Global attention to pour in
Hawke's Bay is set to host around 20 international wine writers and connoisseurs early next year, although they will get more than a taste of the region's top drops as part of a true Kiwi and Bay experience.
The tasting team, from Canada, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Ireland, the UK and the USA, will also get to wrap their tastebuds around a good old Kiwi favourite called Marmite on toast at a special breakfast which will also feature another Kiwi staple, Weetbix.
They will also be sent forth on bicycles to check out the winery bike trail.
The events have been put together by Hawke's Bay Winegrowers, the regional wine member organisation, with the objective being to provide an entertaining yet information-laden showcase of what Hawke's Bay has to offer.
It would also be a relaxing entree for the international visitors who are heading down under to a tri-annual pinot noir conference in Wellington.
"It's a pretty intense programme and so beforehand we wanted to show them a more relaxed good time," Hawke's Bay Winegrowers executive officer Lyn Bevin said.
"But at the same time, our aim is for them to leave with an increased respect for Hawke's Bay as a world-class wine producing region."
The new event is dubbed "Hawke's Bay - our world in your glass" and will run for two days from January 24.
It replaces a more formal previous conference outing which focused on syrah and local blended wines, which was a prelude to the Wellington conference.
"This new format allows for greater industry inclusion and hospitality," Ms Bevin said, adding the international guests would be joined by local members of the wine industry.
"It will welcome guests to our wine region, our wines and our people. It will give them a Hawke's Bay sense of space."
Most of the region's winemakers will be acting as hosts at one of the 12 events being planned and several wineries will act as venues.
At a luncheon to be staged at Mission Estate, Nicholas Buck from Te Mata Estate will provide an insight into the wine region's history and its future opportunities, while winemakers Peter Cowley from Te Mata Estate and Grant Edmonds of Sileni Estate will go up against Rod Easthope from Easthope Winegrowers and Tony Bish of Sacred Hill, in a Syrah or Bay Blends debate, with guests sampling four wines of each style in order to add their input.
There will be a self-pouring blind tasting of submitted merlots from around the region, and a chardonnay wine options event will see nine wines, four from Hawke's Bay, come under scrutiny.
Speed-dating will also take place - in the form of 12 winemakers selecting an aged wine from their cellars, and in the new "speed-dating" format guests will move from one winemaker to the next, having a six minute "date" to taste and chat about the wine.
Ms Bevin said the publicity which the international guests would generate was invaluable.
