"Handily located a short drive from Blenheim in the midst of the Marlborough wine region, Rock Ferry boasts a pleasant garden setting that's a perfect place to stop for lunch between tasting excursions (likely involving the excellent local sauvignon and chardonnay). Formerly a heritage cottage home, Rock Ferry has a relaxed ambience and is bordered by well-established vineyards that supply organic grapes for its own wines. Much of the menu also features organic ingredients, and standout dishes include marinated salmon from New Zealand's Banks Peninsula and a spicy, Thai-influenced curry with free-range chicken. Leave room for something sweet from the seasonal blackboard menu—not to mention a glass of Rock Ferry's fragrant and honeyed riesling dessert wine."
Love the wine and food. Only been here for the Twilight Market but such an amazing place that I would go out here more often. ♥️
Daniel Borszik
Google
Exceptional knowledge. Laura our host made the tasting an unforgettable experience with her charm and humour. The wines are some of of our favourites the Sauvignon Blanc stands out miles from the crowd.
Kevin Mintenko
Google
If there was 10 stars, Rock Ferry would get them all!
Amazing service, amazing (organic) wines, amazing food. It doesn’t get much better. We highly recommend the soup, when it is available, and the platters.
Rock Ferry has often been releasing some library wines as well, which have been a really special treat!
If you are only going to visit one winery in the Marlborough region, make it this one. There is something for everyone. Even a tire swing for the kids!
Duncan Styles
Google
Such a beautiful setting with awesome food and fantastic wines. We were part of a wine tasting and should have stayed longer. Really worth a visit.
Andreas
Google
After arriving at Picton, we decided to drive a little further to visit this restaurant. It was a good decision. After we orders our food, the restaurant allow us to have wine tasting and hold the food order, just to make sure we had the right pairing. The outdoor seating was the best. Food was delicious and not too expensive. Glad we visited this restaurant.
Troy Pearce
Google
Friendly, knowledgeable staff. We experienced a wonderful selection of organic wines and were educated about the processes used in their creation. Stunning grounds.
Kevin Ang
Google
A must visit while in Marlborough, not just for the tasting but also for lunch. Warm hospitality and service. Delicious food.
Najd Salas
Google
We had a great time at Rock Ferry Cellar Door & Cafe. We did the wine tasting and it was very well explained and the wines quite good. We also had lunch and the food was great.
Suzie L.
Yelp
Delicious lunch and wonderful wine tasting
We had lunch at Rock Ferry after a lovely wine tasting. The food was delicious - our open steak sandwich and our tarakihi was cooked perfectly and presented beautifully. It was quite reasonably priced too.....
D H.
Yelp
We arrived too late in the afternoon to eat but Hayden gave us a tasting session - we enjoyed it since we were the only ones there. We toured NZ in the winter and avoided all the crowds. He served us 5 different wines and we bought two bottles. The tasting room is quite new and well designed.
Elie L.
Yelp
An absolutely delightful lunch spot! We came without reservations and luckily we were able to get a table--it was quite crowded around noon. The wines are fine (we've honestly had better in the region) but the food was so delicious. We had the fish of the day and chicken lentil salad. Wonderful combinations of flavors and textures. Do not miss this place.
Zhai O.
Yelp
Was brought along to this restaurant for lunch with our wine tour and had a pleasant meal. I myself had the open steak sandwich which was a generous steak if a little over done when asked for medium, however others at our table were cooked perfectly.
My partner had the Fish of the Day which was Salmon with risotto and was a delicious meal. The place was very busy and I will say that our tasting was a bit all over the place but delicious food and wonderful wines were enjoyed by all.
Renata W.
Yelp
BEST lunch in New Zealand!!! The food was fantastic! They made me vegan gluten free dish that was the best I've had traveling!! The service was top notch... I can't recommend enough!!!
Ben K.
Yelp
We stumbled upon Rock Ferry based on the recommendation of a local who lived just down the street from this beautiful winery + amazing lunch cafe. We went just to try some wine but stayed and had the most amazing meal, probably our best meal during out trip to New Zealand. We had the soup and salad, and a steak sandwich. All of the food was prepared great and tasted extremely fresh. The next time I make it back to the Blenheim area I will definitly return to the Rock Ferry Cafe for lunch!
Sandra K.
Yelp
Rock Ferry kept coming up in conversation as THE winery to go to for lunch. I finally got the chance to go and I wasn't disappointed. We didn't have a booking, but phoned ahead and luckily there was a table available. The building was previously the owners home and was converted to a restaurant and cellar door. It says it's a cafe, but there's no counter food here, instead there's a menu of 5-6 lunch choices (all sounded good the day I visited). The steak sandwich never leaves the menu, it's so popular. I settled on the Panko crumbed fish served on a smoked cheddar mash with tomato salsa and had a bonus sampling of 3 or 4 of their wines before settling on a very nice Pinot Gris. My lunch mate had the salmon (see pics). Couldn't resist dessert - sticky date pudding with praline, warm caramel sauce and vanilla icecream (shouldn't have!) Set in a vineyard it has lovely views, perfect place for lunch even on a cold winters day.
Melissa G.
Yelp
What a fabulous lunch! The gurnard with coconut and kafir lime risotto I had was so amazing, subtle flavour and beautifully presented! My friend ordered
a steak sandwich (blue) which also was lovely. The home-made garlic aioli, made with free range eggs and fresh garlic was spectacular- and the humus spread on the pumpernickel bread was divine- she just wanted more of that hummus! We then shared a beautiful lemon tart, perfect sweet base to tart lemon filling! Loved that they didn't sweeten the cream! Service was impeccable, the wine tasting was perfectly timed to fit in between or dinging and eating and Rudy was very knowledgable! What a great day!
Laura T.
Yelp
Hands down, lunch here today was the best meal we've had in NZ in the past three weeks. We thought we were eating well to start with, but Rockferry blew everything else out of the water. The chef kindly accommodated my vegan diet and made me something special, which was an amazing combination of roasted pumpkin, veggies, and dukkah. My husband had the stack sandwich, which was so good he was speechless for the whole meal (except for some groaning noises). The homemade breads and desserts were out of this world, too.