Volcanic Hills Winery Tasting Room (at the top of the Skyline Gondola)

A lovely lazy hour or so spen trying wines and the exceptional Tawny. Having ziplined and done a few luges, this was an oasis, while my son got in more luges. Carmen is such a great ambassador for the winery. Knowledgeable and friendly. The perfect amount of notes on the different wines. If you are going up on the gondola, make sure you call in.

We stopped in for the views, the wine, and the cheese. The owners were local experts and very willing to share their knowledge. We enjoyed the visit very much.

Wow! What a treat! This winery has something for every wine enthusiast or even the "wine isn't my thing" person. The high-quality selection is impressive, but the service is the star. We had such an amazing time learning about all the New Zealand wines. The view is just so relaxing and the perfect setting to catch up with some great conversations. I was just so impressed with how awesome this winery was to visit. Wished I lived closer or this would be a weekly local spot to enjoy.

A five-star experience. The view alone is five stars, but our server, Carmen, curated a delightful experience from start to finish! Carmen clearly knew her wines; she was patient, and her smile radiated genuine warmth. I lived in San Francisco for many years and we frequented the wine country. I am now trying to lean into the Australian and Zealand wines (whites, Pinots and other offerings) rather than the big bold Cabernets of California that defined the wine education in my youth. Carmen and I had a big discussion about Chardonnay oak and stainless, and again, it was clear that she knew her wines and especially the Volcanic Hills wines that she was serving. We also overheard her at the other tables educating other patrons and even trying to navigate some language barriers. She remained unflappable. All tables received a great deal of attention from her. This was no mere “pour and go” tasting. Carmen really took the time to educate every table about her wines. Kudos Carmen for such an incredible experience! We ended up taking home a few bottles. One of them never quite made it back to the states, because we still had a few days in New Zealand, and I opened it up in Wellington! Our next excursion after the tasting was at one of the Maori cultural centers, and Carmen told us a bit of history of the folks there and how she was related. What a great way to prep for our next experience and dinner. I was also really enchanted by one of Volcanic Hills whites, which is unusual. Those bottles make it home to the states!

I went for the luge rides with my partner in August and we just spontaneously decided to walk into Volcanic Hills Winery Tasting room. Paige * i'm hoping i spelt her name correctly * instantly attended to me and my partner and provided us with wine tastings and even explained the wine making process and gave us pretty much a history lesson - which included the beautiful Mokoia island. She was fantastic! Someone please give that girl a raise or at lesst some perks as my partner whose french and veerryy particular about his wine ended up buying 3 bottles when we only came in to browse lol We came in from Auckland and i've been to the luge a few times but this was the 1st time coming into Volcanic Hills so Paige just provided with us with such a lovely experience - we will probably end up buying wine everytime we come up now tbh so thank you Paige! :D

Great wine to try. I have tasted three wines. Pinot noir, passion fruit flavour and sparkling sweet. They all taste awesome. The girl was in the cashier at the top of the hills is super cool. She is so friendly and helpful when we pick wines. Don’t trust my words just taste the wine and see.

It was a very unique experience to take the sky tram up the winery! We bought our gondola and wine tasting ticket online a day prior to our reservation! Beautiful views from the winery! Brent was very social to all of the tables and taught us about New Zealand wine! Great experience!

Really enjoyable experience. Brent is super chatty and friendly. He shared his family's stories and adventures as well as his extensive knowledge on his wines and the global wine market. We chose the '3 wine tasting' NZ selection. I'd have gone for the 5 if I wasn't driving. Take away wines and affordable. Try the punchy Rosè and of course his buttery smooth sav...

Decided to go for wine tasting after we had visited Skyline for the luge rides. We were able to use the gondola all evening as long as we still had the receipt so it was convenient to go back to the hotel, change, and return to Volcanic Hills. The view is beautiful and the tasting room is spacious and bright. The price for 5 tastes is very reasonable at only $20 NZ. Our servers were knowledgeable about the wine and the region. Surprisingly we loved the Chardonnay (not usually a fan)! Each of the wines were very unique, and we paid a little extra to taste the Tawny which was not included in the normal tasting menu. If you like Port, you'll enjoy the Tawny. All in all a lovely wine tasting experience!

