New Zealand Listener – August 24, 2019

38 LISTENER AUGUST 24 2019

S

tanding in Tohu Wines’ Whenua Awa

vineyard in the upper reaches of the

Awatere Valley, I found the view of the

Awatere River’s braided bed reaching

to the snowy-capped mountains in the

distance breathtaking. I was privileged

to join an early-morning ceremony

to rename the Marlborough vineyard to coincide

with the release of its Tohu Whenua series wines.

We would be celebrating the fine fare of Kono,

the food and beverage arm of wide-ranging

Come out

of your shell

Shellfish is wonderfully versatile

• stunning as a starter or slipped

into a fragrant, spicy curry.

by Lauraine Jacobs

FOOD

Nelson-based company Wakatū.

In a place of such beauty, it’s not

hard to understand that one of the

many impressive goals of Wakatū

is “to be the best indigenous food

and beverage business in the world”.

The company has almost 4000

shareholders, who descend from the

original Māori landowners of the

Nelson, Tasman and Golden Bay

regions – Te Tau Ihu. Kono produces

and manages distribution locally

and internationally of wine and

cider, seafood, including oysters and

mussels, and pipfruit and hops from

its orchards.

Working with the Department

of Conservation has helped Kono

identify a number of threatened spe-

cies of birds, plants, herbs and fish

that share the 73ha of land and river

that make up the vineyard. They will

THIS LIFE