The opportunity to taste wines from 15 different Waiheke vineyards in one location is coming up on Saturday 2 April.
The Explore Waiheke Wine and Food Festival will be centred this year around Te Motu, The Airstrip, a piece of land adjacent to Te Motu Vineyard and The Shed restaurant.
As well as wine tasting, a range of food from Waiheke producers will be on offer, with live entertainment throughout the day, headlined by the Nathan Haines band, with Aaron Carpenter and the Revelators, Rikki Morris and Chet O’Connell, and Rain Dogs.
Vineyards selling their wines will be: Awaroa, Batch, Cable Bay, Goldie Wines, Man O’ War, Miro, Mudbrick, Obsidian, Passage Rock, Peacock Sky, Poderi Crisci, Stonyridge, Te Motu, Wild on Waiheke and Woodside Hill.
The event starts at 11am and finishes at 5.30pm with off-island tickets $85 per person, which includes an Explore ferry ticket from Auckland, a bus to and from Te Motu, a festival glass and lanyard and one glass of Waiheke wine. Guests must be 18 years or older.
Off-island children’s tickets are $40, including a return Explore ferry ticket from Auckland, bus to and from the venue and children’s activities.
For those on Waiheke, the adult price is $55 per person, which includes transport to and from the venue, a festival glass and lanyard and one glass of Waiheke wine.
Local children’s tickets are $20, including transport and children’s activities.
A range of festival week events are happening at other island vineyards from 30 March to 3 April.
These include things like taking part in the grape harvest and foot stomping at Passage Rock Wines, a wine and cheese masterclass at Batch Winery, opera in the cellar and a degustation lunch at Poderi Crisci, tango dancers and a harvest lunch at Casita Miro, a vertical red wine tasting at Woodside Hill and a winemaker’s dinner with Luc Desbonnet of Frenchman’s Hill at Oyster Inn in Oneroa.
Off island tickets for the festival day at Te Motu, the Airstrip can be bought through the Explore website at www.exploregroup.co.nz. On island tickets are available at Explore ticket kiosks and the Waiheke Wine Centre.
To buy tickets to any of the individual events, go directly to the participating vineyards.
• Julianne Evans
