Tag Archives: Central Otago

New Zealand to Get into the Space Junk Business

New Zealand to Get into the Space Junk Business

New Zealand is being drawn into the effort to tackle the space junk problem, Peter Griffin writes for Noted. Menlo Park, California-based space mapping start-up LeoLabs has applied for resource consent to build a…

NZ’s Wine “Quirky, Exciting And Worth Studying”

NZ’s Wine “Quirky, Exciting And Worth Studying”

“New Zealand is sort of out there on its own, mysterious and captivating. We’re talking about two islands, inextricably linked, yet with quirky underdog identities all their own,” writes Michael Austin in an article…

Discover New Zealand’s Wine Regions

Discover New Zealand’s Wine Regions

“New Zealand’s wine regions are at their most spectacular in autumn when the days are long and bathed in late sunshine – it’s an ideal time to savour and enjoy the country’s sauvignon blancs,…

Central Otago Perfect for Gastronomy Getaway

Central Otago Perfect for Gastronomy Getaway

Travellers flock to the Central Otago region for two reasons, according to Australian wine writer Andrea Frost. They go for the “great outdoors and the even greater wine.” In a feature for US magazine…

Ventouro Tours

Ventouro Tours

Take a look at the beauful video about Ventouro Tours. Ventouro Tours are three to six day luxury cycling tours through New Zealand’s most beautiful riding locations, centred around…

Nadia Lim Hits the Road to Discover NZ’s Best Local Produce

Nadia Lim Hits the Road to Discover NZ’s Best Local Produce

Nadia Lim – 2011 New Zealand MasterChef winner – has premiered her new eight-part series New Zealand with Nadia Lim on the Asian Food Channel. Lim’s quest to discover the best local produce took…

Neill Content to Be in Two Worlds

Neill Content to Be in Two Worlds

In the latest of a series of opinion pieces for British political and cultural magazine the Spectator, actor and vigneron Sam Neill argues that “actors are allowed to do other things other than act.” “Increasingly…

From Gibbston to the World – Brennan Pinot Noir a Champion

From Gibbston to the World – Brennan Pinot Noir a Champion

Sean Brennan’s painstaking approach and his belief in the Gibbston sub-region has brought Central Otago’s famed Pinot Noir to the world, with Brennan Wines’ B2 Pinot Noir 2011 scooping five awards and being named…

Pinot Noir Our New Obsession

Pinot Noir Our New Obsession

“They don’t call is the only grape that generates such enthusiasm,” actor and winemaker Sam Neill said at the Pinot Noir…

Charming Sport Over Ice

Charming Sport Over Ice

“Here at Naseby, a seriously small town in Central Otago region, I meet Sean Becker, a former Olympic curling representative and current member of the New Zealand men’s team, his father, Peter Becker, and…

Sam Neill Extols NZ Pinot Noir

Sam Neill Extols NZ Pinot Noir

New Zealand actor Sam Neill pioneered pinot noir in his homeland. In 2012, Neill’s pinot noir won gold at the London International Wine and Spirit Competition. ‘In a matter of about 30 years, we’ve come…

Good For American Cinemas

Good For American Cinemas

Dunedin director Mike Wallis’ budget western Good for Nothing will become the first self-funded New Zealand film to be released in United States cinemas from next month. Wallis used the landscapes of Central Otago…

Gourmet Best On Sundays

Gourmet Best On Sundays

Two of the country’s most well known weekend farmers’ markets, Central Otago Farmers’ Market and Auckland’s La Cigale, are represented in a Jaunted article. “On Sundays from 9:00 a.m. — 1:00 p.m. from October-February,…

Swinging Over the Uprights

Swinging Over the Uprights

“You have to love a country that combines two of the greatest sports,” Universal Sports blogger Buzz McClain proclaims. “Rippon Vineyard and Winery is on Lake Wanaka in Central Otago; they make a gorgeous,…

