Hans Herzog Estate

We had a superb visit to the HHE cellar door this afternoon. In particular, we were most appreciative of the team’s patience with our young children. The wines we sampled were most delicious and had true depth. It is quite astonishing what the owners have achieved in terms of the vast quantity of varieties being grown on their property….I found the map so fascinating. The cellar door and gardens are really lovely as well. This is clearly not just a business, but a home, and the property has that welcoming feel as soon as you enter into the driveway. Hope to return one day. Thank you so much.

This winery is a true gem! From the time we walked in the door, the staff was attentive, friendly and knowledgeable. The property is beautiful and tranquil; a place you really don’t want to leave one you are settled in. The wines, my words can never do them justice. We had a wine tasting and left the choice of wine up to our server. She did not disappoint! Each wine was superb. This was the best afternoon in New Zealand. Thank you Hans Herzog for a most wonderful experience

We were hosted by Nicole for a private tour. We had a wonderful experience learning about the estate and the owners’ vision in winemaking. Learned a lot about their artisan approach and couldn’t agree more when we got to tasting. Our host was also very thorough when explaining the different grape varieties and was clearly very passionate about her work. I highly recommend booking a tour here!

We did a tasting here and the wines were absolutely delicious. Staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. We had our kids and they ran around the beautiful garden at the back. The best wines we have had in the region!

We came here on a bike to get a tour of the Winery. We did not make an advanced reservation, but we were kindly fit in for a tour and a history of the Estate and an explanation of its workings. We came away after tasting, as well. We were received well, were impressed by the history and by the professionalism of the team. We enjoyed the wines that we tasted, and bought a bottle, too. Highly recommend coming here, especially if you are choosing only one Winery to tour!

The wines are superb. Impressive winemaking for a reasonable price and the estate is beautiful. It is a shame we had a subpar tasting experience with Sharon. She wasn’t very welcoming, barely described the wines and seemed to want to get rid of us as quickly as possible. Would definitely recommend just make sure your tasting is with someone else.

We were very disappointed with the service and information for our regular trip to this winery today. There were spaces available and we know what we like so understood we only had half an hour before closing for a tasting. However, we were told that despite closing being advertised as 5pm and other tasters still around, that they stopped serving at “4/4.30pm”. We think they just didn’t want to serve us as we’d not been told that initially on arrival. After we had struggled with accessibility (the second door wouldn’t open even with one of the staff member’s help), had the discussion about tasting no longer being on and got everything back to our car, it was 4.35pm. We usually leave here with a few hundred dollars worth of wine. After this experience we will not be back.

Massively disappointed with our recent visit! We went on a bike tour and decided to stop here as our first stop, when we arrived I walked through the door and my partner followed, he still had his helmet on so I told him to put it in the bike basket. He proceeded outside and over to his bike, while doing so he took a pull of his vape (we were not aware you couldn't smoke outside, our mistake!) but the woman on reception saw him and aggressively shouted at me "he can't smoke here" I apologised and said "I'm sorry he didn't know", my partner was putting his helmet in his bike basket and the woman shouted something along the lines of " Oh for gods sake we are an organic winery" I looked up and she shouted again at me "we are an organic winery". Confused I said "sorry?" She then said very aggressively "he can't do that we are an organic winery" to which I said "sorry do what?" She then proceeded to state that my partner put his cigarette butt in the bush. When I Informed her neither I or my partner smoke cigarettes and it was infact a vape she shook her head aggressively. She continued to mutter unter her breath untill a few seconds later my partner came in. I said "OK we are just going to leave because we have been shouted at since we came in" she continued to shake her head and we left. Not sure what that was about, a mistake on her behalf falsely accusing us but had she said "apologies I thought it was a cigarette but please no smoking" everything would have been fine and perhaps we would of had a nice experience but she was extremely rude!! We just met another couple at another winery down the road who said this woman was also very rude to them! Definitely wouldn't recommend!

Our last winery stop (out of six) was Hans Herzog Estate. Every other winery in the area seems to close at 4:30pm. Hans Herzog is the only one that's open later. This place has a bistro and restaurant that seems to be incredibly popular. It's $$$$ prices (3 course menu - $94.00, 5 course menu - $125.00 and 7 course degustation - $155.00 NZD). High end stuff indeed. There's a secret garden (behind the Cellar Door). Would look into this if you're planning to eat here. For the wine tastings, there's three options: classic ($10.00 NZD/person), indulge ($15.00 NZD/person) and ultimate ($20.00 NZD/person). The more expensive options let you sample from the limited release wines. We stuck with the classic which let us try three. The pours are on the smaller side. Service was excellent. We had a French server who really knew his stuff and you could tell he was passionate about his trade. - Gewürztraminer - this one was good, well balanced. - Grüner veltliner - we weren't sure what to expect from this one. It was a bit more savoury. - Pinot gris - first pinot gris we've seen that's been pink in colour. It wasn't too sweet. A bottle of this would have been nice but pricey at $40.00 NZD. Good quality but it comes at a high price point. If you've got moola to burn, come here.

