Obama, call in sometime, says Mayor Leggett
A mayor who missed out on an invite to meet Barack Obama isn’t sour about the snub, but has instead extended his own invitation to the former President of the United States.
Marlborough Mayor John Leggett said he wasn’t ‘‘too disappointed’’ to be left out of a select group of mayors invited to Obama’s invite-only banquet in Auckland on Thursday night.
Leggett believed the hottest tickets in town were reserved for ‘‘some of the bigger’’ metropolitan areas of New Zealand. The mayors of Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Nelson, Palmerston North and Wellington were invited.
‘‘They’re the ones that had the opportunity of saying yay or nay.
‘‘But look I’ve got to say personally I’m not too disappointed, they’ll probably be stuck by some pillar over in the corner, [they] might get a side on glance occasionally when he steps forward and giving his speech so [I’m] not too worried,’’ Leggett said.
He said Obama was welcome to visit Marlborough.
‘‘The invite is always there and maybe that’s something we can give a bit of thought to and in his next visit we can get him into Blenheim.’’
Leggett was less committal about extending the same invitation to US President Donald Trump.
‘‘That would be pretty interesting. Look we’re pretty welcoming here and we take people from all places in their life so I wouldn’t totally discount that,’’ Leggett said.
He also praised Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless for committing to local matters first.
‘‘All credit to him and I always liked the citizenship ceremonies and it’s such an important event for the people that are coming in but good on him, he’s prioritising council work and I applaud him for it,’’ Leggett said.
Local events always had more importance for the role of mayor, Leggett said.
Leggett attended a meeting with the Minister for Ma¯ori Development Nanaia Mahuta at the Rangita¯ne Cultural Centre on Wednesday. The minister was in the region for the Wha¯nau Ora Symposium being held in Blenheim.
‘‘I went out to the forum out at Grovetown and had a really good day, connected with a lot of people, listened to some really good speakers including [Local Government and Ma¯ori Development] Minister Nanaia Mahuta, who came down as one of the speakers and I found her really interesting.
‘‘She packs a lot into her day and she’s a really inspirational speaker so if you’re talking about value for money I think me trotting out to Grovetown is probably more beneficial for the community than me going up to Barack Obama’s speech,’’ Leggett said.
Another of Marlborough’s finest, its wine, received an invite to the event and Leggett said Obama’s high profile would give the region’s biggest export a boost. Three Marlborough wineries are hoping the former president of the United States gets a taste for their wines at an exclusive dinner.
Barack Obama was expected to tuck into Kiwi cuisine, matched with 11 of the country’s finest wines, at an invitation-only event at the Auckland Viaduct on Thursday night.
Wines from Marlborough-based wineries Tohu, Nautilus and Vavasour were chosen from the Fine Wines of New Zealand 2017 list, to accompany canapes as the event got underway.
Canapes included fish poke with seaweed, macadamia, citrus and avocado; and crisp buckwheat with sesame, aubergine, dates, feta and yoghurt.
Air New Zealand consultant chef Peter Gordon designed the menu, with steak, ribs and glazed salmon to feature alongside other New Zealand produce, accompanied by two wines from Central Otago, one from Waipara, and five from Hawke’s Bay.
Nautilus Estate winemaker Clive Jones said he was thrilled the Nautilus Cuvee Marlborough Brut NV was one of those chosen.
‘‘It’s a great opportunity for us to have our wine exposed at such a prestigious occasion, with a fairly big group of potential customers,’’
Jones said.
‘‘It’s highly regarded by both trade and wine media, and it’s recognised as a premium sparkling wine. And it’s the wine we serve our customers as they’re greeted at our winery.’’
Jones extended Marlborough Mayor John Leggett’s invitation to Obama, saying if he took a liking to the bubbly, ‘‘we would welcome him with open arms’’ for a second taste at the Rapaura winery, near Blenheim.
But Jones was too busy with harvest to attend the dinner himself, sending another staff member in his place, he said.
Tohu chief winemaker Bruce Taylor said the Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc chosen for the dinner was unique because it came from a ‘‘very special vineyard’’ in Marlborough’s Awatere Valley.
‘‘It’s a bit unusual to get a single blend from one vineyard ... and it’s a very cold site, so it’s always one of the last to be harvested, and it has a distinctive flavour profile compared to other Marlborough vineyards.
‘‘The US is by far our biggest export market. So hopefully Obama will be tweeting about how great our wine is.’’
Foley Family Wines group chief winemaker Alastair Maling said the Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc was chosen for the dinner because it was ‘‘quintessentially New Zealand, almost like an ambassador for our wines’’.
‘‘Vavasour comes from the Awatere Valley, so it’s sub-regional wine, and it’s very distinctive as a result, with passionfruit, guava, elderflower notes and a lovely, salty, juicy element that’s typical of vineyards on the coast,’’ Maling said.