Cable Bay Vineyards has been found not guilty on two charges following a groundbreaking May hearing in the district court.

The winery and the duty manager in charge, Matteo Cozzolino, each faced a charge for breaking noise regulations. The charges arose when, on the evening of Friday 9 February 2018, an Auckland Council senior compliance officer received a noise complaint from a person in a home close to the winery. 

The officer travelled to the island and arrived at around 8.30pm. While on the ferry, he received a second noise complaint by email. 

After he arrived at the home from where the complaint originated, he set up his noise meter, but the location from which he conducted his noise tests and his measurements were challenged in court. 

At 10pm, he started a 15-minute technical noise reading using calibrated metering equipment. At this time, he could hear bass music coming from the winery. He also said there was a “slight cricket noise” that could not be “paused out”, but that the music noise with a bass element sounded dominant. 

To “pause out” means to pause the metering operation while an extraneous noise (such as the crickets) occurs so that that noise doesn’t affect the measurement. 

After his testing, the council officer concluded that the recorded noise level exceeded the permitted noise level and he issued an excessive noise direction to the duty manager, Matteo Cozzolino. •Sophie Boladeras

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