"We have seen a large increase in investment in cellar door offerings across the region and we know that food and wine tourism is one of the strongest growth segments with international travellers."
COWA manager Glenys Coughlan estimated last year the investment of Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes district winegrowers in new and improved facilities would have been "several million dollars in recent times".
Several new tasting rooms opened last summer, and more are on the way.
New facilities include new tasting rooms at Domain Road Vineyard, in Bannockburn; Quest Vineyard’s cellar door, in the Freeway Orchard complex, near Cromwell; a tasting room for Bendigo vineyard Mishas Vineyard off-site, next door to Quest’s tasting room, near Cromwell; a tasting room at Archangel Vineyard, at Queensberry; and a new cellar door for Remarkable Wines at Cairnmuir Rd, in Bannockburn.
Other new tasting rooms soon to open or planned include facilities at Desert Heart, at Bannockburn; Wine Solutions, in Cromwell’s industrial area; Maori Point Vineyard, at Tarras; and a new wine and function centre for Tarras Vineyard, in Bendigo.
Mr Bradshaw said Central Otago’s wines continued to also be promoted at a range of events, such as trade promotions and by hosting wine writers, wine critics, wine distributors and wine retailers.
"We know that once these people have visited Central Otago they fall in love with the place and the people and become real advocates for our wines.
"Nothing beats that first-hand experience, and we invest tens of thousands of dollars in running these promotions each year."
