Private Martinborough Wine Full Day Tour From Wellington

It was a brilliant tour! Our driver was a wonder mix of knowledge, talking and leaving us to take everything in. He took us to the best wineries and even recommend other things we could do while in Wellington. The wines were excellent and everyone was extremely personable. A wonderful tour

What a wonderful way to visit the Martinborough area. Kelvie was a great guide and his choice of wineries and lunch place was great - maybe not on the 'beaten track' but great selection. We lucked out with a good weather day and got some good photos, great history of the area and an enjoyable day.!! Thanks, Kelvie!

This was a wonderful tour! Andrew picked us up right at the ship. We drove through town where he gave us details on all the sights. We made stops along the way through the mountains and got to see where they filmed lord of the rings. We stopped at 3 winery's and had a lovely lunch. We then on the way home stopped at a lovely chocolate store and purchased delicious chocolate! Our final stop was an old church we had a fabulous day! Don't hesitate to book it was one of the best tours we ever had.

It was a tough day because of the pouring rain but the wineries were wonderful. We enjoyed the boutique feeling of both, and a lovely charcuterie at Poppies. We opted to pass the third winery and tour Greydon (spelling?) - cute town. Our husbands were looking for Merino Wool sweaters and our guide helped drive them around to look even though it’s summer here

Our guide Andrew shared stories about generations of his family’s lives in the region, including about his great grandfather who was groom for his horse, Bess, who served under a colonel in WWI. The wineries he chose were great and he also managed to squeeze in an extra stop at a vineyard friends had recommended.

Awesome day trip from Wellington. Steve was a great tour guide and unlike some of the other reviews, this was a private tour for just the two of us. The drive over the mountain to Martinborough was very scenic and got a chance to snap a couple of pics at the top after enjoying the view. The wineries were quite nice and the lunch a Poppie's was very good. We didn't feel rushed at all and we would definitely do it again. We've done some "small group" tours that weren't nearly as enjoyable as having someone who is dedicated to you to show you around and explain some history. Two thumbs up!

Steve, our driver, picked my sister and I up from the door of our Wellington hotel. He explained the history of the areas we travelled through and pointed out the sites that we would have otherwise missed. The weather was cold and wet and sadly for us we missed some of the views but Steve's driving was excellent, we felt safe at all times despite the poor conditions. The wineries that were chosen for us were excellent as was the most amazing lunch platter at Poppies. If you are travelling to Wellington and have a day spare I could not think of a better way to spend it. I will be booking again on my next visit to Wellington.

Great day trip with excellent lunch at poppies . Guide kelvie was an excellent host and carefully driver. Visited some excellent winieries

Liz is an excellent driver, great personality, and very accommodating. The lunch was delicious and wines were very nice.

We booked and paid for a "Private Martinborough Wine Full Day Tour From Wellington", however our Private tour was actually combined with other people to make a small group tour. This, of course, meant that we could not adjust times and itinerary "on the fly", which is the advantage of a PRIVATE tour. In addition, since we were the last to join the larger group, I was seated in row 5 of the bus and missed virtually all of the drivers (John) commentary during the 2 hour bus ride to the first winery. The people we joined were fun and the winery visits were very good, so if you are interested in a small group tour this might be for you, although it was more expensive that other small group tours. But if you are looking for a Private Winery Tour, this is definitely NOT the choice for you.

A fantastic day in Martinborough wine country. Our guide Andrew was outstanding; very knowledgeable of the area and its history, and the people, making the experience once in a lifetime. Thank you Andrew! We would highly recommend this tour.

This was a great day trip to Martinborough. Beautiful scenery with opportunity to stop off and take pics. There were 3 wineries we visited and one where we ate a great lunch. Andrew was a great guide and very knowledgeable about the culture and history of NZ.

Our guide, Steve, was great. Car was comfortable and clean. We went to about 5 wineries, so there was a lot of wine! Also good commentary on the Martinborough region. Would recommend. Private tour is slightly more expensive than a group tour, but good value for money.

