Gibbston Valley is the Queenstown region's wine country — a narrow schist-walled valley between Queenstown and Cromwell whose Pinot Noir production has put Central Otago on the global wine map since the 1980s. The valley has a dozen cellar doors within a 20-minute drive of town, most within walking or cycling distance of each other along a dedicated wine-trail cycle path.
The anchor wineries are Gibbston Valley Wines (the region's pioneer, with a wine cave tour through a 75-metre tunnel blasted into the hillside), Peregrine (whose winged-roof cellar door is one of New Zealand's most architecturally striking), Brennan Wines, and Mt Difficulty. The typical visit combines tastings at 3-4 wineries with lunch at a cellar-door restaurant — Amisfield and Kinross are particularly good. The Queenstown Wine Trail tours (bus-based, 6 hours) or the Gibbston River Trail (cycle-based, 22 kilometres) are the two main ways to sample the valley without designated-driver logistics.
Verified Facts
Gibbston Valley produces world-class Pinot Noir
Gibbston Valley Wines' wine cave tunnel is 75 metres long
Central Otago wine-making took off in the 1980s
The Gibbston River Trail cycleway is 22 kilometres
Get walking directions
Kawarau Bridge, Gibbston, Queenstown, 9384, New Zealand
