Showing regional produce and matching it with the wine is an important part of festivals such as this.
Provisions and Whitestone Cheese supplied sustenance at the mammoth tasting of Central Otago wine (Provisions' gingerbread and Whitestone's Windsor Blue was a marriage made in heaven).
A selection of Queenstown restaurants put on wine- and food-matching lunches the first day, and wineries did the same on the second.
I was lucky enough to go to Wai where the highlight was chef Martin James' delicate morsels of wahoo, squid with radish and citrus dressing which complemented the limey, steely Mount Edward Riesling 2006.
Tom and Jan Pinckney, of Northburn Station, have a new cellar door, farm shop and function centre in their vineyard above Lake Dunstan near Cromwell.
Jan is a chef and uses produce from the station and surrounding areas.
A highlight was merino lamb flavoured with thyme on a bean salad with cherry tomatoes and snow peas matched with a 2005 Northburn Pinot Noir.
However, a jelly made of the station's riesling and honey with Whitestone, homemade crackers and Northburn's late harvest Jeweller's Shop Riesling 2007 was one of the most delicious combinations I tasted all weekend.
Martin Bosley's grand dinner at the Skyline was a fitting finale - a highlight being a dish of Bluff monkfish with bee pollen, pea tortellini, garlic, carrot puree and watercress.
At the dinner, a charity auction of 2009 Central Otago Cuvée which will be a blend of the best parcels from the participating vineyards raised more than $25,000 for the Mercy Hospital Charitable Outreach.
