Newsletter: August 2021
Mid-winter greetings and counting down to spring,
And we have a WINNER for our national wine-tasting competition with the final held on Sunday 1 August as part of the NZ Sommelier of the Year Competitions. Take a look below and click through to see the teams and faces of this fun event. I am delighted that Team Canterbury won the day with legend winemaker CP Lin leading the charge with the team include Rex Ormandy's son, Michael, now alsoinvolved in their family wine retail business, VINO FINO in Christchurch. In the last century, Rex taught parts of our NZ Wine Programme in the Christchurch days. See photos below and you can hear my interview with Jim Mora on RNZ.
We have again be part of the New Zealand Sommelier of the Year Awards and are delighted that Andrea Martinisi of The Grove Restaurant has won this competition in 2021. You can see photos below of the competition and our students efforts under Chef Finn, preparing the awards dinner.
In July, we were also part of Auckland's Elemental Festival featuring the Winter Forage with Riki Bennett. We are pleased to announce a Spring Forage on Saturday 2nd October.
Finally, we are looking forward to our Spring Programmes for Hospitality, Certificate in Cookery and Diploma of Wine. We have a Summer School Intensive for Cookery & Baking starting on November 22 - 10 February 2022 for school leavers and university students wanting to get a bit of kitchen practice.
Ngā mihi,
NZ National Wine Tasting Competition
The National wine tasting competition was held with teams from 5 regions: Canterbury, Central Otago, Auckland, Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay as well as another 5 teams in the OPEN category.
See the full story here.
Here is my interview with Jim Mora from National Radio NZ discussing the New Zealand Wine Tasting and NZ Sommelier of the Year competition -https://foodandwine.co.nz/about-us/news/radio-nz-podcast/
New Zealand Sommelier of the Year
Andrea Martinisi is presented with the New Zealand Sommelier of the Year 2021 trophy by Marek Przyborek (NZ Sommelier of the Year 2018) Andrea is General Manager and Head Sommelier of The Grove Restaurant, Auckland. Marek is head sommelier at Amisfield, Central Otago.
See the full story here.
Certificate in Food & Beverage, Barista, Wine & Spirits
Gain skills to work in the fast-paced world of smart restaurants and trendy cafés. Learn to be a barista, taste and recommend wine and make impressive cocktails.
Certificate in Food & Beverage, Barista, Wine & Spirits is a 16 weeks NZQA qualification with 2 weeks work- placement often leading to employment with one of our partner restaurants.
Next intake: 6 September 2021.
Click here for more information.
This programme provides a comprehensive introduction to wine regions and grape varieties.
The textbook is the New Zealand Wine Guide, by Celia Hay, Director of the New Zealand School of Food and Wine. This book is included in the course fee.
Corporate Rate: Get a group together at your work.
Online: 7, 9, 14, 16 September Tuesday, Thursday: 5pm - 8pm
In-person: 21, 22 September Tuesday, Wednesday 9:00 am - 2:30 pm
WSET Level 1 Award in Wines - Learn the language of wine, and become comfortable with aromas, flavours, structural characteristics and more! Starts 17 August
WSET Level 2 Award in Wines - You will learn about the major wine growing regions from around the world, understand their grape varieties and styles of wine over 2 weekends.
30, 31 October, 12, 13 November
WSET Level 3 Award in Wines - The class-room based course over 4 weekends gives you a detailed understanding of the principal wines regions of the world. Starts Oct 30th
WSET Level 2 Award in Spirits - Develop a comprehensive understanding of the most important spirit and liqueur categories, their production and how they are transformed as beverages and cocktails. 18, 19 Sept & 2,3 Oct
More dates available on our website.