More on Wine, Foodography and Winter Classes
For the last few weeks I have been travelling around NZ running a series of Wine Tasting Competitions for the NZ Sommeliers and Wine Professionals for which I am chair. It's been fun putting together a selection of 40 classic wines and preparing sets of questions to test our teams of winelovers.
We have used Kahoot! which has been enormously successful as a electronic quiz platform in these Covid times. It adds the results instantly and takes away the risk of calculation errors plus the backend provides detailed analytics on who got the answers to how many seconds it took to answer correctly. We know that of the 24 teams the highest scores were 75% correct with over 8 teams achieved above 68% correct. I can see we will use this platform for sometime!
It seems that interest in wines and spirits programmes is also bounding upwards and we have had record enrolments for all our wine classes including WSET Wine and Spirit Education Trust from UK.
This week I had the results of the latest WSET Level 2 Certificate in Wine and with a class of 20 students, 60% gained distinction, a pass of over 85%. Exciting.
Our NZQA Certificate in NZ Wine Micro-Credential is also going for strength to strength and we are about to start offering Corporate & Team Building wine options so that you can get together a group of 8 people and we will run a private programme.
New Zealand wines are much more diverse that most people imagine and it's a great thrill to be able to share lesser-known wineries and underrated regions with our participants as they taste through the wine selection. For more information, email admin@foodandwine.co.nz.
Coming up we have the Winter Forage with Riki Bennett which provides an opportunity to explore our native flora along with innovation around urban hāngi kai-cookery techniques. The FOODOGRAPHY Dinner is back and this year our theme is a Midwinter Christmas Dinner. Both events are part of Auckland's Elemental Festival.
On Sunday 1st August, we host the NZ Sommelier of the Year Awards along with wine tasting events and a Gastronomic Dinner prepared by Chef Finn and our students.
Ngā mihi,
Celia Hay
Share your New Zealand music memories...
It's NZ Music Month and New Zealand really has some beautiful songs from artists that we call our own.
Whether it's April Sun in Cuba, Don't Forget your Roots, or How Bizarre or Bic Runga's 'Sway' - songs have a way of unlocking memories and evoking old feelings.
In honour of NZ Music Month, share a New Zealand song or artist that is special to you and explain why.
Type 'Not For Print' if you wish your comments to be excluded from the Conversations column of your local paper.
Homicide in Ponsonby
A homicide investigation is under way following the death of a man in Ponsonby on Sunday evening.
Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Bolton, Auckland City CIB, says emergency services responded to reports of a firearm being discharged outside an address on Ponsonby Road around 10.18pm last night.
“Upon arrival, a man was located deceased.
“Our investigation is now in the early stages to determine the full circumstances of what has occurred.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Bolton says the community can expect to see an increased Police presence in the Ponsonby area today.
“Road closures are currently in place on Ponsonby Road between Franklin and Richmond Roads and Police are assisting with traffic management.
“A scene guard has also been established and will remain in place today while our enquiries continue,” he says.
Enquiries to locate the person believed to be responsible remain ongoing.
“Police have been in the area overnight speaking to a number of witnesses who were in the vicinity at the time of the incident,” Detective Senior Sergeant Bolton says.
“While at this stage, no arrests have been made, Police are following lines of enquiry.”
A post-mortem examination and formal identification of the victim will be carried out over the coming days.
Police encourage anyone else who was in the area or has information to assist who have not yet spoken to us to please get in touch.
You can contact Police via our 105 phone service or online at www.police.govt.nz....
Please reference file number 240506/9353.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
What's On: Connect For Women
Connect For Women
- Beach House Eatery
Loading…
