catch but make sure you get there early during peak season and weekends as the ferries cap out at 300 passengers, you aren’t guaranteed a seat.

Absolutely fantastic tour. Michael was awesome, with local knowledge and extremely helpful, polite and courteous.

The tour was so good and went extremely smoothly. Paul our tour guide was fantastic, the wineries were great and well prepared for our arrival. Highly recommend this tour

We had an absolutely amazing experience on this half-day wine tour! Michael was fantastic, friendly, knowledgeable, and genuinely passionate about the region, the wineries, and the wines themselves. He made the entire experience feel relaxed and personal, and we never once felt rushed. If you’re looking for a fun, stress-free way to experience the local wine scene, I highly recommend this tour!

We had an incredible day, our guide Stu was fantastic, really friendly and told us so much about the island. The scenery was beautiful and the two wineries we went to were really great - overall an amazing day! Highly recommend.

Nico our tour guide and driver was spectacular. He knew so much about the island. Each of the wineries were amazing and in beautiful settings.

Good way to see a lot of the island and have a wine experience. Knowledgeable driver and gorgeous settings.

We spent yesterday afternoon with our guide Nydia for the wine and lunch tour. I would highly recommend this tour. The wineries we visited were stunning and lunch was lovely at Goldies. Very nice, thank you.

Great tour and would do it again! Picked it because we didn’t want to do an early day tour. Stopped at Mudbrick for a tasting, Goldie Estates for lunch and a tasting, a quick stop at the beach and got dropped off in town. Took a quick cab from town to the ferry. Our guide was very knowledgeable, pointed out items and gave a good insight on the island while driving from place to place.

We got a good look at the island, its beaches and drank some excellent wine. Thanks to Fleur who was an excellent guide.

We took a small group tour with stops at two wineries. Our guide, Nick, was an island native *and* wine expert! He literally completed a degree, post retirement, in wine making. We had great local commentary and superb wine knowledge. This is a lower key tour than many in New Zealand. My partner & I have joked that the NZ tourism saying should be “Welcome! Now go climb a hill.” This was very chill. The first winery was beautiful; truly like a movie set. We tasted four varieties. The second was a more relaxed site, associated with the University of Auckland. There, we tasted four more and were served a huge charcuterie platter! The second stop also offered a full glass of one of the wines in the tasting. Food & wine aside, Waiheke island is spectacularly beautiful. I highly recommend this trip.

Grant was a wonderful tour guide for our wine and food tour. We were picked up at the Ferry building in a comfortable, air conditioned van. Small group tour. Grant gave us history of the island and vineyards. Our first stop was Mudbrick Vineyards. Beautiful location and great wine tasting and staff. Next was Goldie Estate with wine tasting and platter lunch to share. Excellent with great staff. We continued with a tour of the beaches and then to Oneroa for some shopping before we were dropped back at the ferry for our return trip to Auckland. I would definitely recommend Grant for any tours he provides

Stu, our guide, was terrific; attentive & charming - we came away with a better understanding of New Zealand & Waiheke culture

Our guide. Grant was terrific. 2 wineries and tour of island Even stopped in one of the small towns.

If you’re reading this review, you’re probably attempting to parse through the dozens of winery tours for Waiheke. I’m here to tell you to look no further, stop looking and book this tour. Here are a few of the highlights— First, the logistics for this tour are significantly better than others. Many other tours want you to take the 8 or 9 am ferry, which will make for a much more frantic morning as those early sailings can get rather busy. Instead, take a leisurely morning and get over to the ferry terminal around 11:30 in order to take the noon ferry. We were met right at the Waiheke terminal by our guide Fleur and she introduced us to the other members of our group. We had a relatively small group of 6, which made for an intimate experience and we all got to know each other a bit over the course of the afternoon. The timing of the tour leaves plenty of time to enjoy the two wineries and visit a number of scenic sites, with plenty of time to make it back for the 5 pm ferry, or extend your time on the island (as we did). Second, the quality of the guiding is excellent. Fleur is a resident of Waiheke and gave us a unique perspective as a tour guide, answering questions about the residents, real estate and history of development on Waiheke. The entire time that she was driving, she was narrating, giving interesting stories about life on the island and pointing out notable sites and points on the island. Fleur also took us to a number of spots off the beaten trail and gave us amazing advice when we decided to extend our time on the island for dinner. Third, the selection of wineries is outstanding. You may be looking at other tours that attempt to stuff 4 or 5 wineries into an itinerary. This tour opts for quality over quantity and you won’t have FOMO after you experience these two. Mudbrick is legitimately one of the most stunning wineries we have ever seen in our lives and we were led through the tasting by a one-of-a-kind guide named Bob, who was hilarious, knowledgeable and engaging. The second winery, Batch, also has a stunning vista and we were led through our tasting of their signature rosés by another expert guide while overlooking the entire valley. At both tastings, the pours are generous and at Batch, you are able to select a full additional glass of wine to pair with lunch, which is the most elaborate charcuterie board you have ever seen. I think some of the promotional materials undersell how robust the lunch is, each two person couple got a massive board filled with meats, mussels, cheeses, olives, multiple spreads, bread and crackers. Finally, interspersed throughout the winery visits are stops at some of the most stunning lookouts on the island, which I don’t believe most other tours do. Fleur is willing to share some of her local perspective and you are able to really get a sense of what life on Waiheke is like, in addition to the great wine tastings. Based on Fleur’s advice, after the formal tour was over, we were able to end the afternoon with some snacks and wine on the beach and then dinner overlooking the water. This tour is the real deal and you really need to look no further. Book it immediately!

