Papaiti Gin is an award‑winning boutique distillery located just north of Whanganui. Founded in 2021 by Adrian Rumney and Nikki Oesterle, the distillery began when the couple discovered their newly purchased property included two pear orchards with plenty of fruit. This led to the question: “What are we going to do with all the pears?” The answer: craft gin rooted in local terroir.

Each batch of gin is handcrafted in small stills, producing expressions that reflect the surrounding landscape and botanicals. Papaiti sources ingredients such as pears, kawakawa, lemon, lime, figs, quince, rosemary, native horopito, manuka, rosehip, stinging nettle and kelp. All botanicals are grown on or near the distillery site.

Papaiti Gin range includes:

• Orchard Gin – juniper and citrus forward, evolving into peppery kawakawa and nutmeg, finishing with sweet pear notes. Orchard Gin won it’s category at the Gin Guide Awards 2025.
• Whanganui Dry Gin – a classic London dry with a modern twist. Infused with pink peppercorn, fresh mint and almond. It won double gold at the New Zealand Spirits Awards.
• Mountains to Sea Gin – evocative of the Whanganui River’s journey. Featuring horopito, manuka leaf, bull kelp, orchard pear, grapefruit and lime peel. It captures a complex sense of place 
• Potager Gin – garden‑inspired, with herbs like basil, nettle, rosehip and citrus-forward botanicals, offering freshness and herbal complexity

Award-Winning Gins

Papaiti Gin has earned more than 29 medals both within New Zealand and internationally in its first two years. That’s a hugely impressive recognition of its craftsmanship and storytelling through flavour.

Visitors are welcome at the cellar‑door distillery at 454 State Highway 4, Ūpokongaro. There you can taste the full range. You can also join guided distillery tours, or participate in immersive gin‑making classes lasting around three hours. Participants can create their own bespoke bottle using local botanicals and learn about distillation, taking home a 700 ml bottle of their custom gin. This is as hands-on as it gets. You’ll be introduced to a wide range of botanicals. You can even bring your own, if you have a special flavour in mind. Or you can pick your own mix at the distillery. You will learn how to use a copper still. Papaiti master distiller Adrian will guide visitors through the whole process. If you are in the Whanganui region its well worth a trip.

With its focus on sustainability, local sourcing and creative storytelling, Papaiti Gin stands out as a true taste of Whanganui and is proud to be part of Whanganui’s vibrant creative scene, and even prouder to be part of the growing movement putting New Zealand spirits on the world map.

Papaiti Gin uses EAN-13 barcodes from  Barcodes NZ