Jan Bilton: Big year for Brancott food and wine festival

Take in wonderful views of Marlborough from the Brancott Estate Heritage Centre.

Crayfish fritters, seared garlic scallops, salt and pepper squid, tamale de Puerco rojo, paua patties, pork belly buns, escargot, Marlborough mussels, oyster shots, whitebait patties, pork and pistachios plus culinary demonstrations, great music - and, of course, wine.

For 30 years, wine and food lovers from around the country and the world have gathered in Marlborough on the second Saturday of February to savour the region's best offerings. Being a key anniversary, this year's festival at Brancott Estate vineyard showcased more food and wine than ever before. Celebrity chefs Josh Emmett, Sachie Nomura and Nick Honeyman entertained crowds with top-notch cooking demos in the Electrolux kitchen.

For me, highlights included the wine and food matches offered by some local restaurants and many of the 51 participating wineries. There were two winners: Figaro's pork and pistachio terrine, matched with Cloudy Bay Pelorus vintage 2008 bubbles, and Kono oysters with a gazpacho shot married with Tohu Rewa blanc de blanc. I also enjoyed the escargot in garlic butter with an Auntsfield chardonnay.

The festival is the ideal time to try new wines one might not be aware of. Gruner veltliner is a grape popular in Austria and has recently been grown by Saint Clair wines. The name translates to "green wine of Veltlin", an area once in the lower Austrian Alps that is now part of Valtellina, Italy.

For me, this wine is the perfect answer when two people can't decide whether to enjoy a sav or a pinot gris. With flavours of nectarine, peach and a little lime, it's a great food wine.

Another first for me was the Spice Trail range of wines from Lake Chalice. There are four wines - hot, medium, mild and red - developed to take the guesswork out of pairing wine with Asian flavours. Spice Trail Medium was matched with Sagai Japanese Restaurant's delicious sweet and spicy chicken skewers.