Kiwi acts wow winery crowd

Tauranga friends Mark Sheaff (left), Claudia Cameron, Jo Shannon and Trent Clarke packed a picnic for dinner and were looking forward to a night of good music. Photo / Rebecca Savory

A top musical line-up and superb weather were the recipe for success at the ninth annual Winery Tour held at Mills Reef on Saturday.

About 3000 people turned up with camping chairs and picnic baskets to see Kiwi favourites Dave Dobbyn, Don McGlashan, Supergroove and Anika Moa perform.

Moa kicked off the night with some of her new tracks while the sun was still shining and people were milling around, exploring the venue and trying out wines on offer.

It was the first year the Tauranga tour night was held at Mills Reef. Previously it was held at Morton Estate Wines, Katikati, in 2007 followed by Tauranga's Wharepai Domain, where it stayed until last year.

Tour promoter Campbell Smith said this year organisers hoped to hold all the concerts in wineries and the opportunity for Mills Reef had come up.

"It's a beautiful place to play. There's great natural resources and on a day like this it's just magic."

Tauranga had been a tour destination from the tour's inception, always producing a good crowd, he said.

"It's always a great crowd in Tauranga. They're always a party crowd."

He understood about 3000 people were at the concert on Saturday night, and credited the good turnout to "one of the best line-ups" yet. "Putting Don and Dave together, it's just hit after hit," he said.

"It's just a big old Kiwi singalong."

Tauranga friends Mark Sheaff, Claudia Cameron, Jo Shannon and Trent Clarke packed a picnic for dinner and were looking forward to a night of good music.

"It's a nice relaxed atmosphere, having fun with our friends, good music and good wine," Miss Cameron said.

It was their second time attending the winery tour and they were impressed by the line-up.

"It was a really good blend. They've done a good job of choosing the acts for the audience," Miss Shannon said.

The event car parking was limited to VIP guests only and general admission ticketholders were made to find parks along the road or down in a nearby subdivision.

Allecia Crawford loved bringing her family to the winery tour and had been going for about seven years but found it tricky to get her two children and all their gear to the venue, having to park far away.

Other than that, it was a great event to bring the kids along to for a fun night of music and dancing, she said.