Thank you Danny for being such a great storyteller. I truly enjoyed conversation and wine-tasting,…read moreof course. I cannot wait for the new venue to be built and ready to serve tasty pizzas! Anyone who visits Coromandel Peninsula should definitely stop by here. You'll enjoy not only wines, liquor, tea, but also Danny's personality and all the stories...

Fantastic little winery featuring feijoa liquor and many delicious liquors to choose from! The…read moreowner, Danny, is very knowledgeable and makes it worth visiting the winery even if you don't drink! He had us try a dozen different liquors and several wines while regaling us with the amusing history of the feijoa. My favorites were the limoncello and the ginger liquor. Highly recommend a stop here if you are visiting the Coromandel area.

Wheels crunching up the gravel, the Tasting Shed looked sophisticated in black. Dining tables that…read morespilled out into the outdoor area are wrapped by the wind + rain proof outdoor gazebo. Everything about it oozed warm comfort and rustic charm. You wouldn't hear the quiet clinking of cutlery on plates and humble conversation here. It was a strict "no-tablecloths" restaurant. And these beautiful wooden tables probably take 5 times more work to maintain. My after-work brain probably took more time than necessary to figure out what the bobbles meant on the Savory to Sweet scale on the menu. With 25 items on the menu (including dessert), it was difficult to nail down what to order. We were advised to order 4 to 5 dishes because they were all entree sizes. Watermelon - smoked olive, goats cheese, baby ganoush This was one surprising combination. I've always been one to systematically eat my way through my plate because I didn't like mixing things together. Give me a fruit and cheese platter, I'd eat each individually. But this is something you'd want to pile a bit of each onto your fork. The watermelon and goats cheese blend beautifully into a creamy smoothie in your mouth. Rich and cooling at the same time - it's a weird sensation. Venison - carpaccio, mushrooms, beets, juniper, walnuts This is a great well-thought out dish with plenty to leave you taste testing, tilting your head and thinking. It was called the Venison dish, and with so much going on, the venison was the solid foundation to bring out the flavours of each ingredient. The sweet tang and slick texture of the mushrooms was paired with the crunch of the walnut and hokey-pokey chunks. We had fun melting the walnut powder on our tongues and poking at the different elements on the dish. The hokey pokey was not your average golden syrup variety but was made with beetroot juice - so even with this explosion of textures, everything blends together. After a mini degustation, one shared sweet dessert was enough! The rosewater was not an understatement - the scent was clear, and sweet, followed by an even sweeter strawberry parfait. It had a subtle summer breeze to this dish and the strawberry parfait an excellent substitute for your average ice cream. The saffron leaves a distinct after taste and cures the dish from being too sweet. With the popularity of restaurants that let you put elbows on tables, tablecloths are stripped away to make way for our laid-back Kiwi culture. If you're looking for a sweet candle-lit dinner, there's other fine-dining restaurants in Auckland CBD. But I'm loving this fusion of casual and fine at The Tasting Shed. The service doesn't make you feel like you're a VIP but more like your host that invited you to their house for dinner. So if you're looking for an excuse out of the city, make this your first stop!

Great tasting summer brunch/lunch place. Beautifully decorated with soft lighting and wooden…read morefurniture. Option to eat indoors or outdoors. Kitchen closed at 1500 to 1700 for dinner prep although small plates are served during that time. European cuisine with heavy Asian influence, think daikon, kimchi, even asam laksa (the Asian snob in me couldn't bring myself to order this). We had the market ceviche (good but we prefer this with a bit more punch), kimchi Mac & cheese (odd pairing which I enjoyed) and the Lamb Shoulder (fantastic!)

Amazing Sunday lunch here .... we came for a late lunch about 130. And there is no more outdoor…read moreseat so we decided to wait till we are seat with an outdoor table as the weather is too good to be indoor! Okay, view is amazing, food is so good and wine is awesome... what more do I want? An easy 5 star for me!

Superb Service, awesome hospitality, beautiful views, and a delicious lunch!…read more Day two in our New Zealand adventure, care of Villa Maria, we finally got a chance to meet some of folks who work for the company that made our trip possible. We were toured around the winery and shown where the wine is taken in, where its bottled, filtered, labeled and then packed away. They produce 200,000 bottles of wine a day! We were also shown the locations of their different vineyards throughout New Zealand and the unique qualities of each vineyard. These qualities affect the flavor profile of the grapes used for wine. Did I mention they have certified organic wines too? How impressive,I say! After the tour, we had lunch at the cafe. We got the best seat of the house; outside and in front of the wonderful green winery view. Oh my, how delicious everything was!! I had the Fish of the day which was Halibut and mashed potatoes in a lemony butter sauce while my sister opted for the Duck confit. For dessert, we had the rhubarb cheescake which had an appealing presentation and raspberry sherbet namalaka. We devoured all of our food and probably didn't need to eat for another day or so. I ate more than I usually do and I have no regrets. It was all that good! Bottom line, our trip here was wonderful! Need I say more?

What a sweet find! Great service and wonderful wine!!! Stop by to enjoy the fine selection of wines…read moreand eating from full fare to sweet dessert assortments :) You will want to return a second time and third time...Please share your experiences and add to the Family Atmosphere!!! Cousy and super fantastic!!!

