Paparoa hotel hosts degustation delight

JULIA WADE
PHOTOS/MELODY TITO

Quintessential kiwi tavern, the Paparoa Hotel, was host to a night of fine wine and dining recently with the establishment’s first degustation dinner.

The hotel’s restaurant, The Thirsty Tui, treated a roomful of guests to the five-course meal on November 26, which boasted a sophisticated menu beginning with a refreshing Spanish Gazpacho (chilled tomato soup), then the spicy Italian dish Arancini (deep-fried risotto balls with mozzarella), a scrumptious Beef Wellington, followed by the decadent Black Forest Eton Mess, and a tasty cheeseboard to cleanse the palate.

The flavours of each dish were further enhanced with a variety of complementary wines, grown and fermented at Te Kairanga Estate in the lower-north island ‘boutique region’ of Martinborough.

Hotel manager Sumit Dua hosted the evening along with Lion’s national wine ambassador and ‘student of wine’ for over ten years, Lorietta Bahr, who introduced each wine with every course and entertained guests with stories of the vineyard, including the estates humble beginnings which grew from a vine cutting smuggled into the country from overseas in a gumboot. The plant did eventually become legal however after it was discovered by custom officers and quarantined.

Paparoa Hotel owner Pam Goode says the team was very happy with diner response to the dinner.

“It is a very busy time of year but we had a great turnout… there are some great restaurants in Mangawhai so if we can attract people from the town, then we’re doing something right.”

Hotel manager Sumit Dua expertly pours another wine while

Guests savour every morsel prepared by head chef Stephen Harrison and his team.

Wine ambassador and student of wine, Lorietta Bahr says ‘wine should be fun’.