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Wine / Spirits Education in Queenstown
New Zealand's adventure sports capital, set on the shores of Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables mountain range as backdrop. The staging point for bungee, heli-skiing, rafting, and some of the country's most scenic skydiving.
Why here
Gibbston, 25 kilometres from Queenstown's centre, is the closest Central Otago wine sub region, where hot days, cool nights and soils of fine sand, heavy silt loam and rocky schist grow the Pinot Noir that makes up about 85 percent of the area's production. The Wine Education Company teaches WSET wine and spirits courses in small groups at The Rees Hotel on Frankton Road and at the Kinross cellar door on the Gibbston Highway, inside the wine country itself. Harvest peaks around the last week of April, with roughly six weeks of picking in a typical season, and wineries will show interested visitors the process at that time.
Best months
Harvest is the busy season, with picking around the last week of April and about six weeks of picking in a typical year; stop by a winery then and a passionate employee is usually happy to share their knowledge. Gibbston grows mostly Pinot Noir with smaller plantings of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Riesling.
Getting there & around
The Rees Hotel is at 377 Frankton Road in Queenstown; the Kinross cellar door is at 2300 Gibbston Highway, in the Gibbston valley 25 kilometres from the town centre.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (1)
The Wine Education Company
SchoolThe Wine Education Company is a Wine and Spirit Education Trust approved programme provider teaching in small groups, in Queenstown at The Rees Hotel on 377 Frankton Road and at the Kinross cellar door at 2300 Gibbston Highway in the Gibbston wine valley. The WSET register lists it for wine qualifications at Levels 1 to 3, and its own course page offers spirits at Levels 1 to 3, and it also runs its own beer and spirits schools, BeerCraftED and DistillED. Its courses cover tasting, grape varieties, food and wine pairing and winemaking principles.
Also good for wine / spirits education in April:
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