Fantastic day! Andrew was an excellent tour guide. The wine tastings were great and lunch exceptional! Would highly recommend this tour!

We chose this experience over booking a wine excursion with the cruise ship as it was comparable pricing with a private driver. Andrew, our driver, was funny, flexible, and informative. We toured the area and stopped at three beautiful wineries. The lunch platter was delicious. Overall great time and would highly recommend!

My family and I had a great day with lunch and great wines. Andrew was a very knowledgeable and helpful. We happily recommend this tour.

Very informative. Got many choices of where we wanted to go and what to see. Our guide was very friendly and had a very good time. Only down side was size of car. The back seat was very cramped for 3 adults on a tour that took an Hour+ just to get from Welllington. Only good to say beyond that.

My wife and I are visiting our daughter in Auckland. We have taken a number of wine tours (as well as bird tours) and have always had only the nicest things to say. We were excited to go on this tour because of the reputation of Martinborough for fine Pinots. Sadly, this tour disappoints. First, let me say that Andrew, our guide, was knowledgeable, attentive, funny and a real pleasure. He was the best! The “Whole Day Tour” fell flat. The first winery was fine, if a bit ordinary. There were 4 or 5 Pinots to sample (Pinots are the main reason to come to this area). We bought a case and shipped to our daughter in Auckland. The second winery, Poppies, let us down badly. Not a single Pinot to try. All sold out! Why would the tour company continue to use a place with no Pinots? They knew full well there were no Pinots but kept them on the roster? If you like white wines and sweet wines, it would be tops. In fairness they actually did have one Pinot (in an impressive presentation wooden box for ~$160 IIRC) which we were allowed a sip. Lunch there was a lovely cold tray of meats and cheeses and many other things. It was enjoyable but honestly, a cold plate was a bit disappointing on a $181 (USD) per person wine tour. The last stop was was a winery where the owner was pouring small samples after loudly announcing “5 tastings are $10!” The tiny tasting room was crowded, not a single place to sit. Literally, no chairs, not just no available chairs, no chairs. Curt descriptions of the wines along with an hurried atmosphere and I could not get out of there quick enough! It was the worst of the bunch. So, in summary, we had a great guide but the wineries picked for this high dollar tour were way below par. This is the first negative review I have ever written but I think folks should know what to expect before spending a fair amount of money for a below par experience.

Andrew was a fantastic guide. Lunch at Poppies was a highlight. The 3 wineries showcased the region’s wines so well.

We enjoyed this tour with another couple (very nice Aussie's) guided by Andrew. This trip was way more than expected. Andrew stopped at several Lord of The Rings filming sites including Helm's Deep (a quarry) and provided a LTR tour book to review. We made several scenic overlook stops. Andrew was able to add historical personal references from family history of ANZACs and had a notebook of copies of newspaper clippings relevant to the story. Then we visited three outstanding wineries and ate at Poppie's with a fine charcuterie board including pork belly and our favorite wine choice. We stopped to enjoy a coffee at a local coffee shop and then ventured into an award winning chocolatier that offered samples. The chocolate lemongrass was our favorite. Then on our way back Andrew offered to drive us into Wellington for a quick view of the city and then back to the cruise ship on time. This was a wonderful tour and highly recommended. Kudos to Andrew.

We had an absolutely amazing day with Capital Personalised Tours! We chose this tour because our family loves wine, but also because, although we love the Lord of the Rings, my mother has some mobility challenges that can make set tours difficult. However, after our driver, Andrew, met us at the port and learned of our love of all things Tolkien, in addition to the wonderful wine tastings and lunch, he surprised us by taking us to some of the different movie set sights that mom could navigate. He stopped by the Helm's Deep quarry, the Isengard gardens, and we even walked through "Rivendell!" Lunch at Poppies was absolutely AMAZING and we had a wonderful time tasting and exploring the wines of New Zealand. (I'm now a fan of Chardonnay, which I never thought possible.) I just want to say that I can't thank Andrew and John enough for the wonderful experience they provided! We got to see and do things that simply wouldn't be possible with any other tour!

