A perfect pairing for NZ Gamebird Food Festival

Tens of thousands of Kiwis all over the country took to the outdoors in the hope of bagging a few ducks, geese, pheasants and the like when the 2011 game bird season opened on Saturday.

Many of the successful hunters will take their birds to top New Zealand restaurants where award-winning chefs will turn them into a mouth-watering meal.

It’s all part of the Fish & Game NZ 2011 Gamebird Food Festival, now in its sixth year and fast becoming a Kiwi tradition.

The right wine will always make game birds taste even better, so this year Esk Valley winemaker and passionate countryman Gordon Russell has partnered with the Festival to provide insight into how to pair wine with game to get the very best match.

Gordon’s 21 years as winemaker at Esk Valley has given him a unique insight into producing wines which work with wild foods. The wines are produced with a minimum of manual intervention allowing them to reflect their strong relationship with the soil and climatic conditions of each season.

High profile media exposure, such as TV shows like Al Brown’s Hunger for the Wild and the exciting showing on Masterchef of game specialist Cameron Petley have lead to a much greater awareness of the potential for cooking wild game in many different ways.

The restaurants participating in the 2011 Gamebird Food Festival have created a range of menu options for all bird types, and Gordon wants to help diners maximise their experience by drinking complementary wines with each dish.

Every year Fish & Game NZ promotes the Gamebird Food Festival to raise awareness of the desirability of game bird hunting as a natural food source and the opportunity to source healthy wild food from our “outdoor supermarket”. Game bird meat is free range, it is organic and it is delicious.

“We encourage licensed game bird hunters to make the most of New Zealand’s bountiful outdoor supermarket,“ says Hamish Carnachan, communications manager, Fish & Game NZ. "The Festival ensures more and more hunters, along with their friends and families, realise just how good wild game birds can be.”

For a complete list of participating restaurants and tips from Gordon Russell on game bird wine pairing, visit www.gamebirdfoodfestival.co.nz