Marlborough Food and Wine Festival

I earned Brownie points today! Unknown to Anni I had arranged for us to spend the day at the Marlborough Wine & Food Festival, NZ's premier festival now in its 30th year. I'd also arranged for

us to attend a wine tasting seminar, "A Journey from Past to Present", so by 11.30 we had already drunk copious amounts of alcohol.  We compared a Reisling of 2013 vintage with another from 2003

; a 2012 Sauvignon Blanc with another from 2009; a 2009 and a 2003 Chardonnay, and finally a 2011 and 2001 Pinot Noir. The head wine makers of each vineyard described their varietals to us.  Sitting opposite us were two extras from The Hobbit. They later turned out to be the lead singers from one of the headline bands, The Phoenix Foundation!

Suitably fortified we set about the many food stalls.  The whitebait fritters were uninspiring, but the macadonia and chilli scallops were out of this world.  This all set us up very nicely to lie back in the warm sunshine and enjoy a performance by the New Zealand Army Band.  If you are thinking stuffy military pageant, think again, and watch the video. I even got Anni up for a bop! Unheard of!

Back in Picton we rounded off the day sharing another bottle of wine with our B&B hosts, then down to the harbour-side to enjoy a pizza whilst watching NZ win the rugby 7s final.