This was a great tour and Fleur was a wonderful, knowledgeable guide. Great tastings and lunch at beautiful wineries.

Fleur was a great tour guide! She was very knowledgeable about the local area and showed us some great spots around the island. Lunch and tastings were lovely at Goldie Estate, im really glad I got to see Mudbrick too..... such a Beautiful winery. Highly recommend this tour.

Our guide ‘Janis’ was the best! Thank you so much for making our last day in NZ so memorable. Great informative tour. That coupled with the spectacular scenery and views made for a fabulous day all round. Wineries and tastings were excellent , as was the delicious lunch . Really appreciate the high quality produce and special dietary requirements being so well catered for. Appreciate all the effort that this company puts in to their product. A 10/10 for ‘everything’ !!

Day 1 in Auckland and it could not have started better!! Margot our guide was very informative and accomodating as well as having a great sense of humour! Waiheke Island is beautiful with stunning vistas at every turn. Add to that the wonderful wineries! Perfection! Great wine and food. The trip was very well organised. Highly recommended.

Wine tastings, lunch and tour with local and very knowledgeable guide Margot, was the perfect start to our NZ holiday. Thks vm

This was a great tour, especially for the limited time we had to visit; our tour guide was so lovely and had so much knowledge of the Island and all the vineyards. Each vineyard we went to was amazing, and we had a lovely platter lunch at Goldie's. Getting to drive around and see parts of the island we hadn't seen before was great, was nice to be able to spend the afternoon with a small group of really nice people. Was a highlight of our trip to Auckland. Was also super helpful that we could also get our ferry tickets sorted through Ananda as well.

We were the only guests with Fleura as our guide & she was wonderful! She was friendly & very informative of the island & the wineries we visited.

From the beginning our welcome from Michael was brilliant. He was friendly, happy and welcoming making us feel like it was going to be a good day. The island was breathtaking with the most amazing views. The vineyards we visited were all exceptional with great wine guidance and knowledge from the hosts. The lunch was absolutely delicious at 372 and would not hesitate in recommending - Thank you!

Had an awesome tour led by Paul! He gave us a lot of great information about the island and my sister and I both really enjoyed the wines and views. It was seamless catching the ferry over (granted, we arrived to the terminal over an hour before departure bc it was a crowded summer day) and it was easy to find Paul once we were in Waiheke. Would absolutely recommend this tour.

We had an amazing time on our tour. Paul was very knowledgeable about the island and had a lot of local tips for us. He took us around to a wide range of wineries and they were all very good!

I would 100% recommend booking this! They went out of their way to help me when I was late coming in on the ferry. They were all so knowledgeable and lovely and took us to some amazing wineries!!

Really enjoyed this tour, Stu our driver was very informative and friendly and the wine tasting and lunch was delicious . We have visited Waiheke before but the beautiful scenery never disappoints.

Wonderful half day scenic & wine tour on the beautiful Waiheke Island. Steve was a great guide and very knowledgeable of the wineries, the Island and NZ. The platter Lunch with a glass of wine at Stonyridge winery was great. Definitely recommend this tour.

Great wine tasting with spectacular scenery! Jo, our guide, did a fantastic job showing us the island and the wine produced there.

