Food, drink, music in a perfect setting

Lime Rock Wines didn't expect there to be so many pinot gris connoisseurs at the Waikato Times Food, Wine and Jazz Festival at the weekend – or sauvignon blanc or even pinot noir drinkers for that matter.

More than 5000 people turned up to the event, enjoying the perfect weather lounging in the sun, drinking wine, chilled beer and even refreshing strawberry daiquiri slushies to the sounds of smooth jazz.

By Sunday afternoon the Central Hawke's Bay winery had sold 16 of the 18 cases of wine it brought to the inaugural event. Lime Rock's Rodger Tynan said Saturday was the busiest day and he was run off his feet from 10am to 4pm pouring chilled wine for the thirsty crowd.

It was the first time they had attended a Waikato food and wine event and Mr Tynan said it compared favourably to their local Harvest Hawke's Bay Food and Wine Festival.

Wearing large cane hats to protect them from the scorching sun, friends Jason Land and Natalie Porter were lying on deckchairs with a large group of friends slurping slushies yesterday afternoon when the Waikato Times caught up with them.

"We've just been trying all the different wine and food and enjoying the music," said a relaxed Ms Porter, who had been there since 10am. On both days all the shade from the large trees in the Rose Garden had been snapped up by others. Mr Land said the jazz music playing throughout the day had been great and surpassed his expectations.

Cambridge cooking enthusiast Wendy Watts spent most of her her Sunday watching Waikato chefs battle it out. In the Great Waikato Food Challenge, Gothenburg was judged the best cafe and Palate cleaned up the restaurant section. Phillip Maultsaid was this year's Vetro Home Cook winner.

Mrs Watts had barely moved from her seat at the cooking demonstration tent and had even sampled the duck confit and rabbit rissole made by Cafe Suburbia's chef.

"I am a bit of an addict to the cooking programmes. I could sit here all day watching them," she admitted.

Waikato Times general manager Gerard Watt said the event was a big success.

"I'm thrilled with the way that the people of Waikato have supported this event.

"We took a punt on this, we backed ourselves to pull it off and it's nice to hear that we exceeded expectations.

"Our formula was simple – celebrate and package what's good about Waikato and deliver a top-class event."