Northland music lovers could see the popular Winery Tour return to Tutukaka in 2016, with the organiser saying the lack of a winery, rather than lack of fans, was why the show won't be at the Tutukaka Marina next February.
The venue was axed from hosting the tour in 2015 as organisers focus on actual wineries for the show, co-promoter Campbell Smith said.
The tour has been a fixture at the Tutukaka Marina Reserve in February since 2010 - when Tim Finn, Bic Runga and Dave Dobbyn took to the stage - attracting a crowd of up to 3000. But for next year's tour Tutukaka has missed out. The next tour has Dobbyn and Don McGlashan performing together, joined by the legendary Supergroove and tour regular Anika Moa.
The 2015 tour will play nine shows in nine wineries around New Zealand between late January and the start of March, with all shows played on a Friday or Saturday or the day immediately prior to a public holiday.
"We wanted to concentrate on going to wineries rather than the parks like at Tutukaka. And we are trying to get them all the weekend or public holiday slots and that meant some places had to miss out," Mr Smith said. "Tutukaka has always been a great show and has sold out most years, so (the decision not to come in 2015) was not about sales. We really like the Tutukaka site and the council up there has been one of the best in the country to deal with ... so we may well be back there in 2016."
Mr Smith said next year "we believe that we have one of the greatest line-ups of talent we have ever put together ..."
He said Northlanders who missed the experience should try to make it to one of the other venues. The nearest is at Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana, on February 7.