Torlesse Wines — Attraction in Canterbury

I came here after reading reviews about friendly staff, but my experience was the opposite. The winery was closed when I first visited around 11:30 (even though Google said it opened at 11), so I had to go to another winery for lunch.

Later, I came back and paid $25 each to rent bikes with my friend. Unfortunately, one bike was broken — the gears didn’t work at all, which ruined our ride. When I returned and explained the issue, the staff member didn’t apologize and even suggested that I might have caused the damage.

Very unprofessional and disappointing.

Thank you for your reply. After reading it, I can understand why you might find the situation unusual.

However, I would like to explain more clearly: the bike was already broken from the beginning. My friend did not realize it right away and just started riding. We rode for about 20 minutes, but I noticed she was always far behind and riding very slowly. I suspected something was wrong with her bike, so we switched.

When I tried shifting the gears, at first I thought maybe it was just stiff or hard to use, so I kept trying. But eventually I realized the right gear was completely missing and not working at all. That is why we had to turn back. It took extra time because we were unfamiliar with the roads and had to stop to check the map along the way.

Also, I honestly didn’t know that booking a bike was mandatory. If that was required, I apologize for not being...

Excellent wines, beautiful setting, wonderful people. Very affordable tasting (for $15 pp two people can get through the whole tasting menu), and there was a nice combination of reds and whites. The Sauvignon Blanc and Tawny Port were so good we left with bottles. Maggie was the perfect host, introducing the wines, answering our questions, and telling us about the business she and her husband built over 3 decades, which she now continues with their two sons. She asked us about our travels and gave us pointers as well, which we really appreciated. This is a winery where the intimacy of a small family business and the friendly personal touch is felt in all they do. And the price can’t be beat! Worth a stop, and maybe even a splurge on a few bottles of wine....

We hired bikes and did a wine tasting at Torlesse.

The wine tasting was great (5*), the staff were super friendly and informative and the wines were all really good (especially the Sauvignon B and the Rose). Highly recommend!

The bikes are clearly not hired much but are in need of some TLC as they don't look like they've been serviced in a while! The front derailleur didn't work on mine, and it needed a new chain, the chain needed some lube, plus the seat post couldn't be fully tightened. This didn't make the wine trail easy (and be warned, "trail" is a strong word, it's mainly over grass and stones with a lot of hills and not for the light hearted). I would recommend people walk it, and I do a fair...