Next year's Marlborough's annual Food & Wine festival has been cancelled, as grape growers decide the gathering poses too much risk to our region's wellbeing.
Roughly 6000 were expected to attend the region's premiere wine event.
"It's a hard call to make. We're really proud of the event and it has really helped putting us on the map, said Marcus Pickens, GM for Wine Marlborough."
"The benefits to not outweigh the risks of proceeding with the event."
Scheduled to be held in mid February 2022, the winemakers say they can't risk a Covid 19 outbreak mid harvest.