Pinot Vines Abound In Otago

Pinot Vines Abound In Otago

“Like a new immigrant struggling for acceptance, pinot noir faced dirty looks and derisive whispers when the grape arrived on the southern tip of New Zealand in the mid-198s,” The Globe and…

Seeking an Identity

Seeking an Identity

New Zealand pinot noir has come a long way over the past 10 years, continuing to improve each year, but because the grape is a newcomer to this country, a group of New York-based…

Spare Time For Fine Wine

Spare Time For Fine Wine

“I imagined this is how it was in Napa in the thirties – an intimate winemaking community that the world hadn’t yet discovered,” writes Chang-Rae Lee as he tours through Central Otago. Lee takes…

Two Atkins for NZ Wine

Two Atkins for NZ Wine

Influential Observer wine columnist Tim Atkin has published his Best Of list for 2007. Atkin named NZ his wine producing country of the year, with the 2006 Mount Difficulty Pinot Noir (Central Otago) and 2007 The…

Champion Red

Champion Red

Central Otago vineyard Bald Hills has continued its remarkable winning streak with three more major international awards for its 2005 Pinot Noir. The wine beat 4,760 other entries to take the Champion Red award at the International…

The Fickle Grape

The Fickle Grape

NZ actor Sam Neill talks Pinot Noir in a Time magazine profile. The star of Jurassic Park and The Piano established his Two Paddocks vineyard, which solely produces Pinot Noir, in Central Otago in 1993. “Pinot Noir…

Decanter Double

Decanter Double

Two NZ wines received top honours in Decanter magazine’s (US) annual World Wine Awards. Central Otago’s Bald Hills Pinot Noir 2005 won the International Pinot Noir Over £10 Trophy and Nelson’s Seifried Riesling Sweet Agnes 2006 the…

NZ a Top Foodie Destination

NZ a Top Foodie Destination

The past 15 years have seen a seismic shift in NZ gastro-tourism, according to  Telegraph wine columnist Susy Atkins. Since her last visit in 1992, NZ has shrugged off its reputation for “unappetising food, grim…

Two Paddocks Enters Asian Market

Two Paddocks Enters Asian Market

Asian market Actor Sam Neill has been busy promoting his Two Paddocks vineyard in Hong Kong, but has dismissed any suggestion of a major expansion into China. “We’re a boutique winery. I think if we started…

Pedalling Their Wares

Pedalling Their Wares

NZ features in a New York Times guide to “less-pedalled wine regions to please the palates of cyclists.” Writer Stefani Jackenthal recommends Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay and Central Otago for their respective viticultural and scenic pleasures. Her picks…

Pride of the Asia-Pacific

Pride of the Asia-Pacific

Sam Neill is the inaugural subject of Peschardt’s People, a 13-part BBC series hosted by veteran foreign correspondent Michael Peschardt. The series aims to introduce global viewers to “some of the most famous…

Pinot Noir’s Paradox

Pinot Noir’s Paradox

“No other wine conjures up poetic descriptions like pinot noir; no other wine forges as direct a path to the soul. If a wine could make a person cry, it would have to be a pinot…

Man-made Marvel

Man-made Marvel

Peregrine Winery in Gibbston Valley, Central Otago, was one of five winners of the world’s biggest and best architectural award – the Architectural Review’s ar+d Emerging Architecture prize – for 2004. The London-based award…

Prime Real Estate

Prime Real Estate

The iconic Cardrona Hotel in Central Otago is officially on the market, with a $7 million price tag. Built in 1863, the rustic gold rush-era building features 16 guest rooms, an onsite dwelling for the owner,…

Otago is “Lord of the Reds”

Otago is “Lord of the Reds”

“The Pinot Noir grail is to be found in Central Otago,” writes British wine expert Janice Robinson in the latest World Atlas of Wine. The availability of Pinot Noir and other New Zealand wines in Tokyo…