There are evenings that promise a good meal, and then there are evenings that demand you
clear the diary entirely. The Trivet x Cloudy Bay Winemakers Dinner, happening Thursday, 7th
May falls firmly into the latter category. A single-night collaboration between one of Auckland’s
most compelling kitchens and the Marlborough winery that arguably started the conversation
about New Zealand wine on the global stage.
At the pass is Chef Wallace Mua, whose cooking at Trivet has quietly established the JW
Marriott restaurant as one of the city’s most interesting dining rooms. His style, which he calls
“elaborately simple,” makes more sense on the plate than on paper: Polynesian roots, French
precision, a deep respect for New Zealand produce, and a refusal to over-complicate what
doesn’t need complicating.
The menu for the evening reads like a love letter to Aotearoa’s coastline and seasons, matched
course-for-course with wines selected and presented by Cloudy Bay’s Winemaking Director
Nikolai St George. St George, who grew up on a rural North Island farm before studying
viticulture, has spent his career guided by a philosophy that mirrors Trivet’s own: honour the
source material, keep it honest, and let quality do the talking.
The evening opens at the raw bar with freshly shucked Te Matuku oysters, sashimi, and
Coromandel mussels, the kind of briny, unadorned start that snaps the palate to attention,
alongside Cloudy Bay’s NV Pelorus, the méthode traditionnelle was recently shortlisted for New
Zealand Sparkling Wine of the Year. From there, things get more playful. A spanakopita cannoli
with cucumber, cinnamon, JW garden mint, and Southerly honey rethinks a classic through a
distinctly Kiwi lens, paired with Cloudy Bay’s 2025 Sauvignon Blanc.
The second entrée is where Mua’s Polynesian instincts and technical confidence collide: house-
made spaghetti with local kina, garlic, chilli, and coriander. A dish that takes the briny richness
of New Zealand’s most polarising delicacy and gives it the pasta treatment it frankly deserves.
Cloudy Bay’s 2023 Chardonnay, with its Southern Valleys weight and precision, is the pairing
here.
For the main course, confit duck breast arrives with orange, rosti, beetroot, and cacao, matched
with the 2023 Te Wahi Pinot Noir from Cloudy Bay’s Central Otago vineyards in Bannockburn and Northburn. A wine built on the kind of rocky, glacial soils that produce structure and
intensity in equal measure. Dessert closes the evening with a Ghana dark chocolate mousse, tamarillo, chocolate soil, and cherry, alongside Cloudy Bay’s 2023 Marlborough Pinot Noir. It’s the kind of finish designed to make you linger at the table longer than you planned. Between courses, St George will guide the room through the stories behind each wine. Not in the stiff, lecture-hall sense, but in the way that only someone who has spent their life walking vineyards and tasting dirt can. The evening promises warmth, creativity, and the rare pleasure of two people at the top of their craft working in genuine concert.
Tickets are $175 per person, including wine pairing, and seating is limited. If your Thursday, 7th May, is free, this is what you do with it. Book here.
