Video: Wine and dogs, a perfect pairing?
Wine Dogs, held at Elephant Hill on April 27, matches beautiful local wine with furry, four legged friends, providing thirsty dog owners, and lovers, the ideal day out.
Started by Alice McKinley, this is the second year of the event after the first year was a sold out success and you don't even need to own a dog to go.
"One of mantras is you don't need a dog to come along. We've actually got quite people coming with rescue dogs that want some walkers as well. So, yeah, if you don't have a dog then make yourself known and we can probably find you one," McKinley tells Hawke's Bay App.
The idea of hundreds of dogs running around a vineyard may seem like chaos to a lot of people, but McKinley disagrees.
"It's on lead and weirdly enough the dogs just chill out, like when they're amonst each other. So, yeah, they love being all together, like pack animals and we haven't had any problems, like fights or anything. They just chill out, they love being in amongst each other, walking amongst each other."
But like a lot of things on this planet, most of the issues arise from homosapiens.
"The only thing that causes a bit of chaos is probably people with those retractable leads. So if you can leave them at home that would be great."
What about the ahem, natural cluter dogs create. Won't that leave a mess amongst the picturesque vineyard? McKinley disagrees.
"Everyone was so good last year. Everyone cleaned up after themselves. We were amazed, we were expecting to have to go round and pick up a whole bunch of dog poo and it was left so clean... So yeah bring your dog bags please."
For the event McKinley has a lot of exciting activities planned, including a 3 kilometre walk around the Elephant Hill Te Awanga Vineyard, visiting places that you would not normally be able to visit, music, food, lots of spectacular wine from Elephant Hill and lots of dog treats available from Omega Plus and Vet Services. Plus, Apple Press will be there for those after something nonalocholic.
Along with all the cute, delicious fun on the day, Mc Kinley is giving some of the profits to Ruahine Rescue.
"They're amazing. They have actually taken the place of the SPCA which got shut dowen becasue there wasn't enough funding, so they're completely run and funded by volunteers basaically. So just a bunch of amazing people who love animals and are giving their time freely consistently."
There will also be donation boxes on the day for Ruahine Rescue, if attendees wish to make their own donations.
Tickets are selling out quickly so head along to winedogs.co.nz to secure your tickets today.
