The Winemaker's Tour
The Winemaker's Tour
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About
Indulge in the delights of Hawke’s Bay Wine Country on your exclusive private tour. You’ll be chauffeured in style - with luxury, privacy and sophistivation unmatched by traditional group tours. As a small, private tour, we prefer to visit the boutique wineries which truly reflect the Hawke’s Bay terroir and take the time to meet and chat with the passionate people who create NZ's iconic wines.
Eskdale, New Zealand
Awards
Travellers' Choice
2024
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
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5.0
145 reviews
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145
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Trek32001269488
1 contribution
Jan 2024 • Family
My wife and I were looking for a great tour through the Hawke’s Bay region, and Don with The Winemaker’s Tour did not disappoint! He promptly picked us up from our hotel in Napier and after introductions, he immediately started giving us a broad overview of the locale’s history with his charming and upbeat demeanor. We learned about the soils, the different varietals, and the wine production processes. From our first through our last wine tasting, it was clear that Don’s experience in the industry had allowed him to develop strong connections with the winemakers along our trail. Our lunch was superb, and after a few additional stops we were escorted high above Napier for a first-rate view of the vineyards and orchards below! If you are looking for someone to provide you with deep insight on the wine you are tasting in the Hawke’s Bay region, as you taste it, then Don with The Winemaker’s Tour is your guy. Don, we can’t thank you enough for your conversation and commitment to exposing us to the finest wines this area has to offer! All the Best, Chris and Brittany - Florida, USA.
Written 7 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Mark Tyrer
Wellington, New Zealand2 contributions
Jan 2021
My wife and I were guided to some of the best wineries in the Hawks Bay region. We grew so much on this wine tour in both our knowledge and our appreciation of wine.
Don, our guide, is a friendly person with a passion and an in-depth knowledge of all aspects that go into making wine.
At each place that we were visited, because of Don's planning, preparation and association with the wine estates, we were tasting wines within minutes of reaching an estate.
Lunch is included with the tour at one of the wine estates. This was also outstanding.
Don went out of his way to make us welcome and I would recommend his tour to anyone, from people like us who are fairly new to wine tasting to serious wine connoisseurs.
We are looking forward to seeing Don again upon our next visit to Napier.
This tour was not as cheap as some of the other tours that we looked at, but we definately got more from the experience than we paid. Outstanding!!!!
Don, our guide, is a friendly person with a passion and an in-depth knowledge of all aspects that go into making wine.
At each place that we were visited, because of Don's planning, preparation and association with the wine estates, we were tasting wines within minutes of reaching an estate.
Lunch is included with the tour at one of the wine estates. This was also outstanding.
Don went out of his way to make us welcome and I would recommend his tour to anyone, from people like us who are fairly new to wine tasting to serious wine connoisseurs.
We are looking forward to seeing Don again upon our next visit to Napier.
This tour was not as cheap as some of the other tours that we looked at, but we definately got more from the experience than we paid. Outstanding!!!!
Written 11 January 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JoVJo
Wellington, New Zealand55 contributions
Oct 2020 • Friends
My friends arranged this personalised private tour of Hawke’s Bay wineries for ten of us for my birthday weekend. It was a fabulous day: Don picked us up promptly, and we were at gorgeous Clearview for our first tasting by 10am. I do recommend eating a decent breakfast beforehand because the pours were generous and there were lots of wines to try!
We visited five wineries in all, covering a range of styles.
Don is unashamedly one-eyed about Hawke’s Bay wines, and made it his mission for the day to convince us: he is extremely knowledgeable, as a former winemaker himself. There was a lot of information about the actual processes, as well as guiding our group of varying expertise through the complexities of tasting. The minibus was comfortable and no drive felt too long. We never felt rushed, but he managed to keep us to time. There are opportunities to buy from each vineyard but no pressure.
We had a delicious lunch at magnificent Black Barn, followed by a tasting in their pretty Mediterranean-style courtyard, then continued on to two more wineries, and ended the afternoon with port and nibbles atop spectacular Te Mata peak.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day and would recommend it to anyone who’s serious about wine: while it seems expensive it was in fact very good value for the experience provided.
