Giants down Boutiques in grape debate

Grape Debate moderator and TV comedian Jeremy Corbett entertaining the crowd at Te Awa Winery last night. Photo/Paul Taylor

An evening of wit, wine, a war of words and an incredibly expensive guitar raised more than $20,000 for a Hawke's Bay charity.

The third annual Colliers Rural Grape Debate was held at Te Awa Winery with 250 guests last night to raise money for the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter.

The fundraiser had team Boutiques battle it out against the Giants to find out "Is bigger always better?" with TV comedian Jeremy Corbett moderating the debate.

Tony Bish from Tony Bish Wines, Rod Easthope from Easthope Family Winegrowers, and Daniel Brennan from Decibel Wines represented the Boutiques, while Nick Picone from Villa Maria, Natalie Christensen from Yealands and Nikolai St George from Giesen were on team Giants.

Planit Events owner-operator and organiser Bex Tacon said guests had an amazing time on what was the biggest and best debate yet.

"It was a really great night, the speakers were all incredible...lots of wit and banter.

"Jeremy Corbett was literally outstanding, so funny and so good."

Guest judge and wine writer Yvonne Lorkin picked Giants for the win, however, this went down a little like sour grapes for some of the crowd who really enjoyed the argument.

"I think the crowd may have gone for the Boutiques, there were a few boos," Mrs Tacon said.

The event has grown each year with organisers having to accommodate for more seats and tickets always selling out weeks prior.

Its popularity is due to it being for a good cause and a lot of fun with the debate too, she said.

"Having Jeremy Corbett run it is funny...people are roaring with laughter the entire night."

This year's debate also "smashed it out of the park from last year" in terms of money raised.

Finals numbers had not been tallied but the debate and auctions would have made more than $20,000, well up from last year's $10,000, she said.

"We're going from strength to strength each year."

Having a live auction as well as a silent auction helped boost revenue this time with lots of competition for top items, Mrs Tacon said.

The highlight of the live auction was a guitar signed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr that went for $14,000. Another was a boxing glove of Muhammad Ali signed by five heavyweight champions.

Two people fought to the end for the guitar, which started at $1000, and the crowd got really involved in the competition.

"The whole room erupted when it sold for $14,000, they were all gobsmacked."

The evening included a three-course meal, wine, live music, the debate and the live and silent auctions.

Next year plans are underway to make it international with Australian winemakers sparring with New Zealanders.

The Grape Debate expanded into Marlborough last year and in 2018 one will be held for the first time in Central Otago.

Marlborough's event in November will have winemakers from Hawke's Bay arguing their superiority against Marlborough's best.