The Waiheke Wine and Food festival

The Waiheke Wine and Food festival will return to the festivals calendar on February the 6th 2010.

The venue will be the same as in previous years – Isola Estate, home to the yet to be built five star Langham hotel – but the style of festival will be completely different.

The island’s marketing and event management company, Let Me Out Ltd, who ran the inaugural Blues festival at the end of August, have stepped forward to create a new and exciting international food and wine experience which will show case the diverse range of products made locally.

Already signed up for this year’s festival is the original vineyard on Waiheke – Goldwater Estate. Since these winemaking pioneers first established in 1978, over 30 more vineyards have now opened on Waiheke Island, making it a mecca for wine lovers, with over 10 grape varieties planted and harvested annually across the island.

Other vineyards include Man O War Bay Vineyard,and Peacock Sky, . The festival expects to have 15 wine stalls in total.

The Waiheke Island Brewery will take a stand, having been forced to the sidelines last year by a no beer rule. The award winning micro brewery boasts five unique beers at its micro brewery including a wheat beer, dark ale, original, malt beer and ginger beer.

There will be a number of producers launching their brand new products at the festival including a new cheese maker, James Clairmont and his Californian business partner Erik Sprotte. They will be debuting three cheeses: The Rocky Bay Blue, a kiwi style creamy blue cheese; Paniora, a Spanish Manchego style hard cheese and the Onetangi Straight, an Italian Pecorino Toscana semi-soft style cheese. Their unique offering is down to their use of sheep milk to make the cheeses, which is more common outside of New Zealand.

In the spirit of passing on food secrets, there will be a demonstration area for 4 celebrity chefs to share their culinary skills with the festival goers with the challenge of creating one amazing dish in a 20 minute time frame with only one piece of equipment!

To complement the festival feel there will be an eclectic music line up including New Zealand’s Salmonella Dub, the internationally renowned Beat Girls, local guitar virtuoso Andy Blue and other special guests.

Let Me Out managing director Delyth Morgan-Coghlan said

“We’re putting as much emphasis as possible on creating a unique food and wine tasting experience. Imagine an open air French food market right here on Waiheke island, taking the best produce around and tantalising festival goers with tastings and aromas whilst leaving them with a bag full of goodies, order forms and culinary ideas to take home with them.”

ENDS

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