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Murdoch James Winery Martinborough

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Sample, savour and celebrate at New Zealand's premier wine, food and music festival, Toast Martinborough, on 21 November 2010. 

Now in its 19th year, Toast Martinborough is the annual showcase of quality wine produced in the award winning Martinborough region.

Tickets to the 2010 Toast Martinborough go on sale at 9am on Wednesday 6 October 2010 from Ticketek. Tickets cost $60 each plus booking fee. Heavy demand saw tickets for last year's Toast Martinborough sell out in the space of about 5 minutes so be quick to secure your tickets.

Sample, savour and celebrate at Toast Martinborough - bringing together the unbeatable combination of premium wines, outstanding food and great music. Join 10,000 food and wine lovers for a fabulous and memorable day out, where you can sample some of the world’s best wines within a charming wine village atmosphere.

New faces for Toast 2010

New Zealand’s premier wine food and music festival, Toast Martinborough innovatively used a social media search to find a guy and a girl to be its 2010 faces on posters, ads, the festival booklet, web and social media sites. 

“We were delighted with the response as Facebook fans got into the spirit. We whittled photos down to a final four, and asked for comments from fans before choosing Wynne Pirini and Jenn Shelton,” said Kaylene Moore, Toast Martinborough General Manager.

Wynne is a local Wellington lad who loves to spend his weekends surfing in the Wairarapa. "Toast Martinborough is an event that I try never to miss - one year I came all the way back from Canada just to attend!” When he's not drinking good Kiwi wines, he increases internet sales for local businesses.

Jenn Shelton is a Wellington-born singer and songwriter, who was the Rugby Sevens Star in 2008 and sang for the crowd.  Multi-talented, she has also worked in local theatre.

More about Toast Martinborough

Traditionally held on the third Sunday in November, the festival sees the population of the small Wairarapa town swell tenfold as wine and food lovers from throughout the country come to celebrate the release of the new vintage and enjoy New Zealand's premium wine, food and music festival.

'Toast' gives food and wine lovers the opportunity to celebrate the release of the new vintage. Each of the 10 participating vineyards features a selection of new and limited release wines superbly matched to culinary delights from Wellington and the Wairarapa`s top restaurants, and accompanied by some of New Zealand's finest live entertainment.

Each vineyard expresses its own personality, from the sophisticated and stylish, relaxed and laid back, to vibrant and pumping. Festival goers can wander the short distance between wineries on foot, or jump on free shuttle buses that circulate constantly throughout the day. With most of the largely boutique vineyards located within walking distance of each other, you can wander between vineyards throughout the day or simply linger under a shady tree and enjoy the music, wine and people watching.

Toast is a fabulous and memorable day out, where you can sample some of the world's best wines within a charming wine village atmosphere.

2009 Festival Line Up (2010 line up to be advised)
Wine - Food - Music

Alana Estate - Alana Estate Wine and Food Experience - Brian Childs as Elvis, The Noodles, Jonny and the Dreamboats, Avidiva
Ata Rangi - Ruth Pretty Catering - Nairobi Trio, Liz Braggins, Graham Wardrop
Craggy Range - Terroir - Rhombus
Escarpment Martinborough - Wharekauhau - Chameleon, Sola Rosa, The Art of Entertaining
Margrain Vineyard - The Old Winery Cafe - Roger Fox and Band with Erna Ferry & Ray Woolf
Burnt Spur Martinborough Vineyard - Billionaires Catering - The Aviators, Harbour City Electric
Muirlea Rise - Fine Cuisine - Bob Cooper Grundy and Kate Marshall, Ginger, Fig Jam
Palliser Estate - Salute - The Beat Girls
Te Kairanga - Shed 5 & Pravda Cafe - Shennanagins, Supermodel
Tirohana Estate - Tirohana Cellars - Livewire, The Jedi Nights
Vynfields - Brasserie One and Medici - The Warratahs, The Blue Meanies

First introduced in 1992, Toast Martinborough has become a key fixture in the New Zealand wine and food calendar. The popularity of Toast Martinborough is reflected in the demand for tickets, with the 10,500 tickets to last year’s event selling out in five minutes – quite a contrast to the six months it took to sell the 5000 tickets to the first ever festival in 1992. The event brings about $500,000 into the region on the day.

Enjoying Toast Martinborough
Festival sites open at 10am to the early starters, glass and programme in hand. They check out vines, wine and food offerings as the stream gathers pace. Tasting starts cautiously then the music warms up and crowds build.

With 10,000 ticket-holders, the beauty of Toast Martinborough is that they are spread between sites so nowhere seems particularly crowded. Cell phones are essential equipment as friends arrange to meet or share wine and food recommendations. Inevitably you bump into people you know.

Each festival site has its own personality. Some have a reputation as "the place for lunch". Others are said to be ideal for relaxing on the lawns or to meet up at the end of the day to dance. Martinborough wines are seriously good; discovering them is seriously good fun. Plan to make it a Wairarapa weekend of fun, food, wine and relaxation in 2010.

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