New plates and tastes at Gibbston Valley Winery's Vintner's Kitchen
Friday 21 December 2012, 5:14PM
By Gibbston Valley Winery
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Renowned Central Otago winery Gibbston Valley Winery is launching a Vintner’s Kitchen experience from today (Friday December 21), offering visitors a ‘taste’ of the multi-award-winning experience.
Gibbston Valley Winery CEO Greg Hunt said the new Vintner’s Kitchen tasting and café area was designed to provide a casual, friendly and welcoming space for visitors at any time of the day.
“It’s aimed at those who might not have the time to stay for lunch, want to combine wine tasting with a small plate of matching food, or are simply looking for a coffee or a cold drink,” he said.
“The Vintner’s Kitchen menu offers light snacks or ‘tasting plates’ that can be paired to Gibbston Valley Winery wines, or café counter fare to simply satisfy the hunger pangs in between meals.”
The Vintner’s Kitchen occupies a space beside the main winery building entrance, formerly a retail area, and opens from 10am to 5pm.
Mr Hunt said thanks to the popularity of the nearby Queenstown Bike Trail, many cyclists were finding their way out to the winery at all times of the day.
“They’re often peckish and need a place to rest and relax without necessarily arriving at the right time for lunch.”
The Vintner’s Kitchen menu includes mouthwatering items such as Croque Monsieur Serrano ham and smoked provolone, home-smoked Blue Cod frittata with lemon aioli, Lebanese falafel with pickled courgette and minted yoghurt, and pork rillette made with free-range Havoc pork, all prepared by winery chef Mark Sage.
Plates are priced from as little as $6.50 to $14 and come with a recommendation for a matching wine.
The style of the new Vintner’s Kitchen is deliberately casual, with visitors invited to relax at mismatched farm kitchen tables while perusing the daily changing clipboard menu. They’re also welcome to wander around looking at the kitchen goods, pantry ingredients and products for sale.
“We’ll also offer ‘pick up’ snacks for cyclists who would like to take their lunch to enjoy the Central Otago landscape and eat ‘al fresco’,” said Mr Hunt.
In tandem with the opening of the Vintner’s Kitchen, a Chef’s Pantry area enables visitors to take home items that have come straight from Chef Sage’s winery kitchen, such as his own-recipe spice rubs, biscotti, oils, jams, marinated fruits and vegetables and ‘secret recipe’ sauces.
“The range has been created from signature dishes available in the restaurant and Vintner’s Kitchen, so guests can take items home and replicate favourite meals or flavours,” said Mr Hunt. “To help with that, the Chef’s Pantry also sells recipe cards for some of the more intricate dishes.
“Our award-winning wine and food products, cave tours, location, close proximity to Queenstown and Arrowtown and easy road access with ample parking make Gibbston Valley Winery a very popular ‘one-stop’ choice for visitors.”
Gibbston Valley Winery is home to New Zealand’s largest and innovative wine cave, available for wine tours, private functions, weddings and special occasions and the Barrel Room for C&I functions and weddings. It recently launched a new tasting room in Arrowtown, located in the historic BNZ building on the main street.