Editorial: Show gets the town buzzing

There is a lot happening in Hawke's Bay at the moment and I don't mean the couple of earthquakes that made us pause for a moment or two this week.

It is A&P Show week and there certainly is a buzz around the place.

On Tuesday night I had the pleasure of going to the Hawke's Bay A&P; Mercedes-Benz Wine Awards. It was the first time I had been and it was a very enjoyable evening.

The thing that struck me while I was listening to all the acceptance speeches was how good our winemakers are and how much passion they have for their craft.

The big winners on the night were Esk Valley Estate Winery, Sacred Hill and Ash Ridge Wines. Esk Valley took the Champion Wine of the Show Award for its Esk Valley Winemakers Reserve Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2010.

Sacred Hill won the Reserve Champion Wine of the Show for its Brokenstone 2010, while Ash Ridge Wines won Winery of the Year.

All the winners deserve to be congratulated for their achievements. The wines were judged by an international team of judges, who no doubt, will be going back home and singing the praises of our local wines.

It is good that we have competitions of this calibre to showcase the talents of our local producers and the quality of the home-grown products.

With the wine awards now over, attention is turning to the A&P show and organisers are expecting about 50,000 people to pass through the turnstiles during the three days.

Once again, this is a fantastic opportunity for Hawke's Bay to show what they can do. All the planning and preparation that Brent Linn, general manager of the Hawke's Bay A&P Society, and his team have done seems to be paying off and the show looks like it will be a tremendous success.

Hopefully the wind dies down so that families can get out there and enjoy the events.

It is events like these that keep Hawke's Bay in the spotlight so we have to take every opportunity to give them all the support we can.