We visited five wineries in all, covering a range of styles.
Don is unashamedly one-eyed about Hawke’s Bay wines, and made it his mission for the day to convince us: he is extremely knowledgeable, as a former winemaker himself. There was a lot of information about the actual processes, as well as guiding our group of varying expertise through the complexities of tasting. The minibus was comfortable and no drive felt too long. We never felt rushed, but he managed to keep us to time. There are opportunities to buy from each vineyard but no pressure.
We had a delicious lunch at magnificent Black Barn, followed by a tasting in their pretty Mediterranean-style courtyard, then continued on to two more wineries, and ended the afternoon with port and nibbles atop spectacular Te Mata peak.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day and would recommend it to anyone who’s serious about wine: while it seems expensive it was in fact very good value for the experience provided.
Written 2 November 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Rob Johnson
Pickering, Canada41 contributions
Jan 2024 • Couples
My wife and I had a private 7 hour wine tour with Don Bird.
Don is so knowledgeable. My wife and I mainly drink wines from France, and have little experience with wines from New Zealand, except Sauvignon Blanc wines that we do not drink or prefer - so we were skeptical at the beginning.
Don made sure he knew our wine preferences, and stated that his goal was to sell us on the high quality of New Zealand wines, especially from Hawkes Valley.
We were not disappointed. We visited 4 wineries, tasted over 30 wines, one port and two sparkling wines.
We left with a totally different impression of New Zealand wine, learned about many of the wines throughout the world, and especially the wines from the Hawkes region of New Zealand.
Don is personable, and knowledgeable, making the day fly along.
If you want to learn about what New Zealand wines have to offer, do not miss the opportunity to explore New Zealand wines with Don Bird.
We now have a great appreciation and will utilize our new found knowledge to select our wines on the balance of our trip.
Thanks Don for a great experience!
Don is so knowledgeable. My wife and I mainly drink wines from France, and have little experience with wines from New Zealand, except Sauvignon Blanc wines that we do not drink or prefer - so we were skeptical at the beginning.
Don made sure he knew our wine preferences, and stated that his goal was to sell us on the high quality of New Zealand wines, especially from Hawkes Valley.
We were not disappointed. We visited 4 wineries, tasted over 30 wines, one port and two sparkling wines.
We left with a totally different impression of New Zealand wine, learned about many of the wines throughout the world, and especially the wines from the Hawkes region of New Zealand.
Don is personable, and knowledgeable, making the day fly along.
If you want to learn about what New Zealand wines have to offer, do not miss the opportunity to explore New Zealand wines with Don Bird.
We now have a great appreciation and will utilize our new found knowledge to select our wines on the balance of our trip.
Thanks Don for a great experience!
Written 7 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JoanneBangkok
Bangkok4 contributions
Aug 2020
Don provided us a unique tasting experience tailored to our preferences (especially Chardonnay!). We visited five of the best in the Bay and at each place we tasted much more than the "standard tasting" on offer. Don booked all the tastings for us so we had basically a private experience including many of the very top, expensive wines. We would often then be able to have a "master class" comparing for example two or three of the particular variety. This experience is worth its weight in gold and I would VERY highly recommend the tour. Don of course knows all the vignerons and so we were treated like special guests wherever we went. Especially recommended for a group of three or four.
Written 10 August 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lesley C
Auckland, New Zealand21 contributions
Jul 2020 • Couples
A group of six well seasoned wine tasters enjoyed a day with Don sampling a variety of wines from several vintages. Don has a rich knowledge with his strong technical background shining through. We were taken to a new level with Don’s passion and enthusiasm as he showcased iconic wines from the Hawke’s Bay region.
I highly recommend this tour, you will reach a contented saturation point to remember for a very long time.
I highly recommend this tour, you will reach a contented saturation point to remember for a very long time.
