Editorial: Let's toast Bay's food and wine

The Food and Wine Classic (FAWC) concept is certainly one of the success stories of Hawke's Bay.

Feedback was positive after a successful inaugural FAWC week last year, but I must admit that I did have worry that a winter FAWC may be a step too far. That is certainly not the case.

The team at Hawke's Bay Tourism knows the market and all indications are that the smaller, winter FAWC planned for June 20-23 will not be that small.

"It's bigger than we thought it was going to be," Hawke's Bay Tourism general manager Annie Dundas said, adding they have some new establishments that have come on board who weren't there in summer.

Last year's FAWC was really successful and it was good to see locals embracing it and also out-of-towners making a special effort to fly in for it. This paper even featured a Wellington couple who took time off work to come up and sample this province's food and wine.

I went to a few of the events, including the opening function at Craggy Range and it was really good. It goes without saying that there cannot be anything better than sipping wine on a crisp spring evening in the shadow of Te Mata Peak.

The original idea behind FAWC was a good one. We have the ability in Hawke's Bay to produce top-class food and wine events because we have the food and wine. We also have the setting for the events.

The most important thing, however, is that local establishments have bought into the concept. They realise that if we work together to promote this region as the top food and wine province, we can achieve so much more.

Here's to a successful winter FAWC.