On our Road Scholar tour, we had a whole day free in Queenstown, so decided to book this wine tour -- Central Otago is a known great wine region, and with the bonus of a gourmet lunch ... perfect! Our guide and driver was Andrew, who took very good care of us and was a great conversationalist. Very comfy van, with only 8 on board (the other 6 were all Aussies, fun for us from the States). Lunch at Kinross Winery, and it was quite good and a lot of variety to choose from; I had a fish dish (gurnard) with delicious corn and pepper accompaniment, and my husband had funghi pizza - both yummy! Mt Rosa was our second winery, and the third winery we visited was Gibbston Valley -- they have a wonderful wine cave, carved out of the mountain to keep the wine stable as it ferments.
There are fascinating and personal background stories about the wine industry in this part of NZ; no vineyards planted until 1981, and people said it was crazy to think of growing grapes in this cold place! Now they are internationally known and awarded for their Pinot Noirs. Hooray for Alan Brady and Grant Taylor -- you can look them up :-).