It was the end of a long day of wine tasting.  (Feeling sorry for us, yet? 😉 )  We were debating whether to call it quits for the day when we figured we’d squeeze in just one more and stopped at Gibbston Valley Winery.  The fact that they had a “Cheesery” right next door, and that we were hungry, played a large role in our decision.  They have an array of different cheeses to sample which was lots of fun and took care of the starving part quickly.  Next up was the tasting room/cellar door.

There is a large gift shop with an array of choices for the folks back home (or yourself).  The large room is bright and there is plenty of room for wine tasting at the bar.  There is also a small restaurant/cafe with cozy seating.

We tasted the:

2008 Le Fou Riesling, $35NZD – Very fruity, lots of citrus, excellent! 

2008 La Dulcinee Pinot Gris – Aged in a stainless steal barrel, clean, not fruity enough for our taste.

2008 La Dulcinee Gewurztraminer, $45NZD – Not as clean a finish as we’d like.

2007 Le Maitre Pinot Noir, $55NZD – From a single vineyard and aged for 5 years, this was the only Pinot Noir we tasted in New Zealand that we got truly excited about.  A bottle made its way home with us.  (Wrapped in one of the handy bottle shaped bubble-wrap they sell).  Fabulous!

2008 Le Mineur d’Orient Pinot Noir – Very nice, but not as good as the Le Maitre.  Doesn’t finish as cleanly as we’d like.

Overall, we were very impressed with the wine at Gibbston Valley Winery.  We were so glad we’d decided to squeeze in just one more place into our day of wine tasting!  We would highly recommend their Le Maitre Pinot Noir and the Le Fou Riesling was excellent as well.