Andy reports on the recent “Opera” themed wine dinner at One80 restaurant in Wellington.

Saturday the 16th of September was the second Misha’s Vineyard “Opera” wine dinner at the magnificent One80 Restaurant at the Wellington Copthorne Hotel. ONe80 boasts one of the best views of Wellington harbour and some of the best food in New Zealand! Chef Chetan Pangam and his culinary team provided an incredible array of dishes matched perfectly with Misha’s Vineyard wines. Many of the guests were back enjoying their second Misha’s Vineyard Wine dinner at One80, while we also had a number of new guests who hopefully have become fans!

Some of the guests who joined us for the One80 Wine Dinner

Misha introduced the wines before each course and gave some information and stories about New Zealand wines, Central Otago and of course about Misha’s Vineyard. Chetan and his team plated dishes on the large bench out in the restaurant while Chetan talked through the dish and just how painstakingly detailed every element had been prepared. The process of preparing each individual piece of the dishes is quite amazing.

There are so many parts that have to come together perfectly. We commented to Chetan that his job was much more difficult that ours. Our winemaker – Olly Masters – had done his work months if not years earlier. Chetan and his team had to be on perfect form on the night!

A highlight of the evening were the beautiful songs by singing star Hannah Chisholm. Hannah has had a career in singing with a range of styles from light musicals to opera. Her delivery was magnificent and captured everyone through each bracket of songs. It was the perfect accompaniment to magnificent food and wines.

The association of Misha’s Vineyard and music comes from Misha’s Mother who was an opera star in Australia for more than 20 years. Misha herself – while too tall to perform with the Australian Ballet -joined the Australian Opera company as a dancer to accompany her Mother on tours. All of our wines are named with musical or theatre names in recognition of the theatrical background and many of our events are done to recognize this connection.

We had a great evening and look forward to another incredible wine dinner at One80 again sometime soon.