Matakana Estate — Restaurant in Rodney

I wanted to share some feedback following my recent visit, which, unfortunately, was a very disappointing experience.

I had driven all the way from Hobsonville Point, hoping to find a beautiful spot to bring my family in the future for a surprise lunch. As I arrived, the drive up the long driveway was lovely, and the setting truly is stunning. However, upon reaching the top, I mistakenly continued driving past the main restaurant area, assuming the road continued further.

As I passed by, I noticed a man giving me an extremely stern look, and to my surprise, I watched him in my rear view mirror proceeding to follow me, watching as though I had committed a serious offence. When I reached the dead end and turned around, he was waiting and very assertively informed me that I shouldn’t be there. The tone and approach was unnecessarily harsh — I genuinely felt like I was being reprimanded like a criminal, which left me quite shocked and uncomfortable.

May I kindly suggest placing clear signage or a barrier to indicate restricted areas? A simple, friendly approach towards customers who make an innocent mistake would also go a long way.

Regrettably, after this experience, I will not be returning, which is a real shame given the beauty of...

We went to Matakana last weekend, we visited 4 vineyards and I must say that each one of the experiences was incredible and the wines we tried were delicious. However, the wine tasting at Matakana Estate was our favorite! Even though it was raining, and we couldn't admire the landscape, we had an extraordinary experience with Serenity (manager on duty)... We tried all the available wine tasting, she explained to us about the wines we tasted and also answered all our questions (which were many). Serenity was one of our highlights of the weekend, we were delighted with her kindness, her knowledge about wines and about the winery, her charisma and her excellent attention!

At the end of the testing we decided to buy 3 wines; Elingamite 2013 Syrah special edition wines (our favorite), Elingamite Merlot 2013 and a Reserve Chardonnay. Unfortunately our box was broken and we lost the Merlot and the Chardonnay. However we saved the Syrah so we can say that what Serenity told us about the Quality of the bottle of that wine was very true!

We are sure that we will visit Matakana state and Serenity again soon...

Thank you...

Our group of 4 was looking for a wine tasting and lunch outdoors. I was disappointed when I called and found out that Plume was fully booked - but am now thankful as it meant we discovered Matakana Estate.

The woman I spoke to on the phone was friendly and helpful. When we arrived they had set a table outside and put together two umbrellas to give us shelter in case it rained. Really appreciate the effort they put into ensuring we could sit outside.

All four of us did separate tasting paddles and they had no problem with this, and expertly guided each of us through the tasting notes.

We ordered the cheese and vegetarian platters which were impressive. Multiple other tables came over to ask what we had ordered.

We were regularly checked on by the staff and they even offered to top up the platters as we went.

They even had decent non alcoholic options, including Sawmill Bare Beer, which I appreciated as the sober driver.

Seriously phenomenal service, great wines and delicious foods. Thank you very much - we’ll...