Leaving for Raro next week after an absence of 26 years. I'm sure that there is some decent NZ wine there but I'd like to know how much I can expect to pay both in restaurants and in markets for a nice bottle of NZ wine. And can one easily bring a bottle to dinner in local restaurants and pay corkage?
I'll probably bring a few bottles of CA wine anyway as I see (at Cook Islands customs online) that they allow two free and charge you NZ$5 for extra bottles.
Wine Rules in Rarotonga
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As far as prices go, wines in restaurants in Raro are generally between NZD35 - 70 a bottle. The $35 range being your basic quafer quality and the $70 bottles being wines such as Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Balnc. As far as BYO and corkage is concerned I will have to defer to someone who has an answer for that as I do not know.
If you cannot take them to a restaurant you could of course you could always take a few bottles with you (Remembering to pack them safely in the suitcase so the TSA does not get them) and drink them as you relax with a tropical sunset at your hotel.
Have to say though, in that heat generally I am a beer man
Just back from Rarotonga. Brought 6 bottles of CA wine with us and customs did not care and did not charge us any extra. Ate at several nice restaurants with no problem bringing wine with us. Median price for corkage was NZ$10 (actually varied from $0 to $15) which was wonderful. Had a good laugh as one server kept trying to "unscrew" our corked bottle!!
The NZ wines on most wine lists were quite good and around NZ$30-$35 each.
Thanks, PinotNoir, for letting us know how you got on with the wine. Hope you had a wonderful trip, too.