Taste bud temptations at food and wine festival
BY: GILL ALCOCK
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The Waiheke Wine and Food Festival at Isola Estate on Onetangi Straight is set to stimulate all the senses this Saturday.
Food stalls will be offering a diverse range of locally produced products from the new Waiheke Island Cheese Company's Italian style sheep's milk cheeses and food pairings from Peacock Sky Vineyard, to Argentine BBQ specialist company El Sizzling Chorizo and Dragon Fire Pizza.
Rugby lovers of both codes will enjoy the cooking demonstrations from Warriors' fanatic Peter "The Mad Butcher" Leitch and new island resident and All Black coach Graham Henry.
The pair will be putting their barbeque skills to the test while Auckland mayor John Banks will be steaming up a treat using a hand made Portuguese cataplana.
Seven of the island's wineries - Cable Bay Vineyards, Man O' War Bay Vineyard, Top Knot Hill, Isola Estate, Passage Rock Vineyard, Ridgeview Estate and Peacock Sky will feature their premium wines at the festival, and beer lovers will enjoy the range of locally made beer and ginger beer from Waiheke Island Brewery.
Festival goers will have more than just wines to sniff as a new Waiheke-based artisan perfumery company Black Ruby will be launching its first five perfumes at the event. Punters at the Black Ruby stall will be able to try out these new olfactory sensations.
On stage, live music from The Beat Girls, Andy Blue and Billy TK Senior will entertain the crowd. And later, the mixing skills of the Salmonella DJ sound system will have punters dancing against a back-drop of big screen visuals and a moving light show.
Festival organiser Delyth Morgan-Coghlan from Let Me Out is excited to see the event to come to life with over 30 stall holders.
"Watch out for the hot pink VIP tent with guaranteed seating and waiter service - there are still a few VIP tickets left at ticketek or phone our office direct on 372 3428," she says.
Children of all ages will also be well-catered for with games, reading and activities including volley balls "and a huge beach ball", says Ms Morgan-Coghlan.
Under 16s are free and must be accompanied by an adult.
The festival runs from 3pm to 9pm with the gates open at 2pm.
Tickets are on sale for $60 from Ticketek.
Fullers and SeaLink ferries are offering festival packages for ferry crossing, bus transfer and festival pass on their websites.
For further information check out www.whatsonwaiheke.co.nz
- Waiheke Marketplace
