Volcanic Hills to debut first sparkling wine at hospice fundraiser

Volcanic Hills' Sean Beer (right) and Brent Park. Photo / File

Volcanic Hills will debut its yet-to-be publicly named first sparkling wine at this year's Harcourts Dancing with the Stars in Rotorua (HDWTS).

The Rotorua winery has announced it is contributing $14,000 worth of wines to be served exclusively at the August 5 hospice fundraiser.

"We can think of nowhere better for it [the first sparkling wine] to make its debut," the company's co-owner and co-winemaker, Brent Park, said.

Mr Park, a contestant in last year's inaugural HDWTS, said joining the event's sponsorship stable was a perfect fit for the winery.

"It is a high-quality event with old fashioned decorum that suits the traditional values we as a company have," he said.

The $14,000 worth of wine the company was sponsoring was a large commitment for a small business, Mr Park said, but the drawcard for Volcanic Hills was helping an organisation as committed to the community as hospice.

"It is a two-way street, we as a company can see the benefit our sponsorship is to hospice and it is a good way for us to say 'this is for the community', to be part of that community legacy that hospice represents."

He said his participation in last year's event had impressed on him how hard hospice had to work to raise the $90,000-plus community funding needed to operate year-on-year.

Mr Park said as a totally novice dancer it was the most "extreme out there" thing he had done in his life.

"The scariest thing is not the dance, the scariest thing is the anticipation of the dance which scares you more than the actual event.

"People have to realise it's not a dancing competition, it's entertainment, people want to be enthralled, have fun, dancing happens to be that medium to get it over that line."

Hospice funding and development manager Jan Morgan is thrilled by the commitment Volcanic Hills Winery has made to this year's HDWTS.

"This amazing fundraising event wouldn't be possible without sponsorship from our corporate partners. As the event organiser to say I'm thrilled is a huge understatement."