Roam Central’s inaugural event hugely successful
Central Otago wine pioneer Alan Brady (right) pours a glass of his current brand Wild Irishman
An array of Central Otago’s winemakers and food producers joined forces from 26 – 29 January to bring us Roam Central. The schedule included 19 events that were spread across 38 wineries and involved dozens of chefs and food producers. All the events were jam-packed and received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and it’s set to return in 2024.
Roam Central was put together by the Central Otago Winegrowers’ Association (COWA) with a goal in mind of bringing produce direct to the consumer. The events on offer included the flagship Roam the Valley Wine & Food Festival at Cargo Cellar Door, which was praised for its great music, and several Roam the Vines events – brunches in various vineyards. There were also a few other pop-up events including an art and wine class, and six Roam Around Town events – hosted at local restaurants, these featured the winemakers who were sharing the pairing of the food and wine alongside the chefs.
“Our vision for Roam Central was to create a summer celebration of what’s produced on our doorstep, for locals and visitors alike. It’s about sharing our love of life in Central Otago and the Southern Lakes with others.
“I think this is something that the community has been looking for and coming out of post-Covid times, it was a great showcase. We were absolutely thrilled with the uptake of tickets across all of the events. For the Wine & Food Festival, we were really happy with the numbers of a little over 1500 people there for the inaugural event,” says Jo.
Roam the Valley 2023 Wine & Food Festival
All the events either sold out or came very close to and the consensus in feedback was that it was really lovely to be able to meet the winemakers, ask them questions and try unique wines. Many of the wines on offer at the restaurant and brunch events were library-stock wines, which are generally brought out only for special occasions. Jo Brown is the Event Manager at COWA and has been helping to pull the event together – with planning started 12 months ago.
Throughout its development, COWA has worked in collaboration with local industries to ensure a successful event for all. It was the first time wine producers and artisans in Central Otago had all collaborated together to deliver a series of bespoke events, all of which did a stellar job at highlighting the region’s best.
“We’re thrilled with year one and we’re super grateful for all of the community who chose to come out, support and buy tickets, and experience all of these wonderful unique propositions that we were able to provide the community. We’re really looking forward to building on the wonderful platform that we created in year one,” says Jo.
Roam Central will go ahead for the second time in 2024. You can stay up-to-date with what’s coming up at the Roam Central Facebook and Instagram pages, or keep an eye on roamcentral.co.nz