I really wanted to like this place. The scenery and ambiance gets 5-stars. It's beautiful on the back patio with the tables and tents and trees and vines. It's gorgeous. If I was just posting based on the ambiance, it would get a five star rating. Unfortunately, the food was a 2-star experience. The first issue arose when the soup came out. The waitress was holding the bowl with a towel and warned us of the hot plate. Sadly, the plate was 3,000x hotter than the soup. In fact, the soup was room temperature at best. Thankfully it tasted good, but luke warm soup in a flaming hot bowl was a questionable start. I ordered the rib eye for dinner because it had a beautiful description in the menu. I figured this restaurant is a fancy place and they probably work hard on their steaks. I was wrong. The steak was undercooked (better than over cooked, but still hardly cooked at all). It looked like it had been placed under a broiler for 30 seconds a side and then tossed on the plate. It came with a blob of herbed butter and then, oddly, about 7 pieces of red and green lettuce tossed on top. It wasn't a salad, just lettuce on top that was slowly wilting. Honestly, it seemed like the chef just kind of quit and was throwing crap on the plate. My steak looked nothing like the Yelp page's main photo. Overall, it was a super disappointing evening.

We stopped in for some wine and went in the Bistro for a little lunch. The wines were great and we really enjoyed our lunch. I had the Mozzarella salad. It was nice with a topping of arugula. This is a good stop for the Bistro or the restaurant. We visited in Mar 2017

This is one of the best meals I've had in years, and certainly the best meal I had in New Zealand. Our server was pleasant and knowledgeable, wine was great, and food... amazing. We had chateaubriand for two, the fish of the day, carrot/coconut soup, and two cheeses, all of which were melt in your mouth delicious. To top it off, we were seated outdoors in a beautiful garden area.

This luxurious restaurant nestled in a vineyard is probably the most exquisite and romantic place I'd ever dined at. I was beyond mortified when my sister and I walked in wearing just our biking clothes having just finished a day of biking around to the various vineyards. However, the staff was more than welcoming making no comments towards how we may have been dressed. We were seated outside next to the fountain, a trellis path and a perfect view of the sunset. I couldn't get over the view, breath taking. This is the kind of romantic place you take a girl. Boys, take note. We ordered the aged beef from the special menu and the rack of lamb, pairing our dishes with their 2009 cabernet. Absolutely delicious meal, we savored every bite! I know tiping isn't customary in NZ, but the service, food, and atmosphere were fantastic, I couldn't leave without leaving them something to show my appreciation and satisfaction. I highly recommend coming here!

We LOVED our lunch here. The food was expertly prepared and just so, so good! Started with salmon, then had the dry-aged ribeye for my main course and plums (grown at the vineyard) and ice cream for dessert. The setting is fabulous! We sat in the garden and enjoyed a peaceful view of their olive trees and a fountain. One of the best parts was our waiter- he was incredibly knowledgable about all of the food and wine and really loved stopping by the table to chat with us about the winery and also his travels through the US. Don't miss this place!!!

It's not often that a place is so good that I'm forced to take time out of my life to write a review about it. Hans Herzog is such a place. Herzog was the last vineyard we visited after an eventful day of winery hopping around the town of Blenheim. There was a nice garden in the back of the estate where we enjoyed our wine in peace and quiet. After the wine, we decided to stay around for dinner as well. The food was amazing and we managed to take a few nice pictures before becoming too intoxicated to do so. The price was fairly high but it was certainly worth it. Herzog was definitely the best meal we had during our New Zealand trip and one of my all time favourite.

Atmosphere: really amazing!!! restaurant in beautiful and scenic garden. Among green trees, flowers, bird singing. Very cozy and stylish. You'll feel yourself like in your own country house. Take table outdoor and just relax and forget about everything! Food: rather short menu. Food was delicious. We ordered mushrooms risotto and ribeye stake. Everything was perfect! Prices: as in a good restaurant. Stake price is nearly 35$. Risotto is about 20$. Glass of wine is from 10 to 19$ for glass.

We ate in the gourmet restaurant, the five course meal with the wine pairing. ($200 per person) Upon arrival the waiter brought us two sparkling glasses of wine and suggested that we start outdoors where most guests begin their evening, we were told. He even brought us small bites to cleanse our pallet while on the back porch. It seemed like a great start to the evening except for I didn't care for the red sparkling, it tasted like bad Merlot made into bubbles. I returned inside to the bar with my glass of red sparkling explaining that I didn't like it and asked if he had some juice to make it like sangria. Never did he mention that he would take it off the bill, so we assumed these were part of the wine tasting experience since we didn't order them. He suggested adding tonic water to make spritzers out of our bubbles. We moved indoors to begin dinner and one seated were asked whether we preferred still or sparkling water. Once again, we assumed it was part of the wine dinner flat charge. The food pairing was good but the portions were extremely small. The first course was one mussel and the second course were two small bites of tuna. My husband and I both chose fish for the main course, which was a piece of white fish only about 3 ounces. The total meat for the evening was probably 4 - 4 1/2 ounces. The fourth course was a cheese plate with five small choices for us to share followed by the last course of dessert. This selection was smaller than half of a Twix candy bar. Funny how with each course they continuously offered us bread. We believe, in an attempt to help us feel full by the end of the evening. When my husband went to pay the bill it was $450 instead of the $400 that we selected. He questioned the $50 additional charge and was told it was for the two glasses of sparkling before dinner and the water that we selected to have with our meal. Again, never we were told there was a charge for these items and we felt it was very deceptive and made the whole evening seemed overpriced. It was a nice atmosphere but extremely expensive for some bad wine selections and very small portions. The Cab Franc was the only wine we truly enjoyed all night. I questioned the French waiter myself in the bar before leaving. Explaining that his actions were very deceptive and I don't like being treated that way and that he should refund the $50 back to the credit card. He argued with me and said that people don't question the bill or complain in a nice restaurant like this. It was upsetting to be treated so disrespectfully and before we walked out the door he reimbursed us for one glass of sparkling. Overall the evening was a big disappointment for $430 and our last night in Blenheim.