The half day tour with Michael was awesome, he drove us around the island giving an interesting commentary and stopping off at scenic lookouts as time allowed. He was friendly and knowledgeable. We visited 3 lovely wineries where we did wine tastings and had a lunch platter and glass of wine at Stony Ridge. I would highly recommend this tour :)

Fiona was thr BEST guide. We started promotly on time and quickly made our way to the first location. Fiona was very knowledgeable and proud of the island so we learned alot along the way. The second stop has wonderful food and scenery. The final stop had great views and Bob who had all the jokes and background about winemaking on the island. Although the second stop is a nice long period of time, the first and third stops were quick stops. Would have been nice to spending alittle more time and possibly a glass of your favorite from the tasting. But this is a very small piece of scheduling feedback. Overall we loved the tour!

Simon was awesome! The wine tasting was very good. Yet, it could have been much better if the Batch Winery provided better customer service and a more comfortable/suitable tasting environment.

Michael was great, nice and on time. Beautiful views, good knowledge, great wines, amazing gardens, wine yards and awesome lunch. Fun experience! We love it! Top tour in NZ

Michael was our tour guide for the Scenic Wine and Lunch tour. His local knowledge of the area and wineries that we visited made the trip a success.

Very serious company from the communication and questions to the actual day tour. Simon is a professional driver/guide, knowledgeable, fun and a gentleman. We visited best wineries and tour the area. Great Day !

From booking this tour I had a feeling on this organizer I was not wrong First class registration, clear tour and program, on time meeting Great places , AND first class drive/ guide Simon, knowledgeable, patient, Lovely person, Take them ! Enjoy

This was a great tour to do! I had limited time in Auckland so a half day tour was great. Everything was well organised after booking. I received my ferry ticket by email with clear instructions where to board. Those on the tour were collected by the driver when we reached Waiheke Island. All very friendly and efficient. Our driver provided a great amount of details regarding Waiheke Island, life there, history and plenty of detail on each of the vineyards we visited, which were Batch l, Goldie Estate and Mudbrick. The wine tasting was professional, fun and informative. I had the good fortune to be with a great group of people the day we did it, making it even more fun. We had a great lunch at the Goldie Estate. This tour is definitely worth doing and I would recommend to anyone who wants a bit of a taste of the vineyards of Waiheke Island.

Simon was a great guide, and the wineries were all great. Also, the other guests on the tour were great.

Simon greeted us warmly and created a convivial atmosphere even before the wineries! We enjoyed all three very different venues and had a fabulous luncheon board at Goldie’s. Everyone was treated so very well and all of the plans went like clockwork- life on Waiheke is interesting and the place and people were lovely!

The tour company overbooked our tour and split us in half. We ended up, what at best, was a hired hand bus driver who was not a regular wine tour operator. He had zero engagement ability with us or anyone else on the tour, and simply left us at one stop for reasons still unclear, return to pick us up an hour later. We did not go to all the wineries listed in the website, which was also a surprise. A lovely island but a horrific tour experience and would recommend to everyone to go elsewhere.

Main reason for booking was the wineries and we visited three. Not sure I'd bother with the first one gain but Stoneyridge and Mudbrick. Both really good experiences Chloe at Stoneyridge and the lady at Mudbrick were first class, knowledgeable and excellent hosts. Simon our driver was also brilliant, again very knowledgeable and good company.

Our guide was extremely knowledable about the island and wines. Great opportunity to view the island! Wonderful service at the Vineyards. I would totally recommend this tour!

Excellent wine tour by Amanda’s. Very knowledgeable driver. The vineyards were lovely. Such a lovely experience. Lunch platter was very good Mudbrick was the best with very knowledgeable

We had a wonderful experience touring with Ananda Tours with Craig Roche! He made the experience perfect! Everything was all taken care of for us and we just enjoyed seeing the island a visiting 3 wineries with no waiting for buses or standing in line. Thank you, Julie Kelley

The view in Waiheke Island is very nice. The wine taste good 👍🏻. Even I don't drink wine, I can buy a bottle of wine which taste sweet. The lunch is just fit for me after tasting several kinds of wine.

Four of us were in a group with five others and the group bonded. Our driver was great and told us all about the island. The tastings were good and the food was too. I especially liked the views.

This was a great experience. Nico the guide was fantastic and we went to 3 lovely wineries. Definitely recommend this excursion.