Great informative driver ( tour guide ) very knowledgeable. Took us to interesting places along the way to destination. Great wineries visited. Very friendly driver who clearly loves his job. Awesome day. Money well spent

Despite the weather being miserable we both enjoyed the private tour. Our guide was very helpful and knowledgeable. The wineries we visited were great venues. Again staff was super friendly and the service was great.

Liz was great! We loved every minute of our trip. Thanks for the great conversation and for a fun tour with great wineries.

Andrew was a wonderful tour guide and we had a great time. We visited four wineries with lunch. We would highly recommend this tour!

This was the perfect final day in Wellington! Our guide, Andrew, did a wonderful job of navigating some very windy and rainy weather, as well as an unexpected (for us) national holiday...he gave us a lot of great information about Wellington and the Valley on our drive out, and we really enjoyed the winery selections (and were able to even add on a few wine stops of our own at the end!). A definite highlight for me was the lunch stop at Poppie's - we were able to do a wine tasting with Poppy herself, and then enjoyed a really well put together (and filling) charcuterie plate with a full glass (or two, in our case). Really wonderful day, and was so appreciative of Andrew's flexibility with our questions and winery additions! Highly recommend!

We had the most wonderful day trip to the Martinborough region. Andrew, our guide, gave us a very personalized and informative day. Interesting, entertaining and a lot of fun - can't wait to go again!

Our wonderful and accommodating tour guide Kelvin was there waiting for us by the cruise ship upon our arrival. We visited three fabulous wineries and had an amazing charcuterie lunch at Poppies! Also cause we had extra time in the morning we even had a forest walk at a national park. Highly recommend this memorable tour!!!

Picked up & whisked away in our own private group - over the mountains which were snowed capped so had time to stop & enjoy the view x tasting at 2 amazing wineries then went to gray town for a spot of shopping - we were treated like royalty & were looked after well by our amazing host ! Loved it thankyou so much xx

What a fantastic day out. John was such a great guide, while we often visit Martinborough we still learnt new things thanks to John's local knowledge. John is a great guy and obviously knows the vineyards and the people which resulted in a very personalized and very special tour. John was great company and delivered a great tour visiting the best vineyards in Martinbourgh and lunch at Poppy's which was just great, with great wine, food and the staff were knowledgeable and friendly. All the vineyards visited provided us with great wines to taste and were very knowledgeable of their wines , resulting in a great day out. Thanks John!!!!

Thank you John for a great day out, showing us around your lovely waipara region and along the lovely scenic coast, as well as a stroll around the beautiful Greytown, through Martinborough, Featherston and Ngaw fishing village . We so enjoyed the Fish n Chips at the Lake Ferry Hotel, then on to the seal colony which you were able to take us up really close to view them in their natural habitat. On to Cape Palliser Lighthouse to work off our lunch up the 254 steps to the magnificent views, oh WOW! Fantastic day! John was very knowledgeable and informative, showing us other little point of interests along the way. We would highly recommend .

As a mountain bike guide myself and my partner a wine guide, it was so nice to spend a day as a customer. We know what is expected of a guide and John fully exceeded our expectations. From start to finish John catered to all of our requests, and more. It was a terrible rainy day, but Johns vehicle was modern, warm and very comfortable. He is very polite, knowledgeable of the area and also the wines. Every winery we visited was perfect for our tastes and he even managed to get us a booking at a Ata Rangi wines at our request without a booking which was a great surprise. I felt the price was very reasonable considering the time John spent with us throughout the day, money very well spent. We cannot recommend his tours enough, 5 stars easy. Thanks John and look forward to seeing you down our way sometime so we can return the favour. Shay and Ksena

We really enjoyed our full day wine tour to Martinborough. John was a fantastic host, we loved the wineries he took us to and the lunch at Poppies was devine, as was the Rose! Highly recommended. Thanks for a great day out John.

Did the trip as a small family group. It was a real treat to do this with Capital Personalised Tours - no one had to do all the booking and arranging, or volunteer as the sober driver! This is the perfect way to do a day trip to Martinborough, the service was excellent and meant that we had a wonderful, stress-free day. Would highly recommend.