Written 28 July 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JEH_58
Canberra, Australia5 contributions
Apr 2022
Wow - what an incredible day spent with Don on a private Winemaker’s Tour. Don was an exceptional host with a deep knowledge of and clear passion towards New Zealand, Hawkes Bay wines. As Australian temporary residents in New Zealand we set Don a challenge - change our bias on Australian red wines when compared to New Zealand wines of the same style. Without a doubt, he rose to the challenge, meeting us at our accomodation as scheduled, starting our journey into the Hawkes Bay wine district. Tasting our way through some exceptional wines we discovered some new favourites that will now regularly grace our table. But the wine tasting was only one part of the journey, Don’s knowledge and willingness to teach was first in class as he patiently answered all our questions and regaled us with stories of his winemaking experience with the day culminating in the opportunity to sample his personal vintage port.
Written 25 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Derek S
Turangi, New Zealand29 contributions
Oct 2020
My wife and I recently stayed at a the Grange Lodge for 3 nights so that we may explore/visit some of the wonderful wineries in the Hawkes Bay. While talking with Don (our host) I noticed he had a van with the discreet words “The Winemakers Tour’ on it rather than the usual in your face winery guide vans. It turned out that Don does wine appreciation tours where he introduces you to ALL the nuances of wines and the wineries rather than just taking you from winery to winery and letting staff talk about their wines. We were particularly lucky as Don had a free day which we booked so it was a truly one on one wine appreciation tour.
Don ( we found out) was a winemaker and had part ownership of a vineyard up to a few years ago so his knowledge was vast but not condescending which gave one confidence to ask questions even though they may have been daft.
It was a full day with visits to different wineries, of different styles, from the small family owned to the the large and grandiose. Lunch (2 courses) was provided at Craggy Range winery, the second of four which we visited. Each had its attributes and Don would carefully explain the differences in them and what he thought of the wines.
It was a full day with no hurry or pressure but by the end we were both mind boggled by the knowledge which we were given but probably couldn’t absorb as much as we would like. I would highly recommend Don to anyone who really would like to know more about the wines of the Hawkes Bay.
I would also recommend Don’s own ‘port’, a very smooth fortified wine not to be missed.
Don ( we found out) was a winemaker and had part ownership of a vineyard up to a few years ago so his knowledge was vast but not condescending which gave one confidence to ask questions even though they may have been daft.
It was a full day with visits to different wineries, of different styles, from the small family owned to the the large and grandiose. Lunch (2 courses) was provided at Craggy Range winery, the second of four which we visited. Each had its attributes and Don would carefully explain the differences in them and what he thought of the wines.
It was a full day with no hurry or pressure but by the end we were both mind boggled by the knowledge which we were given but probably couldn’t absorb as much as we would like. I would highly recommend Don to anyone who really would like to know more about the wines of the Hawkes Bay.
I would also recommend Don’s own ‘port’, a very smooth fortified wine not to be missed.
Written 11 October 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tammy K
Golden, CO21 contributions
Jan 2023 • Couples
Whether you are new to wine, or have a lot of experience, you will love exploring Hawke’s Bay with Don Bird. He has so much knowledge of winemaking, and of the area. He is fun to talk to, he creates a special experience, and he can answer most any question you might have about winemaking or the Hawke’s Bay region. We visited when the weather was incredibly abnormal, and Don found a way to adjust the itinerary and make the adventure wonderful. We have been to a lot of winemaking regions in the world, and we still learned a lot during our time with Don. I’m not good at describing our full experience, but I am certain that you will not regret spending a day with Don…and sometimes, it’s better to take the leap and just enjoy the day, as we did.
Written 10 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ross Mc
Tauranga, New Zealand2 contributions
Aug 2020 • Couples
We booked a private wine tour with The Winemakers Private Wine Tour August 2020. We gave Don a brief of what we were interested in and he delivered. I myself have been on wind tours in the USA, Australia and here in NZ. This was by far the best tour we have ever been on. Don is a third generation wind maker and has a genuine passion for wine making. The knowledge he has is fantastic. We visited some of the off the beaten track winery’s that has some excellent wines to offer at very good prices. We finished the day with a glass of Don very our port on our way back to the hotel. I would highly recommend if you want a genuine experience give Don and his wife a call. We will be back in the new year and will be using Don services again.
Written 22 August 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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