This morning I’ll pick you up at your hotel and we’ll drive up over the Crown Range towards Cardrona, we’ll stop for an amazing photo shot looking back towards the Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu.
It’s then a short drive through the Cardrona Valley until we arrive at the Cardrona Distillery and Museum. The Cardrona Distillery is located in a beautifully designed group of buildings housing the very best in copper stills to make beautifully crafted spirits. The spirits are hand-crafted from scratch starting with just malted barley, water, and yeast.
The Classic Distillery Tour will take us on a journey through the working distillery and barrel house and finishes with a tutored tasting of Cardrona Distillery’s artisan spirits. It is a proud tradition that many distilleries offer casks for private filling each year. The Cardrona Distillery is carrying on this fine tradition by offering a small number of cask for filling with new make spirit that will mature into the single malt whisky – The Cardrona Private Cask purchasers will savour the taste of their own single barrel expression of this special and rare southern spirit.
Established in 1863 the Cardrona Hotel is one of New Zealand’s oldest and most iconic hotels and is one of only two remaining buildings from the Cardrona Valley gold rush era. We will stop here for a walk through the hotel and take that iconic photo shot before we have lunch at your choice of restaurant in Cardrona or Gibbston.
After lunch, we’ll drive through the Gibbston Valley wine region and visit some of the top wineries to sample more stunning wines and we’ll also stop in at a new boutique tasting room. Wet Jacket Cellar Door is located in a beautifully converted 150-year-old former wool shed and their wines are only available here and in a few of the top restaurants in the country.
We will then drive through Arrowtown, a beautiful historic gold miners town that’s well worth a wander down the main street and a stroll through the Chinese Settlement from the 19th century gold mining era before returning to your hotel in Queenstown.
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