Hawke's Bay's premier food and wine extravaganza went off with a bang last night.
The third annual F.A.W.C! food and wine festival opened with pomp, glamour and a touch of royalty at Craggy Range Winery Launch Party near Havelock North.
Helping to give it some royal flavour was one of the Queen's former head chefs, who is showing his own style of Commonwealth unity at F.A.W.C!
Michelin-starred Welsh chef Roger Jones has been better known promoting the wines of Australia, but on his first visit to New Zealand he revealed he's a big fan of Craggy Range, and put his money where his palate was by having the wines on his restaurant list from the time they first arrived in Britain.
They're now his house wine in Cardiff, but yesterday in three tastings preceding the F.A.W.C! launch his faith in the region was confirmed on a wider scale, finely appraising the chardonnay, syrah and bordeaux blends, which he reckoned would be pocketing multiple gold medals if they were back at the county shows he judges at home.
As he talked to Hawke's Bay Today up to 400 people milled in a marquee set up at the winery.
A fleet of eight Audis marked the wine stations and food offerings - with the waft of James Beck's crisp pork belly pieces and galangal with an apricot soy sphere at the entrance welcoming the guests to the other delectables within.
The crowd was treated to an early performance by Kiwi songstress Annie Crummer, and another feature of the night was an auction of two prints from Leanne and Brian Culy, with proceeds to Cranford Hospice.
Mr Jones was not there to be the star of the night, his moment coming at the free Electrolux Kitchen MasterClass Series watch-and-learn cook-up at the MTG Century Theatre in Napier today from 10am to 2pm. He will be joined by NZ MasterChef judge and F.A.W.C! ambassador Ray McVinnie and two other star chefs.
It's one of 61 events on the nine-day F.A.W.C! programme which ends on November 9, during which Mr Jones, from Lampeter, will head off to Martinborough and then the South Island. Now 53, he's had more than 30 years to build a global reputation, having at the age of 21 become the youngest chef to run the state banquets, cooking for Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, at Kensington Palace, and prime ministers and their gatherings at 10 Downing St.
Back then, when running state banquets, he was in what was then the rare role of a chef being in on meetings to decide the choice of wines.
Meanwhile, numerous visitors from overseas are in Hawke's Bay for F.A.W.C!, including international media, with a group from China, Singapore, the US, Canada, Mexico, Spain and Australia.
Kenny Leong, 31, from Singapore, was among them, having studied at hospitality school but soon finding working in "rooms and restaurants" was not the lifestyle he was after.
He "fell" into writing, and was here following up on the reputation of cabernet sauvignon, but noting: "It looks like the merlot have done well here."
Hawke's Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas says F.A.W.C! has established a good market of Auckland and Wellington visitors, with most taking in more than one event.
There were at least two couples who remained in Hawke's Bay for the duration of F.A.W.C! 2013, taking in 12-13 events.
Following a busy Labour Weekend which saw most accommodation in Napier and Hastings booked out, F.A.W.C! adds another destination factor to Hawke's Bay tourism, at the same time as more than 10,000 people will visit the region on cruise liners berthing at Napier Port, to be followed by thousands more over the next five months.
A schedule has five cruise liner stops by the end of next weekend, starting with the 1950-passenger Sea Princess tomorrow, and including two visits by the 1916-passenger Oosterdam.
The longest stay will be that of the Sun Princess, scheduled to berth for 10-and-a-half hours on Thursday.