NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Budget 2025
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Wine festivals sobering up

Amelia Wade
By Amelia Wade
Political reporter·NZ Herald·
27 Dec, 2012 04:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Summer concerts and events at the Villa Maria winery in Mangere draw big crowds. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Summer concerts and events at the Villa Maria winery in Mangere draw big crowds. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Popular summer events are trying to discourage drunk and disruptive revellers.

New Zealand wine and food festivals are taking a stand against drunk and disruptive revellers.

The Marlborough Food and Wine Festival says it's changing its February event so it's as much about food and music as about wine.

"We've noticed similar festivals are appealing to a younger and rowdier crowd and we've decided not to go down that path," said festival committee chairman Tim Crawford.

"We've made adjustments so the festival caters to a slightly more mature group."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Tickets have been capped at 8000 for the past few years. Mr Crawford said this had proven to be the "magical number" for maximum atmosphere without being overcrowded.

About 12 years ago, the festival had numbers of about 15,000.

"We're looking at a better balance of food and wine, rather than people just getting stuck into the wine," Mr Crawford said. "It's not age, but attitude that we're looking at."

MasterChef winners Brett McGregor, Nadia Lim and Chelsea Winter have all signed on.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Crawford said the well-known culinary faces would help make sure people lined their stomachs.

"I think the difficulty with some of the festivals is that some of the younger people aren't used to drinking wine.

"They often turn up there and it's a really hot day and people start drinking wine like they might drink beer and they don't have any food in them so it catches up pretty quickly."

Villa Maria, which hosts a variety of events over summer, is also "ramping up" efforts to ensure nobody gets out of control.

Discover more

Entertainment

The Presets: Ready, set, dance

21 Dec 11:00 PM
Opinion

Editorial: Let's embrace this season of tolerance and goodwill

23 Dec 04:29 PM
Entertainment

Police take hard line on festival goers

25 Dec 10:48 PM
Entertainment

Blood Red Shoes kickin' it at R&V

27 Dec 04:30 PM

Last February, the company was forced to close the bar early at the Class of '81 event at the Villa Maria winery because some of the 4500-strong crowd got very drunk.

One punter described it then as chaos. "There wasn't real trouble ... [but] the place was filled with people in their 40s and 50s staggering around and trying to relive their youth. It wasn't pretty."

Villa Maria director Fabian Yukich said some people took exception to the bar being closed early and this year the winery was making sure nothing similar happened.

Mr Yukich said staff would be making sure there was plenty of food stands, circulating and looking for those who were too inebriated, advertising when the bars closed and ensuring people didn't bring alcohol on site.

"We were doing that before, but we're just ramping it up."

And organisers of the Classic Hits Winery Tour are also making sure no one gets too drunk and starts causing trouble at their events.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Co-promoter Campbell Smith said they always took "great precaution" that their annual summer series events had well-manned security and their liquor licence was fully complied with.

"We're about to have our hundredth show and we've never had an issue at any one of them ... our events are very family orientated."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Afternoon quiz: In karate, what does 'kata' refer to?

24 May 03:00 AM
New Zealand

'Salt in the wound': Anger as ex uses legal aid to fight case he lost in Family Court

24 May 02:00 AM
Premium
New Zealand

An epic, wild 218 days: Meet the family of six who walked the length of NZ

24 May 01:57 AM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Afternoon quiz: In karate, what does 'kata' refer to?

Afternoon quiz: In karate, what does 'kata' refer to?

24 May 03:00 AM

Test your knowledge with the Herald's afternoon quiz.

'Salt in the wound': Anger as ex uses legal aid to fight case he lost in Family Court

'Salt in the wound': Anger as ex uses legal aid to fight case he lost in Family Court

24 May 02:00 AM
Premium
An epic, wild 218 days: Meet the family of six who walked the length of NZ

An epic, wild 218 days: Meet the family of six who walked the length of NZ

24 May 01:57 AM
In the money: Punter claims massive 17.2 million Lotto Powerball prize

In the money: Punter claims massive 17.2 million Lotto Powerball prize

24 May 01:45 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search