Peregrine Wines by Bike
A winery roofed like a falcon's wing in flight, hosted tastings of four wines for $30, and a quarter of every tasting fee going to the bird it is named after.
The Details
- Address
- 2127 Gibbston Highway, RD1 Queenstown 9371
- Phone
- 03 442 4000
- cellardoor@peregrinewines.co.nz
- Website
- www.peregrinewines.co.nz
- Social
- Instagram · Facebook
- Open
-
Monday 11am – 4pm Tuesday 11am – 4pm Wednesday 11am – 4pm Thursday 11am – 4pm Friday 11am – 4pm Saturday 11am – 4pm
- Tastings
- From $30 per person
- Bookings
- Recommended Book a tasting
Getting There by Bike
About 200 metres off the Winery Bike Trail — a minute's riding, and one of the shortest runs to a door in Gibbston. The red dotted line on the map below is that stretch.
The cellar door stands on Peregrine's Gibbston estate, on terraces above the Kawarau at roughly 400 metres, so the vines you pass on the way in are the ones behind the Gibbston pinot noir. The address is 2127 Gibbston Highway, 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
Three ranges — Peregrine, the Saddleback entry wines and the Pinnacle icons — grown organically across Gibbston, Pisa and Bendigo. Their shop ships, which is the better answer than carrying bottles on a bike.
Peregrine
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Peregrine Pinot Noir2024 -
Peregrine Chardonnay2024 -
Peregrine Pinot Gris2025 -
Peregrine Rosé2025 -
Peregrine Sauvignon Blanc2025 -
Peregrine Riesling2024 -
Méthode TraditionelleNV
Saddleback
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Saddleback Pinot Noir2023 -
Saddleback Chardonnay2025 -
Saddleback Pinot Gris2024 -
Saddleback Rosé2025 -
Saddleback Riesling2024
Pinnacle
These wines taste better in person
BOOK YOUR RIDE — FROM $149✓ No booking fees ✓ Free 48hr cancellation ✓ Free bad weather refund
What to Expect
Everything here is hosted — there is no walk-up self-pour. The Cellar Door tasting is $30 a head for four wines and takes about 30 minutes, and the fee is waived if you take two bottles home. Their shop ships, so you need not carry them.
Group size decides which tasting you get and what it costs. One to four people get the $30 Cellar Door tasting. Five to fourteen go into the Barrel Hall at $40 a head. Over fourteen, email cellardoor@peregrinewines.co.nz first. A group of five pays more per head than a group of four, which is worth knowing before you split up.
If you end up in the Barrel Hall, bring a layer. Their own booking note reads: “Our Barrel Hall is an active production space, temperatures remain cool year-round.” That lands rather differently when you have just ridden in.
Two longer tours run as well — Beyond the Barrels at $75 for 45 minutes and five wines, and Vine to Glass at $100 for an hour in the vines, the historic woolshed and the winery building.
There is no food. Peregrine publish none of any kind, so eat before you arrive or plan the next stop.
Worth knowing
Book ahead, and note the close. “Please book in advance to ensure we can accommodate your group, walk ins subject to availability” is a real constraint, and the doors shut at 4pm — earlier than most of the valley.
The Peregrine Story
The building is the first thing you see and the reason to stop even if you are not drinking. Completed in 2003 and designed by Wellington's Architecture Workshop, its changing roof gradient was drawn from the kinetic rotation of a bird in flight; the accolades include the AR+D Emerging Architecture Awards and the New Zealand Institute of Architects Supreme Award. A translucent canopy holds the whole thing together, which is why it reads as a blade of light against the rock behind it.
The bird is not decoration. The karearea, the New Zealand falcon, is the only falcon native to this country, and fewer than 800 breeding pairs are left in the wild. Peregrine has raised chicks at the winery in boxes designed to keep human contact to a minimum, working with the Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust in Rotorua, and released them.
The entry range is named after another endangered bird — the saddleback, or tieke, near extinction in the 1960s and the subject of New Zealand's first species relocation in 1964. And 25% of every tasting fee goes to the conservation work.
The McLachlan family have been making wine here since 1998, across Gibbston, Pisa and Bendigo. The farming is organic and unusually literal about it: goat herds clear new land, wiltshire sheep eat the grass down between seasons, and chickens work the grass grub out of the vineyard floor.
Told from Peregrine's own account of the building and of their conservation work.
Common Questions
- Do you need to book?
- Book ahead. Their own wording is “please book in advance to ensure we can accommodate your group, walk ins subject to availability” — firmer than it looks on a busy afternoon.
- How much is a tasting?
- $30 per person for a hosted tasting of four wines, about 30 minutes — and the fee is waived if you buy two bottles. Groups of five to fourteen go into the Barrel Hall at $40 a head.
- What time is it open?
- Monday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm. Sunday is not listed on their site, so ring 03 442 4000 before riding out on one.
- Is there food?
- No. Peregrine publish no food offering at the cellar door — plan to eat elsewhere on the trail.
- Are the wines organic?
- Peregrine farm organically and say so throughout their own site, but they name no certifying body — so read it as their practice rather than a certification.
- How far off the trail is it?
- About 200 metres — a minute's riding.
Nearest Stops on the Trail
- Gibbston Valley WineryBack west — cave tours, a restaurant and a cheesery
- Gibbston TavernThe nearest hot meal, served until 6pm
- Mount EdwardSmall, organic, and happy to see riders
