Waiheke’s Tantalus Estate, the ultimate lifestyle property

A rare opportunity has come up to own an award-winning winery on Waiheke Island which comes complete with a 160-seater restaurant and event venue, craft beer brewery, winery and vineyard.

It’s up to you how you could use the 8 hectare Tantalus Estate at 70-72 Onetangi Road. You could build a beautiful home on the property in an elevated spot so you could take in the valley views and outsource the running of the winery to one of the neighbours in the Onetangi wine valley – red wine specialist Stonyridge, Te Motu, Postage Stamp or Soho for instance.

“Stephen White from Stonyridge has created a name for Waiheke wines in Onetangi Valley, for which I’ll always be grateful,” says Tantalus Estate owner, Bruce Aitken.

Or the new owner could run the estate purely as a wedding and event venue and again outsource the vineyard/winery/brewery.

“As a wedding venue it’s beautiful. You could do very well just concentrating on that,” says Ray White Waiheke agent Matthew Smith who is marketing the property.

The estate might appeal to a well known Aotearoa wine brand which wants to have a vineyard on Waiheke, just as they have in Marlborough, Hawkes Bay or Central Otago, he adds.

The Tantalus Estate vineyard produces Bordeaux and Rhône-style wines and has one block planted with a Cabernet Sauvignon clone dating back to 1887. It has Syrah, Chardonnay and Merlot grapes.

There have been some nibbles from a few winery names, says Matthew. The estate could also be like a mini-Ayrburn, the luxury food and wine destination recently opened in Arrowtown, he suggests.

Another option to consider would be to lease the restaurant out to an operator and keep running the winery, which has some innovative high tech equipment. The owners have invested in square stainless steel wine tanks from Canada which are very efficient, and they have concrete eggs for their chardonnay and pinot gris, the egg shape keeping the juice in circulation, which maximises the flavour.

“We like for things to be a little bit different and unique,” says Bruce.

Bruce, whose son and daughter-in-law, Campbell and Carrie, have run the estate these past few years says: “We set out to create the wow factor at every step of the customer experience, the wine, the beer, the food, we’re very focused on giving a customer a great experience so they’ll tell their friends and come back.”

“If you want a property and a brand that draws people in and impresses, it’s very much a candidate for that,” says Bruce.

“I’ve always felt that first impressions are so important. We make an impression as you come to the property, from the road, with an interesting building to look at as you drive up the driveway, then the vineyards all around.”

Bruce’s pride and joy at the estate are the wetlands he’s brought back to life at the property with his wife. Over the years, they have taken out all the exotic plants replacing them with around 5,000 or 6,000 native plants and trees, and they’ve built surrounding boardwalks. “It’s so rewarding to see the wetlands come back to life, you see the birds returning, it gives you a great sense of encouragement,” says the vendor.