Chris Pugsley and private screening of Tolga Ornek's Gallipoli
April 2006

NZ Society members and guests were privileged to view this documentary at a private screening in April. It was a great companion piece to Dr Chris Pugsleys talk "Where is home" to a capacity audience in March.

"Gallipoli was the stark reality of a group of amateur citizen soldiers facing war's reality for the first time. There was nothing glorious about it. It was mistake, blunder muddle, death and disease", says Dr Chris Pugsley in Tolga Ornek's documentary Gallipoli.

Tolga Ornek & Sam Neill

Dr Chris Pugsley

Jan Williams from Seresin Estate led us through a tasting of 4 of the Seresin wines, 3 of their olive oils, and accompanying cheeses specially selected to enhance the experience with the help of La Fromagerie.

Over 50 members and friends enjoyed an evening of wine and fantastic weather on the top of NZ House.
Long time friends of the Society and completing the organic theme, Bullet coffee added their own touch to the experience with some coffee martini's to close the tasting part of the evening.

The image of the hand is a symbol of strength, gateway to the heart, tiller of the soil, the mark of the artisan, and embodies the philosophy of Seresin Estate. Their estate grown grapes, are picked at the close of the long Marlborough summer. In the winery, minimal intervention allows the layers of flavour to evolve, so the wines are a natural expression of the soil from which they come.

Summer Drinks Sell-out
A full house at our Summer Drinks in the penthouse of NZ House on 14 July 2006. Dave Dobbyn attended and kindly said a few words, which were well received by all present. The balcony that wraps around the penthouse was then the popular place to stand and enjoy the warm, sunny evening.

NZ Society at Toast NZ
Did you spot us at Toast NZ on Saturday 15 July? Our stand in the London Living section drew a fair bit of interest, when we promoted the Campbell Island Teal BBQ and charity art auction by featuring a real live artist! Lionel Anderson was seen here beginning to work on the piece he will donate to the auction. Cheers, Lionel.

Teal Appeal Raises in excess of NZD $20K

What a great result! Thanks to all our sponsors, volunteers at the event, purchasers at the auction, our auctioneer Charlie Thomas of Bonhams, and caterer Mark Thompson. Thanks too to Peter Gordon for designing the menu - the kumara salad was a real Gordon gem!

The wind was up, but thankfully the rain stayed away for the gourmet barbeque dinner. The auctioning of the artwork was brisk and ultimately raised over NZD $21K for the resettlement project of the Campbell Island Teal, and the worthwhile cause of saving one of NZ's flightless birds from extinction. Well done, all.

Corney & Barrow lead this tutored wine tasting, split into 'white' and 'red' halves, and the canapés that were passed around had been selected with care by committee member Denise Baldock and Easy Gourmet Ltd really brought out what was enjoyable about each wine.

Adrian from Corney & Barrow spoke a few words about the continually evolving market for NZ wine, and then introduced each wine in the set, in general the format was for us to try each wine with and without food, and discuss what we found with those around our table. Alex and Adrian then moved around the room and spoke further at each table about what we had discovered, including a few more words about the particular wine. This provided a very intimate feel to the evening, and it was a bonus to have that personalised attention, if slightly limiting to have only those at our table to talk about our reaction to the wine with.

The wines offered showcased some stunning wines that are available in NZ. Not only enjoyable in themselves, Alex had selected for us some really great examples of the wine varieties, in addition to giving us several different wines to try.