Budburst: a natural wine and food festival in Wellington

Budburst: A Natural Wine And Food Festival In Wellington

Project 2016-05-24 10:07:53 +1200

What is Budburst?

We want to create New Zealand’s first natural wine and food festival in Wellington. Budburst aims to bring together everyday consumers in a friendly and festive environment where they can try unique wines that challenge the status quo and celebrate transparency, sustainability and quality. This one day event will bring together NZ wine producers who are pushing boundaries and some international winemakers who share the same sentiment of keeping intervention at a minimum.

While many wine events in New Zealand are geared towards the wine professional, Budburst is also designed for the consumer. We're building an event where you can come to have fun, discover something new, meet the people who make these wines, eat great food and listen to live music.

What, when and where?

Budburst will be held at Prefab Eatery on Sunday 13 November 2016, the cafe area of Prefab will be transformed into a pop-up natural wine bar. This will allow people from all walks of life to experience natural wine in the context of honest food and live music. The adjoining function space will host natural wine producers from both New Zealand and around the world who will be pouring their wines and allowing for producers and consumers to engage with each other. The function space will be complemented by a variety of short, interactive workshops so that consumers can learn about these new styles of wine. 

Who is Budburst for? 

As consumers strive for more transparency in where their food has come from and how it is handled, Budburst seeks to create a conversation between the everyday wine consumer and the producer enabling you to learn where the wine comes from and how it is made.

Budburst is for people who enjoy drinking wine, are interested in meeting wine producers and love discovering new and exciting wines.

Budburst is for people who care about what they put in their body. This event will open your eyes to how many additives can legally go into a wine and will give you greater transparency in both the food you eat and the wine you drink. 

Budburst is for people who want to know more, or not. We will be running interactive workshops for those that want to go more in depth. And we’ll have a relaxed bar scene for those who just want to kickback and enjoy themselves. 

Why back this project? 

Crowdfunding for us is essential as we're running Budburst as a not-for-profit event that is staffed entirely by volunteers. Our crowdfunding target will help to offset the initial costs of organising this event - allowing us to secure the venue and cost of marketing to make this event the best possible. We can’t do it without you and you want it to happen because it's going to be awesome. 

What you will get by backing this campaign? 

By supporting Budburst you can get tickets to the full festival at the lowest possible price. In addition to these discount tickets we are offering a number of amazing experience packages. A glass of wine on us can be claimed by people in Auckland, Wellington, Blenheim, Christchurch and Queenstown. Branded glassware, posters, stickers and other swag can be delivered to wherever you are. If you can make it to Martinborough you can be a winemaker's assistant for the day. 

And if you cannot make it to Wellington please also consider supporting because if Budburst is a success in 2016 this will open the opportunity to move the event to more cities going forward. 

Most rewards should be expected 6-8 weeks after the campaign successfully completes. The branded glassware may take us a little longer. 

Who is Team Budburst?

Team Budburst is a small group of volunteers here in Wellington, made up of wine professionals who are all passionate about creating a community around natural wine in New Zealand. We have been talking about getting a festival of celebration happening for long enough, now it's time for some action.

We come from all walks of wine life but are united by a desire to share natural wine and food with everyone we meet.

We are:

Event captain: Amy Farnsworth of Regional Wines & Spirits

Organisational whizz: Elissa Jordan of Winefulness

Industry paradigm shifter: Stephen Wong MW of Wine Sentience

Design ninja: Johannes Bay of Wine Sentience

Curator of awesome: Richard Klein of Artigiano Imports

Our supporting cast and event cheerleaders includes: Brandon Nash of Dhall & Nash, Jules van Cruysen of Hillside Kitchen & Cellar, Alex Craighead of Don Wines, Lance Redgewell of Cambridge Road Vineyard, Dan Gillett of Wine Diamonds and JP Henderson of Salty Pidgin Bar & Bistro.

What are the risks & challenges? 

Once this campaign successfully completes, the risks and challenges don't stop here. As a team of volunteers, each with their own busy lives, we have commited to finding the time to make Budburst as completely awesome as we want it to be. We’ve been meeting fortnightly since December 2015 and we've carved out a committed core group who keep things moving along and we call on the skills and insights of our extensive supporting cast as we need them. 

The real risk is if this campaign doesn't fund 100% we won't be able to make Budburst happen in 2016 and we’ll have to look for alternative funding options. However, we've set our target at a realistic and entirely achievable point to minimise this risk. 

FAQs

Q. What is natural wine? Isn't all wine natural? 

A. This is a controversial subject as it has no uniform definition. In the broadest sense natural wine is a wine made from organic grapes (e.g. no herbicides, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers) and the wine is then made in the most non-interventional way possible. It is a widely held belief that a natural wine should remain in its truest form, that is without additions or mechanical manipulations. What sets 'natural' apart from other wines is that it has not been altered or adulterated.

Q. What does natural wine taste like? 

A. Natural wine has a reputation for being funky or weird and some may even be challenging when your first try them. The wine will taste like where it was grown, it will tell a story of what the vintage was like and the person who grew the grapes.

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