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Some Nights, The Kitchen And The Vineyard Speak The Same Language.
This Is One Of Those Nights.
Dishery After Dark is a monthly dinner series pairing a considered menu with a different winery each time. It's for people who know the difference between a good Pinot and a great one, and who've never once left at a reasonable hour.
Each month brings a new winemaker to the table, and a menu built specifically around what's in the glass, not the other way around. Executive Chef Steve Sepsy designs each course to meet the wine where it is, rather than compete with it.
We'll welcome you in from 7pm, where Steve and the visiting winemaker will share what's behind the dishes, the wines, and the people who made them.
It will be casual, intimate, and worth getting a seat at the table.
Some Nights, The Kitchen And The Vineyard Speak The Same Language.
This Is One Of Those Nights.
We've paired a menu to Rockburn's most exceptional small-batch releases, wines made in the hundreds, not the thousands. A barrel-fermented amber pinot gris. A chardonnay from a 500-bottle run. Two single-vineyard pinot noirs most people will never get a glass of, let alone a bottle.
The night starts at 7pm. The first two courses arrive, giving you time to settle in. Then winemaker Matt and Executive Chef Steve will take a few minutes to walk through the pairings, the vineyards, and what makes this line-up worth the occasion, before the evening continues at its own pace.
The setting is relaxed. The food and wine are not. Every dish has been built to meet its wine, not the other way round. Bring your friends, settle in, and let the evening take its time. The best of Central Otago, from the comfort of your seat.
THE CONCEPT
Every Dishery After Dark features a different winery, chosen for wines with something to say. Small producers, distinct sites, and the kind of restraint that takes years to earn.
The lineup changes. The standard doesn't.
THE CHEF — STEVE SEPSY
If you've eaten at Dishery, you already know there's something different about a Steve Sepsy plate. It's the kind of food that makes you lean in before you've even picked up your fork.
Steve came to Dishery with a CV that reads like a tour of some of New Zealand's most respected kitchens - Aosta, Toast + Oak, Ahi - where he's worked alongside Ben Bayly, one of the country's most awarded and talked-about chefs.
Each Dishery After Dark menu is built specifically around that month's wines.
THE WINERY
Rockburn has spent over two decades proving that Central Otago can produce wine worth talking about internationally, not just locally. Their approach favours single vineyards over blends and small runs over big volume, letting each site say what it has to say.
THE WINEMAKER
Matt Swirtz arrived in New Zealand on what was meant to be a two year contract. Twenty five years later, he's still here, and it's Central Otago Pinot Noir he can thank for that. Since his first vintage in 2008, Matt has built a career on curiosity and a genuine appreciation for wines that taste like where they're from. At Rockburn, he brings that thinking to every barrel he touches. Wine, for Matt, has always been about people and occasions as much as vineyards and vintages, something to be shared, enjoyed, and remembered. A sentiment that fits Dishery rather well.
THE CHEF
Executive Chef Steve Sepsy has built a four course menu around Rockburn's line-up, matching the texture and intensity of each wine course by course. Expect the kind of considered, expertly executed plates Dishery's known for, designed to let the wine do some of the talking.