A stay at Kinross Winery will not disappoint. Located in the heart of the beautiful Gibbston Valley, Kinross Winery is a working vineyard with a cellar door, bistro and it is also home to 14 gorgeous boutique cottages making it the perfect place to stay amongst the vines. We enjoyed the perfect mid-week break for our anniversary and I couldn’t recommend a stay here more. Nestled amongst the vines with views of the surrounding mountains and wine on tap, what more could you want?
Getting to Kinross
2300 Gibbston Highway, R.D 1 , Queenstown 9371
Kinross Winery is just 25 minutes from the centre of Queenstown, so a really lovely place to stay if you want to be close to the waters of Lake Wakatipu and all that QT has to offer and just under an hour from Wanaka.
The Cottages
We stayed in Ruins 1 which is one of the cottages on the edge of the vineyard with arguably the best views over the vines (at the time of staying – February 2021). The cottages are beautifully appointed, complete with super comfy super king beds, bathtubs and self catering facilities, if you want to cook up some dinner whilst watching the sun go down over the vines. Also because Josh had mentioned when booking that we were celebrating our anniversary, there were complimentary brownies left in our room which was such a lovely touch.
Book Direct – Support Local Promo
Josh booked our stay as part of the Book Direct – Support Local promotion, which if you book direct (not an AD or anything just really enjoyed the stay) until the 31st August 2021 you can book a midweek stay from $225 NZD per night which includes a hosted wine tasting, breakfast with barista made coffee, 45 minutes in the hot tub and a late check out.
Kinross Bistro & Breakfast
As we stayed for two nights, that meant two breakfasts. Which was perfect for indecisive me as I got to try both the sweet and the savoury breakfast options. I was so impressed by the breakfast options, we’re talking proper café style breakfast, the food, the presentation, the coconut milk lattes – everything was spot on. Oh and the service was 5*, the team were absolutely lovely and couldn’t do enough for us.
We also had dinner at the bistro on our first evening and obviously sampled the cheese platter. You’re staying at a vineyard so it’s only right to sample the cheese too right? Well the cheese board was terrific but I also have to mention the fungi sourdough pizza with truffled marscapone – wow it was good!
The Cellar Door
Kinross Winery is the official cellar door for five splendid Central Otago wineries – Coal Pit, Hawkshead, Kinross, Valli and Wild Irishman. If you’re in to your wine, I mean you likely are or a stay at a vineyard probably wont be your thing. It’s probably wise to point out that I am in no way a wine connoisseur, I just love a cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc and have been lucky enough to spend the year of Covid in arguably the best place for wine making (and drinking).
Anyhow, if you do swing by the cellar door ($15 per tasting or complimentary when purchasing a bottle) then by its namesake you wont regret trying/buying a bottle of Kinross’ Liquid Gold – Pinot Gris or our personal favourite the Holy Schist – Sauvignon Blanc. Rather impressively, Gibbston, Central Otago is also home to the making of the first Pinot Noir to be awarded “Best in the World” outside of France?
Gibbston Valley
Staying in the heart of the Gibbston Valley is a great option if you want to explore this stunning wine making region. Whilst we were staying at Kinross we thought we would use the opportunity to explore some of the other wineries nearby, as normally staying out in Queenstown we are too far to explore the region without taking a tour/jumping on the bus. We really enjoyed wine tastings at Brennan Winery, Rockburn Cellar door and Peregrine Wines.
So, with an idyllic setting, beautiful accommodation, delicious food, and excellent wine – we couldn’t have asked for anything more from our stay at Kinross Winery.
Thank you for reading, if you have any questions or have anything else you would like to see on the blog, please feel free to drop me a message on Instagram or comment below.
For more wine related chat, head to my post about the 6 best wineries in Queenstown and Wanaka.
This place looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!