Seven Degustation Dinners in Five Central Otago Regions in Twelve Days

The inaugural Down to Earth Wine Celebration is proving to have a strong wine and food matching theme with 56 food and wine events including seven degustation dinners over the 12 days of the event.

It all kicks off on Saturday 24 October with the Gibbston Valley Wine and Jazz Weekend degustation dinner featuring celebrity chef Simon Gault and winemaker Christopher Keys.

On Tuesday 27 October, for lunch, you "can trust the chef and the winemaker" by having a feast which combines the cuisine of celebrated award-winning chef James Stapley and the passion of Maude Wines winemaker Vanessa Robson at Bistro Gentil in Wanaka.

On Friday the 30th you can be wooed at the Wooing Tree long table with a delicious 4-course 3-hour lunch. Others can attend the Gibbston Valley Wine Cave Degustation Dinner where the chef and winemaker conspire to reveal their ultimate wine and food combinations.

On Saturday 31 October, Mt Difficulty holds a food and wine matching workshop with New Zealand’s first Master Sommelier, Cameron Douglas. Cameron will teach you the secrets of the sommelier, tasting dishes and their components with a variety of wines.

Most days during the event, visitors can attend a Wild Earth dinner party in Cromwell where they will be shown how to prepare paua, duck, and rabbit before cooking them in Pinot Noir barrel cookers. Or, visitors can be shown the Pisa Range Estate vineyard by the owners before sitting down for dinner at the Aoturoa Luxury Villa.

"Chefs, winemakers, and vineyard owners are taking us on a tour of the senses," says Event Director, Bruce McGechan. "These dinners and lunches are nestled beside stunning mountainous terrain, the food is cooked by some of New Zealand's famous chefs, and the best of Central Otago wine carefully matched to create a visual and culinary feast."

Labour Weekend will mark the opening of the first annual ‘Down to Earth’ celebration of wine in New Zealand’s Central Otago region, set to run from Saturday 24 October to Wednesday 4 November 2015.

As the gateway to the Central Otago wine region, Queenstown Airport has daily direct flights from Australia’s East Coast and New Zealand’s main cities. From the airport, there’s easy access to the Central Otago wine subregions of Gibbston, Bannockburn, Bendigo, Cromwell basin, Wanaka, and Alexandra basin — all within 90 minutes of the alpine and lake resort Queenstown.

For more information on all the events, go to downtoearthwinecelebration.co.nz . Tickets are on sale now, and most events have limited numbers.

ENDS

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