Phil picked us up on a rainy morning in Auckland and drove us to the Kumeu region for a terrific day - long tasting tour.

This was at the beginning of our trip to NZ so as Phil drove us through the countryside he answered our many questions and allowed me to play a CD by Holly Smith, a local musical artist . Thanks Phil!

We enjoyed exploring and finding our favorite wines at each stop. Not all are exported to the states so the unique pleasure of tasting them only in NZ made them all the more enjoyable. The cheeses Phil selected and brought with us for the traveling cheese tray were excellent as were the crackers.

Our lunch at the Soljans Winery was exceptional ( for its bread ) and I particularly enjoyed my salad of fresh greens with a tasty vinaigrette and lots of squid lightly fried. Yum! The sun came out as we were eating and the remainder of the day was brilliant with color across the countryside. We saw rainbows!

With Phil Parker as our guide we were with the most knowledgeable of New Zealand’s wine enthusiasts. His book “The Mad, Keen Wine Buff’s Road Trip” is evidence of his thorough and complete understanding of the wines and wine regions of NZ. The detailed information sheet provided to us by Phil helped us to understand more about each wine and winery. We made lots of notations and now have great reference material to use when searching for our favorites.

We visited five wineries and finished the day off with a fun beer tasting at a micro-brewery.

The experience was a 10 for us. We definitely recommend Phil Parker and the Auckland Wine Tour for your trip to NZ.

Amy and Jeff in Dallas and Houston

Reviewed about 14 years ago