Torlesse Wines is a family-run winery and cellar door on Loffhagen Drive in Waipara, North Canterbury, about an hour's drive north of Christchurch and roughly 1.5 km from the Hanmer Springs turn-off. That position on the main route north makes it a practical stop for touring groups, incentive itineraries and pre- or post-conference day trips out of Christchurch.
### Winery and vineyards
The company takes its name from Charles Torlesse, the English surveyor and farmer after whom the Torlesse range is also named. The winery building began life as a farm woolshed and was converted for winemaking in 1987; Torlesse Wines moved to Waipara in 1991 and still shares the production facilities. The operation is self-sufficient across the full winemaking chain from crushing through to bottling, with storage allowing up to 200 tonnes to be processed at vintage. Most grapes are hand harvested and all fruit is batch processed, with vineyard components kept separate until final blending. Torlesse was the first winery in Waipara to use screw cap closures, applying them to its 2001 Waipara Riesling, and now bottles under screw cap as standard.
The range spans Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Albariño, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Merlot and a Port-style wine. The winemaking team is led by Ben and Pete Rayner, with the cellar door team led by Maggie Rayner.
### Cellar door and food
The cellar door was built and opened in March 2000. It is open seven days and most public holidays, 11.00am to 5.00pm, with earlier visits available by appointment. The standard tasting is priced at $20 per person for six wines plus a Port, and can be booked online. Hosting is done by the winemaker and owners themselves, which gives visiting groups direct access to the people making the wine.
Food is available in the form of platters and hot dishes such as peppered squid or wedges. A two-person platter and a larger sharing platter are listed. The winery also offers bicycle hire and has a biodiversity trail on site, both of which can extend a visit into a longer activity.
### Group and event suitability
Torlesse explicitly invites enquiries about options for larger groups by email, and notes that bookings are essential for food. That makes it well suited to structured wine-tasting sessions for incentive groups, conference partner programmes, team days out and small corporate hosting, particularly when combined with the bicycle hire or the biodiversity trail. Formal function-room capacities, private dining spaces and seated-event numbers are not published, so organisers should confirm group size, timing and catering directly with the winery. Planners building a North Canterbury itinerary can also review other Canterbury venues in this directory.
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