Our guest speaker Roland Norman owner and winemaker of Tukipo River Estate gave us a background of himself and  how he came to set up his vineyard and winery. He has a background of being a wine merchant in London. He met and married a kiwi girl from CHB which eventually brought him to NZ. After some research on areas and some experience working in wineries he set up his vineyard off Highway 50 near Takapau.

He makes about 1000 cases a year and doesn’t plan to expand as he does most things himself. He makes two different styles of Chardonnay and two Pinot Noir styles.

After Rolland’s talk we had our monthly competitions . Bob won Gold for his sweet white fruit and Jason a Silver for his natural liqueur. Bob won Silver for his Lager and Brian a Silver for his Pilsner.

Bob was having a good meeting and finished it off by winning the raffle of tea mugs, tea and biscuits.