Zip Wine & Dine Is Back!

August 4, 2024

Until March 2020, and words like pandemic and isolation became ubiquitous, there was a combo product we operated, in collaboration with the folks at Fullers 360, that outsold all our other combos by a factor of about 30 to 1. In fact, demand for this combo was so great that we often ended up operating waiting lists, or guests would move their planned visit to Waiheke to grab available spaces.

Our Zip Wine Dine tour was so popular, we learned, because it allowed our guests an opportunity to experience the very best that Waiheke has to offer in just one day, and with all the stress of organisation removed.

Now, following an understandable hiatus, Zip Wine Dine is back and with an itinerary that’s just as good, perhaps even better, than it’s pre-Covid predecessor; making it the ultimate Waiheke package.

With a ferry at a civilised 8.15am midweek, and 8am on weekends and public holidays, the day starts with a leisurely cruise to Waiheke Island. Next is our multi-award winning Zipline & Native Forest experience, and a chance to see beautiful Waiheke from a series of unique perspectives.

Departing EcoZip, our guests head for the Rangihoura area of the island and wonderful Allpress Olive Groves. While Waiheke’s famed for its grapes and wines, olives are a second, and important, aspect of the island’s agriculture. After sampling Allpress’s handcrafted olive oils, it’s a short drive to Batch Winery, with its remarkable views, for the first wine tasting of the day, plus a two-course lunch.

From Batch Winery our guests head west to Cable Bay, home to exquisite cuisine, award-winning wines and breath-taking views; at Cable Bay another tasting, with accompanying ‘nibbles’, awaits. Another short drive leads to incredible Mudbrick Vineyard, where Robyn and Nick Jones planted their first vines in 1992, and today produce some of Waiheke’s finest wines, in an environment that is indescribably romantic. Here wines are sampled in the tasting room or, if the weather permits, out on the lovely veranda.

From here guests can choose to linger on the island or otherwise head back to Auckland on a 4.15pm ferry.

At just $399 (NZD) per person, the Zip Wine Dine tour represents incredible value and will, we expect, quickly regain its former, sell-out, popularity.