Appellation Wine Tours, Queenstown, New Zealand — Local services in South Island

Not sure where to start with how outstanding every aspect of this tour company is. I booked an all-day private tour with them for my wife and myself. So that is the basis for this review.

I will also mention that I normally only write reviews for experiences that are either over the top good, or over the top bad. This is one of the good ones.

Appellation is TOTALLY flexible, ULTRA communicative and responsive, and they will work with you beyond what would normally be expected or want to do given a squeaky wheel like myself. They let me, for the most part, not only pick the exact wineries I wanted to taste at (not all of them were available on the exact day we were doing this), but they offered expert knowledge about each one in advance, and on-going, with regards to how the wineries handle tastings, AND which ones could lean towards being a little more conducive and inclusive related to what they typically offer or involve, or vice-versa, related to the tastings at the wineries I was looking to visit.

I could have pitched a tent in the back of the BMW they accommodated us for our tour. It was perfect for a long day of darting around the wineries and the countryside. Our tour Guide, Martin, was EXCELLENT. He knows his stuff with regards to the area, its history and local lore. AND, most importantly, he knows his wineries and wines (I was a serious collector for many decades, and amassed collections well over several thousand at it's peak). So we could really talk shop.

There was even a winery that I had only recently become aware of, which I had become very interested in, and Martin knew SO much information on this winery. And, we managed to shoe-horn in an unscheduled stop there for an off-the-tour stop and really good tasting (which I paid for out of pocket) without jeopardizing the schedule or remaining tour stops. All thanks to Martin's execution (and relationship with people at this winery!!)

Did I mention the 5-course lunch, with wine pairings, there was included as part of this tour?

At the risk of causing readers of this review to start glossing out, I will end by simply stating that I assure any of you who want to get a serious exposure to the amazing, amazing Pinot Noir and other wines of the Central Otago wine growing region, please book your trip with Appellation Wine Tours. You will be...

My boyfriend and I went on Appellation's Wine Tour early December last year. We booked for a group tour however because of Covid's Auckland and international lockdowns Queenstown was quite empty and so the tour ended up being a private for just the two of us. Appellation still went ahead and took us on a fantastic tour. It was both of our first wine tour and we couldn't have chosen better. Our guide was incredibly well informed, funny and an all up great host. We learnt so much and got to try some delicious wines. After we learnt about Alan Brady and his infamous The Wild Irishman wines we asked if it was possible to try one and Appellation made it happen. The cellar doors we visited were clearly carefully selected and well thought through. Its now nearly three months on and I'm still thinking about how great it was enough to come back and review. Massive thank you to Appellation, I encourage anyone considering a wine tour to support them as it is well worth it, an...

Booked onto a wine tour on 1 January 2019 and told we would be collected at 1pm from outside our accommodation (we were 3 minutes walk from the centre of Queenstown at Creeksyde Holiday Park). We booked through our accommodation. We waited until 1.20pm and called to check that we were waiting in the right area and were told the bus would be "a couple of minutes" and to keep waiting where we were. We called back at 1.45pm to check whether we should keep waiting or if the tour had been cancelled and were told that the bus was stuck in traffic and would be with us any minute. At 2pm, we called again and the woman finally admitted that she actually had no idea where the coach was and offered no apology.

There are lots of wine tour operators in Queenstown, but I'd advise not to book with Appellation as they were unreliable and had pretty poor customer service.

Edit: we got a refund on the same day, so someone in your organisation was aware of...