Gin and pals set to light up winery tour

Multi-platinum selling Kiwi singer/songwriter Gin Wigmore will headline next year's Classic Hits Winery Tour with support from a re-formed Mutton Birds and Avalanche City when it hits Northland early next year. The singer-songwriter has just finished her second album, Gravel & Wine, which she recorded in the US.

Wigmore says the Classic Hits Winery Tour will be a chance to tour with some of the country's finest musicians, "drink a bit of wine and have a great time in the sun entertaining thousands of people".

The Winery Tour is unique in that it is attended by all types, from toddlers to the retired, putting them all in the same place listening to the same music. It is something the heavily tattooed, sultry-looking Gin is looking forward to. She is particularly looking forward to dispelling the inevitable misconceptions she gets because of her look.

"Some people see the tattoos and expect something negative because of how I look.

"But I like testing people and breaking the rules and stretching the boundaries.

"I really like it when somebody sees me on stage and they think one thing, but when I open my mouth and sing they change their minds totally and realise it doesn't matter what I look like because the voice cuts through all the bull****.

The Mutton Birds join the Winery Tour celebrating not one, but two, milestones - 2012 marks 20 years since the release of the band's self-titled debut album and 10 years since their last show.

With timeless Kiwi anthems that transcend generations, such as Anchor Me, Dominion Road and Nature, Don McGlashan, Ross Burge, David Long and Alan Gregg are reuniting just for the Winery Tour.

Says McGlashan: "I'm looking forward to getting together with the guys.

"A band is more than just a bunch of musicians.

"When it really works, there's a magic there which is more than the sum of its parts.

"That's certainly the way it was with the Mutton Birds, and it's going to be great to take the beast out of the garage again and make the gravel fly."

Classic Hits Winery Tour dates will be hosted at the Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana, from February 3 and February 4, and the Marina Reserve, Tutukaka, on February 5. Tickets can be purchased via the Winery Tour website www.winerytour.co.nz and Ticketmaster. For the Blenheim, Dunedin and Cromwell shows, buy tickets from TicketDirect. One child under the age of 12 is allowed free admittance when accompanied by one adult ticket holder.