Monte Christo by Bike
A cellar door barely a year old, in stone stables that outlived the gold-rush hotel they were built for — hosted tastings from $25, platters you build yourself, and a covered patio.
The Details
- Address
- 6 Coal Pit Road, Gibbston, Central Otago 9371
- Phone
- 03 664 6644
- gibbston@montechristowinery.co.nz
- Website
- www.montechristowinery.co.nz
- Social
- Open
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October – April
Monday 10am – 6pm Tuesday 10am – 6pm Wednesday 10am – 6pm Thursday 10am – 6pm Friday 10am – 6pm Saturday 10am – 6pm Sunday 10am – 6pm May – September
Monday 11am – 5pm Tuesday 11am – 5pm Wednesday 11am – 5pm Thursday 11am – 5pm Friday 11am – 5pm Saturday 11am – 5pm Sunday 11am – 5pm
- Tastings
- From $25 per person
- Bookings
- Not essential
- Food
- Build your own platter from local cheeses, charcuterie, breads, olives and spreads.
Getting There by Bike
About 310 metres off the Winery Bike Trail, at the foot of Coal Pit Road — two minutes' riding, and the red dotted line on the map below is that stretch.
It is the same turn-off as the Gibbston Tavern and Mount Edward, so all three come off one detour. The address is 6 Coal Pit Road, and tapping it in The Details opens it in Maps.
The red dotted line is the distance from the Winery Bike Trail to the winery's front door. Tap the map and zoom out to see where you turn off.
The Wines
All estate-grown, from 22 hectares across the Alexandra Basin, Bannockburn and Pisa, made by Karl Coombes. The vineyards are certified by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, with BioGro organic certification either achieved or in progress block by block.
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Central Otago Rosé2024 -
Central Otago Pinot Gris2025 -
Central Otago Riesling2025 -
Central Otago Chardonnay2024 · New release -
CENTRAL Pinot Noir2024 -
Central Otago Pinot Noir2024 · New release -
Central Otago Pinot Noir2023 -
Central Otago Pinot Noir2022 -
Alexandra Pinot Noir2024 -
Bannockburn Pinot Noir2024 -
Pisa Pinot Noir2024
These wines taste better in person
BOOK YOUR RIDE — FROM $149✓ No booking fees ✓ Free 48hr cancellation ✓ Free bad weather refund
What to Expect
Tastings are hosted and start at $25 a head; you pick your flight on the day from a range of limited-production wines. Walk-ins are welcome, which makes this the easiest stop out here to add mid-ride. Groups over six should email gibbston@montechristowinery.co.nz or ring 03 664 6644 first — there is no online booking for Gibbston at all.
Food is a platter you build yourself out of local cheeses, charcuterie, breads, olives and spreads, eaten indoors or on the covered patio with a glass or a bottle. The covered part is the useful part on a day that turns.
The hours move with the season, by an hour at each end: 10am to 6pm from October to April, 11am to 5pm from May to September. In summer it is one of the last doors open in the valley; in winter it is not.
They open at 1pm on Anzac Day, and close on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Worth knowing
If you rode this trail before 2026 you will know the building as Rockburn's cellar door. Monte Christo took the site on and opened here at the end of 2025. Rockburn now pour at their own winery in Cromwell, by appointment.
The Monte Christo Story
A gold-rush hotel stood at the foot of Coal Pit Road, feeding and watering miners tramping the Cromwell to Queenstown road; from 1867 the coach road ran right past its front door. Early in 1912, on a windy day, sparks from live ashes blew under the verandah and burned the hotel and the cottages beside it to the ground. It was never rebuilt. The stone stables survived, in good repair, and they are the building you ride up to.
Monte Christo date those stables to the 1860s hotel. The local histories are thinner than that: Anne Cook's account, quoted by the Gibbston Tavern, dates the coach road, the succession of owners and the fire, but puts no year on the stables themselves. The name moves about too — she calls the place the Gibbston Tavern at Deep Creek, a creek since renamed Camp Creek, where Monte Christo call it the Gibbston Hotel.
Monte Christo themselves come from Clyde, 45 minutes away, where Jean Désiré Féraud planted grapes in 1864 and built a schist winery they describe as the oldest in the South Island. Nicholas Paris MW and Dr Stanley Paris restored this building and opened the Gibbston cellar door at the end of 2025.
Told from Monte Christo's own Gibbston page, and from Anne Cook's The Gibbston Story as quoted by the Gibbston Tavern.
Common Questions
- Do you need to book?
- No — walk-ins are welcome for tastings, and there is no online booking for the Gibbston cellar door. Groups of more than six should email gibbston@montechristowinery.co.nz or ring 03 664 6644 first.
- How much is a tasting?
- From $25 per person, hosted, with your flight chosen on the day from their limited-production wines.
- What time is it open?
- Seven days: 10am to 6pm from October to April, and 11am to 5pm from May to September. Open from 1pm on Anzac Day, closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
- Is there food?
- You build your own platter from local cheeses, charcuterie, breads, olives and spreads, and eat it indoors or on the covered patio.
- Was this Rockburn?
- It was. Monte Christo took the site on, restored the building and opened here at the end of 2025. Rockburn now pour at their own winery in Cromwell.
- How far off the trail is it?
- About 310 metres, at the foot of Coal Pit Road — two minutes' riding.
Nearest Stops on the Trail
- Gibbston TavernThe same road — pizza, and a kitchen open to 6pm
- Mount EdwardFurther up Coalpit Road, small and organic
- Peregrine WinesBack west, under the falcon-wing roof