Quaint little yummy restaurant! The food was divine. The sous chef is a vegan so the vegetarian and…read moreGF options were top notch. The service was some of the best I have received while in NZ; very attentive without hovering. The entrance is just across from parking for the Karangahake Gorge bike path. I'm definitely keeping this spot in mind for a wedding location!

Wow, went last weekend on a magic day Went to the casual…read morerestaurant and had half the menu it was so good Service was great really good vibe Bread starter is a must Loved it

We walked into the bistro ready to have a terrific dinner experience based on their website photos…read moreand the warm, inviting appearance as we walked up. The ambiance was nice and felt like a cozy ski lodge. However, the hostess wasn't exactly warm or charming. She seemed to have a bit of a control issue. When we moved one of the 2 chairs at the 4-top to another side of the table, she expressed her displeasure and stated that we had to make sure that we gave the table next to us enough space, but there was definitely enough room for a small pony to walk through. The server was pretentious. The vibe we got was that he was busy with something else and could barely be bothered to share the specials and take our order. Because we weren't getting a great vibe, we decided just to order overpriced drinks instead of drinks and overpriced food. Do NOT order the old fashioned unless you like them super sweet. My husband is a fan of old fashioneds and had never had a ridiculously sugary drink as this before. The espresso martini was okay. Definitely not worth $26 though. This place is definitely overrated.

The day started with a planned hike in the Riverhead Forest, only to discover a total clearcut…read more Plan B worked out quite nicely at the West Brook Winery. On a quiet midweek day we were welcomed on arrival and options discussed. We ordered 2 flights of wine, 3 whites and 3 reds, a very nice cheese board and cracker assortment, and sat on the patio enjoying the pastoral view of vineyards, a lake complete with a few ducks, and farmland in the distance. .

Beautiful setting and grounds. I've visited close to 100 wineries all over the world and this was…read moreone of the prettiest. The wines were nice as well. I'm not a fan of reisling but I would happily drink theirs. There was a nice Chardonnay and a few others we enjoyed. Definitely worth the trip!

We went in a group of 6 with a reservation. You'll need to make a reservation or you might not get…read morein. This is owned by an Italian so you'll see menu items similar to visiting in Italy. We had pizzas, drinks, appetizers. Loved it all! Service was fast and friendly. Loved the sampler of wines and Italian drinks, like spritzers.

Make a booking in advance and try to get the 1st time slot of the day. We were the first ones at…read morethe restaurant and did a wine tasting. It was really peaceful. After 2 hours there were more and more people that showed up. Get the Solo Carne pizza. It was incredible! I am back in the states and still thinking about it!

'The Cellar Door' is the place to go for a memorable wine-tasting experience!…read more Foxes Island offers a delicious selection of white and red wine including Pinot Noir (2008/09), Chardonnay (2009), Riesling (2009), Sauvignon Blanc (2011/12) and lastly, Lapine (2010) from the 'Icon' Series, equivalent to their hero wine. From walking in the 'Cellar Door' on Williamson Avenue, to greeting one of the team from Foxes Island, to tasting a drop of your choice, to taking in the ambience of artwork from Dick Frizzell is definitely a hedonistic experience, for any wine and/or art lover. They have monthly masterclasses to educate and showcase their wine, along with other speakers and artists intermittently. Open 6 days a week as well! Yelp out.

We're so lucky to have such a wonderful cellar door right on our doorstop! Foxes Island, of course…read moresells Foxes Island wine but they also have a lot more going on in their beautiful space. They sell the amazing Zalto glassware, which is beautiful and dishwasher friendly plus they host a ton of events be it exhibitions, meet the maker nights to new vintages of their wines. Owners, Kelly and John are lovely and well-respected in the wine industry. Highly recommend popping and picking up a bottle (or case) of their beautiful wine!

This vineyard was a great way to end your day in Waiheke Island. There were 4 vineyards in this…read morearea #7 on your hop on hop off tour. We chose this place even we walked for 15 minutes . The vineyard has a great view of the grapes, the rough road with lustrous trees to take pictures. At the end of the road this very quaint restaurant was so beautiful. Rustic feeling yet serene when you look around. The staff were very nice. The wine was excellent. Agnes was our attendant, she was nice but not too attentive. We have to looked for her to give our orders. Waited for so long. We tasted their Red snapper so divinely tasteful. The fish was cooked to perfection. The sauce was amazing . Mouthwatering. We got their freshly baked focaccia with olive oil roasted garlic and balsamic vinegar so good. The best Their house salad was excellent. I loved the way all the leafy vegetables weren't cut by a knife. It looked like peeled by hands. So fresh and crunchy when you bite. The wine was good. We got 3 different wine my choice the Shiraz. Even the wait was long I still give them 5 for the view and excellent cuisine. Kudos to the chef.

We visited this winery as part of a wine tour. The tasting was 4 wines, a white and 3 reds. My fav…read morewas the Te Monty Kokoro. Our guide was well versed in the history of the winery and the making of the wines. Husband isn't as much of a wine drinker so it was nice that our guide offered him some lighter, more mild wines to taste. The tasting room was smaller and very busy with a casual vibe. Great stop.