It is New Zealand

In this page of my sketchbook I have tried to capture some of the highlights for us of the Marlborough Food & Wine Festival. This is a big day in the annual calendar with over 50 wine makers with their wines for tasting. But it is more than that - it is the place to be seen with glamorous clothes and flash cars.

So....

Top left is the singer, Iva Lamkum, that held forth on stage as we arrived setting the scene for the upbeat day

Top right - Stephen Rae of Eureka wines that we were staying with in his & Melissa's Airbnb garden cottage. He generously let us taste his wines and the one that we most liked was the straw wine Pinot Noir. The grapes are laid on straw to dry/concentrate the flavour and the wine is a Pinot Noir with a difference - more full bodied and sweeter but without being too sweet. If only we could buy this in the UK. Maybe we should offer to distribute?

Bottom left is Bill Small who with Claudia are "Small and Small" who supply their wines to Nakedwines, and that is how we knew about them and their fine wines. We had visited them the day before and it was great to talk with them about their wines and of course taste them. We have already arranged for a delivery to be with us the day after we get home in the UK.

In the bottom right - and finally and a great crowd puller was a fashion catwalk display of Kathryn Wilson's designer shoes. Many glamorous models with these incredible shoes and very little else walked the catwalk to show off these incredible shoes. Because of the crowd that gathered around, most people could not see the shoes but that did not seem to matter!!.

All in all a day not to be missed in Marlborough - and we were there!