We had a wonderful day exploring the Martinborough towns and wineries. John was a great host, very informative and gave us lots of time for shopping and relaxing. Fabulous lunch and wine-tastings, I would highly recommend this trip!

Exceptional service, fantastic wine and food. The platter (and wine) at Poppies was a highlight.Would recommend!

Capital Personalised Tours were excellent to book our Girls day trip to Martinborough, John our driver/tour guide was friendly, prompt, and accommodating to changes to the plan when we wanted to do some shopping in Greytown. Poppies Martinbourgh where John had organised our wine tastings and platter for lunch was excellent, would definitely like to visit again.

John was our wonderful tour guide for the day with a wealth of local knowledge we set of promptly at 9.30 am and enjoyed our very relaxed and informative drive to Martinborough. We love wine so we where in for a treat at the vineyards we visited, we loved that John was obviously well known so we got to have a chat with all of the lovely local growers/owners of the vineyards. The tastings where lovely and informative and I must say we left each vineyard with a bottle or two. Poppies we had our lunch with a sensational platter and a lovely glass of wine and time spent with the lovely Poppie and Shane what a wonderful couple with an outstanding boutique vineyard/Winery. A big shout out to Miles at Moy Hall Wines, we had a few laughs with him while he was hosting our tasting FUNNY AS. Lastly this trip with John was well worth the money, we both had a fab day out. Thanks Again John for an amazing day out.

This tour was so much fun. The vineyards were beautiful . So picturesque. The wine was so good that we had to send some of it home. Lots of information and laughs

Tom picked us up promptly from our cruise ship in Wellington and delivered us back safely with time to spare. In between we had a great day, visiting Kaitoke Regional Park and C'est Cheese on the way to Maryinborough. Once there we sampled lovely wines at Palliser Estate, Schuberts, Te Kairanga and Poppies. At Poppies we had a wonderful luch platter with dietary requirements perfectly catered for. All in all, a great day. Bill H

Fabulous, and unforgettable event. Our tour guide Tom was amazing, he was exceptionally knowledgeable about the local areas and knew all the key wineries . . . he even was personal friends of many of the five wineries we visited giving us the 'secrets of the wine trade'. The sit-down lunch with a tasting was outstanding. Don't miss out this company is awesome. Our tour was Dec 7 and involved 5 wineries and a few local sight seeing spots (Lord of the Rings production site). MONEY WELL SPENT with thanks!

Although we booked this through Viator, we lucked out with John and his personalized service on our tour of the Martinborough wine country. He is externally professional, great vehicle and you can tell that he has a passion for where he lives. Extremely knowledgeable of the destination and the wine itself. We lucked out and had a little extra time, so he showed us a few spots where Lord of the Rings was filmed. Seamless service from the hotel to the wine country. John made this an amazing excursion and I would definitely use his services next time we come back to visit.

This is the second time I have been on John’s tour of Martinborough with a group of friends, some of whom have also been before and some first timers. John is casual but very professional in his manner, he is also informative of the local area and friendly. His choice of vineyards were exceptional, especially Poppies for our platter lunch which is our new favourite. We would all highly recommend this tour and John as your guide if visiting Martinborough as we also highly appreciated his careful and considerate driving to and from the region.

<p>Well, it was certainly Private! I did the Wine Tour on a Sunday, a bit off-season, and when the driver-guide John collected me right on time there was only me! Nothing daunted, John gave me the full tour, and it was very enjoyable indeed. He was excellent company, and we chatted away for seven or eight hours, drawing on his life time experiences in the area.<br/> We visited three wineries and an olive farm, I tasted several wines very happily, and we demolished a really memorable lunch platter. I learned a lot about olives and the Martinborough Region, and really enjoyed the spectacular country we traversed.<br/> The Tour turned out to be all that it promised and more, and a high point of my visit to Wellington.<br/> John even gave me an excellent recommendation for dinner.</p>