Our tour group enjoyed a lovely afternoon at the winery during our recent trip to New Zealand. The wine was terrific and our hostess Paige was simply awesome. She made the visit even more enjoyable with her incredible personality and interaction with all of us. If you stop in make sure to sample the wines, and even ask Paige to dance for you....you won't be disappointed!!!

We stopped in around 5:15 PM for a wine tasting, they stopped taking people around 5:30. The host was great. We got to try 5 wines that were all local to NZ. We really enjoyed the wine and ended up buying 2 bottles to take home with us. The atmosphere and scenery were great and you got great views of the city at night. There aren't many wineries on the north island, so if you enjoy wine, I would def recommend coming here.  HINT: Try and go when the sun is setting, you get city views of the day time and night.  Tasting around $40 USD for 2 people

Really enjoyed the tasting here! We did this as part of the Skyline Rotorua dinner buffet package. Make sure to get there by 5pm. 11am - 6pm, last wine tasting time 5.30pm. We were lucky to grab the couch which was right next to the window and saw the Gondola chair lift go up/down. Also if you do the combo package there is a dress code for the dinner buffet. No shorts or flip flops. Totally worth it, the food was fantastic!

This is a must do if you are in Rotorua. It's at the top of the gondola ride so the views are spectacular. We did a five wine tasting which was really informative about how New Zealand wines differ from other regions. In addition to great wine the service was extremely attentive. You couldn't ask for anything more. Oh and, did I mention the view?!

Little stingy with the wine samples for the tasting but overall great experience. If you want to try different wines go for the tasting otherwise a single glasses are a better buy. One of the best cheese platters we have ever had.

Truth be told, my experience was at the Volcanic Hills spot inside of Skyline Rotorua. The whole place is real casual, barrels along one wall, wines along another, and a great view of Rotorua. You can elect to sit at the counter, near the window, or in a quaint lounge area. We chose to sit at the table near the window. We went with the five wines, moving from whites, to rose, to reds. There were more selections in the "Collectors" section, but those were outside of our tasting. We started with the Pinot Gris, which was light and floral, a good summer sipping wine. Next was the Chardonnay, which I preferred out of the two, as it had a little less "nose" than the gris. I also tried the Rose, which I wasn't overly fond of. Next, we moved into my territory: reds. Our wine guide poured two glasses, stated that they were both Pinot Noirs, but as they came from two different parts of the country, they had two distinct flavors. One was called "the Boy" as it was spicier and more bold while the other was called "the Girl" because it had a softer and sweeter taste. He let us decide which wines were which and asked us where they were from. We got the Boy Wine and Girl Wine sorted, but mixed up the regions. No I won't tell you how we decided because that would spoil it for you, but you can tell the flavor based on the durations of winters... All in all, it was a very nice wine tasting, we were not rushed and our wine guide was very informative. We even snuck a taste of the 28 year old Premium Tawny, which comprises of wines from 15, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 year old wine (so our guide told us). It is a port wine, and reminds me of ice wine in that you don't need a full glass of this. It's sweet, not too heavy, and has somewhat of a maple bourbon finish to it. Needless to say, I left with a bottle. Trying to save it for Christmas when I get back home!

We were super excited to try this winery, except when you get there, literally the only way to access it is by gondola. Which for anyone with a fear of heights could be miserable. But it's also $30 a person to even get to the winery and that does not include a tasting. That's extra. New Zealand isn't the cheapest vacation, but that's just too much to just taste wine. Not worth going off the 3 reviews they have. Looking forward to other regions with tasting rooms you can actually get to. Just seems like a poor business model.

Good lord. Prepare yourself for great wine and spectacular views of Rotarua. A short gondola lift up the mountain, you catch a wondrous glimpse of the city, deer and green trees beneath, cyclists performing daring feats racing down the thin tracks toward the base. If the activities don't interest you, the winery surely will. It's spacious and spartan, yet feels modern and well presented. Wine litters the walls. We happened to attend on a slow afternoon. All the better for us, because our waitress joined us for good conversation and proved very knowledgeable about Volcanic Hills wines and neighboring wineries. The wines were excellent. We ended up walking out of there with three bottles. And oh, if anything, TRY THE TAWNY. It's worth the extra $5.

You cannot beat the views and the service - Annie is absolutely fantastic. She made our trip there. It's a must idiot if you are in Rotorua! Try the 5 wine tasting. You will be glad you did.