During booking the trip, at a cost of $176 per person, we were asked to rendezvous at the Station Building in Queenstown "because of the heavy traffic on the road to Novotel" We agreed to do so and arrived at the pickup point, as stated on the booking receipt, at about 12.10pm. At 12:35pmm the hotel called me to ask when we would be back at the hotel to join the trip. Eventually it was agreed the minibus would come to the previously agreed pick up point so we could join the tour.
Once on the bus the driver, Peter explained that the tour involved visiting 2 wineries with lunch at the first. As the brochure didn't state the number of wineries to be visited, but did specify "lunch" I was somewhat surprised as the less costly "Original tour", priced at $155 per person, was stated to cover 4 wineries but specifically stated that lunch, available at one of them could be purchased at an additional cost at the winery.
We arrived, after 45 minute road trip back down the Cromwell road, at a gold mining location that also had a small shop representing Wild Earth winery. Note the location we were stopped at was not "the", or even "a", winery but simply a tourist stop on the main road. There were 4 people on our particular tour. The driver advised that all the food we were to be served was cooked on a special wine barrel BBQ developed by the winery owner.
Entering the shop we were sat at a table that had a barrel stave holding 5 small glass containers holding wine plus cutlery, wine and water glasses and condiments. there was also a small printed "wine tasting notes"
A waitress greeted us and explained that the wines presented on the stave were to be shared amongst the 4 of us and then told us that "for guidance" we should be aware that that meant when we poured the various wines we should make sure that that meant no more than "1 fingers depth of wine per person". She used her own finger to demonstrate and then proceeded to pour the first wine. The wine barely covered the bottom of each glass.
The food was brought out on another stave and consisted of 4 very small portions of venison, 4 individual prawns each on a skewer with a slice of chorizo, 4 small pieces of smoked salmon on shredded beetroot, 4 small beef "sliders" actually very small beef patties and finally the last "dish" was 4 thin slices of duck, some fattier than others.
As we ate the "lunch" and tasted the miniscule amount of each accompanying wine to each course the tour driver , Peter, returned to the table, sat with us and proceeded to tuck into a very nice looking salad with various meets and told us how pleased the tour drivers were that this location allowed them to "help themselves to the special offering for the drivers". Let me say that Peters meal was a substantial lunch, that provided to the tourists was not and ought not ever be described as "lunch".
There was insufficient wine and food per person to get a feel for the reason for the selection of each wine to each course and there were no notes describing the preparation of the food other than they were all prepared in a special wine cask BBQ developed by the winery owner.
As an aside, there was no facility to even rinse the single wine glass we each had between wines. I choose to use my water glass as a waste disposal to allow some way of clearing the glass between wines.
The waitress then returned and offered us a "sample of an experimental dessert wine". It was a slightly larger sample than those of the other wines and was in fact quite a good dessert wine - we later bought 2 bottles.
The tour then left for the second winery; a trip back along the road toward Queenstown and a pull off at a small winery that also supported a cheese shop. A quick walk into an underground storage cellar where some of the wineries production was aged in oak barrels and then a taste of 4 wines. The wines were a Riesling, an unfinished Riesling, a Pinot Gris and a Pinot Noir. There were jugs of water and pails to allow ones glass to be swilled between wines.
After leaving the "cellar" we were taken into the cheese store, having been told to "bring your glass with you" and presented with aches board holding 5 different cheeses with a sample about 1cc of each sample per person.
The tour driver then arrived carrying 2 bottles of wine and asked each of us which one we would like to try with the cheese! He then suggested, as the tour was made up of 2 couples, that each couple should select a different wine so that we could swap glasses and thus sample both wines. I certainly thought he was joking at such a proposal but no, he was deadly serious.
We then left the location and were returned to our hotel.
On our return I contacted the tour operator to find out what happened regarding our failed pick up in the morning and to give feedback on the overall tour.
The operators representative, Andrew, arrived at the hotel to discuss the matter. He carried a bottle of Riesling with him and gave it to us then went on to explain that each wine tasting was suppose to be 30ml as is standard in the local industry. I assured him there was no way any of the samples we had was of that size. He then said he would "talk to the wineries about that and the size of the food offered to each person". When I pointed out the company's advertising brochure clearly stated "lunch with wine match" as well as "cheese presentation and tastings" and that what was presented could not be considered as lunch by a reasonable person perhas they needed to revise their brochure the response was "well we are always looking at updating the brochures.
Apparently the pickup mix up was the tour drivers problem, not reading the lick up list so "sorry about that".
I strongly recommend that those considering a wine and lunch tour look elsewhere as this particular tour is not as advertised and, in my view boarders on the verge of false advertising when read as a whole. There are far better ways of spending $176 and I suspect that you could lunch at many bars/restaurants in Queenstown and have the same wines, a glass of each, as well as some reasonable food for lunch.
