Sun shines on Gisborne festival

 Festival steering committee chairwoman and marketing manager for Tourism Eastland Kerry Taggart said their research showed the market preferred the festival to be in one space, avoiding the potential chaos of a bus system. So this year the event was held at a new central location at Awapuni Stadium, close to the city and adjacent to Midway Beach.

“Awapuni Stadium ticked all the boxes on paper and proved to be a stunning venue on the day. It was easy to use, flexible and so simple to transform into a beautiful, informal festival site,” said Kerry.

Gisborne Winegrowers’ president Al Knight said the festival was a fabulous day all round.

“The weather turned it on which attracted the numbers festival organisers had hoped for. Wines sales were above expectation and interest in the new varieties such as Arneis, Albarino and Viognier was pleasing. Wine education workshops were well received with enthusiastic winemakers and viticulturists enjoying the challenge of teaching new wine learners.

The day, in fact the whole weekend, was a great success for long-time festival participants TW Wines. Paul Tietjen and Geordie Witters said the new Awapuni Stadium venue was handy to town and worked well.

 “It was encouraging to see a good number from out of town with groups from Wellington, Auckland, Whakatane, Rotorua, Hawke’s Bay, Tauranga and Waikato.”

 “It was good to see more emphasis back on wine and food matching rather than just the consuming of wine,” said Geordie.

Colourful characters on the Gisborne winegrowing scene who have participated at the all festivals since 1999, Paul and Geordie always come up with a gimmick.

This year it was “tats and hats” which kept two obliging young male “tattoo artists” busy all day applying temporary spray-on TW tattoos to mainly young female clientele.

Maximising the marketing opportunity provided by the festival, TW Wines hosted a group of 12 Wellington restaurateurs for the long weekend, winners of a competition to sell the most cases of TW wines.

 “When they arrived, we took them on a tour of the vineyard and then up to the top of the Golden Slope at sunset. 

Stephen Morris from Avida Restaurant in Wellington said it was great to see the vineyards and to put the wine into a context – people and place.

“It is good to understand how the vineyards - and in turn the wines - are managed and it reinforces their place as a premium Gisborne product,” he said.

Rosemary Patterson, maître d’ from Wellington’s CoCo at the Roxy said the festival was “a treat of a day”.

“It showcased the best wine and food that Gisborne has to offer and made it easy for people to taste the wines of the region in one location. It was a refreshingly down-to-earth festival that promoted the diversity and quality of Gisborne vineyards.”

Rosemary’s personal highlight was attending a Chardonnay wine appreciation workshop, one of four included in the ticket price.

“I’m enormously grateful to have heard an expert in the field, James Cook from Indevin, break down the aromas and tastes of six different Chardonnays in a way that was relatable to all tiers of wine drinkers.”