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1162 days ago

More on Wine, Foodography and Winter Classes

New Zealand School of Food & Wine

For the last few weeks I have been travelling around NZ running a series of Wine Tasting Competitions for the NZ Sommeliers and Wine Professionals for which I am chair. It's been fun putting together a selection of 40 classic wines and preparing sets of questions to test our teams of winelovers.

We have used Kahoot! which has been enormously successful as a electronic quiz platform in these Covid times. It adds the results instantly and takes away the risk of calculation errors plus the backend provides detailed analytics on who got the answers to how many seconds it took to answer correctly. We know that of the 24 teams the highest scores were 75% correct with over 8 teams achieved above 68% correct. I can see we will use this platform for sometime!

It seems that interest in wines and spirits programmes is also bounding upwards and we have had record enrolments for all our wine classes including WSET Wine and Spirit Education Trust from UK.

This week I had the results of the latest WSET Level 2 Certificate in Wine and with a class of 20 students, 60% gained distinction, a pass of over 85%. Exciting.

Our NZQA Certificate in NZ Wine Micro-Credential is also going for strength to strength and we are about to start offering Corporate & Team Building wine options so that you can get together a group of 8 people and we will run a private programme.

New Zealand wines are much more diverse that most people imagine and it's a great thrill to be able to share lesser-known wineries and underrated regions with our participants as they taste through the wine selection. For more information, email admin@foodandwine.co.nz.

Coming up we have the Winter Forage with Riki Bennett which provides an opportunity to explore our native flora along with innovation around urban hāngi kai-cookery techniques. The FOODOGRAPHY Dinner is back and this year our theme is a Midwinter Christmas Dinner. Both events are part of Auckland's Elemental Festival.

On Sunday 1st August, we host the NZ Sommelier of the Year Awards along with wine tasting events and a Gastronomic Dinner prepared by Chef Finn and our students.

Ngā mihi,
Celia Hay

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More messages from your neighbours
2 hours ago

Poll: How do you feel about dogs being allowed indoors in cafes?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

For most of us, seeing a friendly doggo while out and about instantly brings a smile to our faces. But how do you feel about cafes welcoming pups inside?

Cast a vote and share your thoughts below.

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How do you feel about dogs being allowed indoors in cafes?
  • 26.3% I love it!
    26.3% Complete
  • 35.4% Only in designated areas
    35.4% Complete
  • 38.3% No, it should be outdoors only.
    38.3% Complete
209 votes
7 days ago

Poll: Should drivers retake the theory test every 10 years?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

Drivers get where they need to go, but sometimes it seems that we are all abiding by different road rules (for example, the varying ways drivers indicate around a roundabout).
Do you think drivers should be required to take a quick driving theory test every 10 years?

Vote in the poll and share any road rules that you've seen bent! 😱

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Should drivers retake the theory test every 10 years?
  • 48.1% Yes
    48.1% Complete
  • 50% No
    50% Complete
  • 1.9% Other - I'll share below
    1.9% Complete
3527 votes
4 hours ago

Mid Town WaterCare Works start October - Info for Residents

CCRG from Auckland City Centre Residents' Group - CCRG

Mid Town WaterCare works are starting in October. To cater for growth, reduce wastewater overflows to our moana, & improve wastewater capacity.
This is by installing pipes, via bored tunnels, deep beneath Queen St, Mayoral Dr, Vincent, Marmion & White Streets.

Wastewater has to be maintained, if not future proofed and upgraded, there's no doubt about that. But it's also difficult to not be disappointed to have another 2+ year project in the Waihorotiu/Queen St Valley with significant construction impacts in 4 areas. If your building is none of these four areas, make sure your building manager and/or Body Corp is in touch with Watercare for all the info on how you might be affected, and what they are doing to mitigate impacts.

shrtm.nu...