history / about
THE WINERY TOUR
The Winery Tour is and has always been about three things that are great about New Zealand: our musicians, our wine and our scenery.
From the beginning, the Winery Tour has celebrated this country and its people, it is 100% New Zealand.
The History...
The first Winery Tour took place in February 2007. But the idea was conceived by Civic Events promoters Brent Eccles and Campbell Smith, appropriately over a bottle of Pinot Noir, at Neudorf Vineyards in Upper Moutere, just outside Nelson, in Summer 2006.
Several months earlier, while planning a Bic Runga national theatre tour, Eccles and Smith were struggling to find an available venue in Nelson. Talking to locals, they learnt that Neudorf often hosted outdoor concerts on the lawns between the home of owners Tim and Judy Finn and their rolling hills of vines. Always keen to try new things, the promoters booked the venue for the Nelson show on Bic's 2006 tour, had a stage erected on site and Bic performed two sold out shows. It was a magical performance by an iconic New Zealand musician, with great New Zealand wine and food in a stunning New Zealand location. The wheels and cogs whirred….
The Promoters decided, at that concert and over that bottle of red, to create an annual national tour taking a bill of New Zealand musicians through wineries each Summer. Eureka.
Eccles and Smith spent a great deal of 2006 researching wineries (and wine!) as potential venues around the country. They looked for wineries that had the right "feel", exotic locations that they thought would complement live music and, of course, produced great wines, and winery owners who understood and were excited by the idea. The wineries didn't need to have natural amphitheatres or to have hosted concerts before. The just had to have the right "vibe". The Promoters knew that they could build the events from the ground up with the right team. By September 2006, they had the first wineries in place.
February was quickly decided upon as the best time to stage a Winery Tour. The weather is generally clear and warm, summer holidays are over, we're all back to work, kids are back at school. Evenings are long, warm and balmy. It's also right before most wineries go to harvest in March.
Not wishing to bite off more than they could chew, the promoters rolled out the first Winery Tour in February 2007 through only 8 wineries and with only 2 artists on the bill. It starred Bic Runga, supported by her sister, Boh. It was a sold out success.
Buoyed by the success of the tour in 2007, the Promoters extended the tour to 16 shows in 11 wineries and estates nationwide in February 2008. And they initiated some of the elements that have now become Winery Tour traditions – the very staples that define the event:
· Each year the tour has a bill of 3 artists;
· The artists are always New Zealanders;
· Gates always open at 5pm, first artist on stage at 6pm, show finishes by 10pm;
· The tour starts each year at Ascension Wine Estate on the closest Friday and Saturday to Waitangi Day and finishes on a Saturday at Villa Maria Estate in Auckland in early March.
The 2008 Winery Tour, starred Brooke Fraser, Goldenhorse and Anika Moa with crowd numbers growing exponentially.
The tour grew again in 2009, to 17 shows in 14 wineries, parks and estates, and the crowd sizes grew alongside. The tour featured Dave Dobbyn, Anika Moa and Opshop.
In 2007 and 2008, the travelling stage had been an adequate but fairly small stage truck, affectionately known as "Apollo". For the 2009 tour, as venues and crowd sizes had grown so much, the Winery Tour moved up to the massive mobile stage (20m x 12m, x 12m) that the tour has now become associated with….the glorious and imposing stage truck known as "SAM".
In 2010, the tour extended yet again, heading north to Tutukaka for the first time, and up to 18 shows in 16 wineries and estates. This year was special, as the Promoters revived their concept show from 10 years earlier and combined three New Zealand legends on stage for Together in Concert: Tim Finn Bic Runga and Dave Dobbyn, Rounding out the bill was another unique on-stage combination – Boh Runga and Che Fu. And no surprise - bigger crowds.
In 2011, it was back to normal with a three artist bill, but there was nothing normal about the talent on show. Headed by New Zealand's top selling artist, returning for her second run as the headline act, Brooke Fraser, was joined on tour by Opshop and Midnight Youth. The tour went further South, making its first stops in Dunedin and Cromwell in central Otago. And yet again, we had our biggest crowds, including a massive 6,500 people at Villa Maria in Auckland.
To the end of the Winery Tour 2011, we have played 77 fantastic shows around New Zealand. In some venues, like Olssens Garden Vineyard in Cromwell, we have done only our first show. And at some we have done many more over the past 6 years – up to the 10 we have now played at the Winery Tour's spiritual home, Neudorf Vineyards.
Civic Events partnered from the very first Winery Tour show with Oceania Audio and Lighting. Oceania has always provided the travelling production and stage trucks that enable the tour to move from winery to winery, often day after day. The Winery Tour would be impossible without them, particularly given the extent that it has grown over the years. Most of the crew that worked with Civic on the first show in 2007 are still working on the tour today. This continuity of venues and team has been a large part of the success of the Winery Tour to date.
By the end of the 2012 tour we will be up to 95 shows completed, close the magical 100 shows mark. Wonder which venue will get that honour in 2013…….
The Winery Tour Team
Promoters: Brent Eccles and Campbell Smith / Civic Events
Production Partner: Greg Peacock/Oceania Audio and Lighting
Media Partner: Classic Hits
Event
Co-ordinator: Lance Cathro
Event Producer: John Leach
Event Publicist /
Sponsor Manager: Jane Torrance
Production
Manager / FOH: Nick Maddren
System Manager: Tom Worley
Stage Manager: Jenn McCormick
Lighting
Director: Michael "Snapper" Knapp
Stage Techs: Gavin Downie, Tom Mee
Heath and Safety Design and
Management: Rebecca Knox
Travel / Accom /
Accounting /
Everything: Helen Eccles
Travel / Accom: Dave Munro
Online /
Merchandise: Ashton Henty
Art direction / Website design: Turtleneck
Ticketing: Ticketmaster /
Trieste Douglas /NZ Tix
Security: Derek Moors/Venue Security International
Catering: Kieran Frost/Orange Group
Waste
Management: Glass Packaging Forum