An afternoon amongst the vines with Cellar Door Fest

This week, we were taken on a whirlwind food and wine adventure by the Cellar Door Fest team ahead of the annual festival next weekend.

Our journey started with some coffee and breakfast at the newly open Home Ground at the Adelaide Convention Centre bright and early in the morning.

The second stop on our adventure took us to Jacob’s Creek, all the way in the Barossa Valley, where we enjoyed a sneak peek of the Long Table Lunch that this well-known wintery will be hosting on the Sunday of Cellar Door Fest.

“We play in 82 markets around the world, and in many of those markets we’re the number one Australian wine brand, and that’s something we’re really proud of,” says James Keane, Jacob’s Creek Public Relations & Promotions Manager.

We sampled three of Jacob’s Creek’s heritage wines: 2015 Steingarten Riesling, 2013 Bungalow Lane Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2012 Centenary Hill Shiraz, all paired with delicious food offerings from their restaurant.

The ‘Long Table Dining’ series has been extremely popular in past years, with this year’s offering including Iberia & Vinteloper Dinner on Friday evening, McLaren Vale Distillery Lunch and Battle of the Brewers Late Lunch on Saturday, Tomich Wines Brunch, Jacob’s Creek Lunch, and Beach Road Wines Late Lunch on Sunday.

The next and final destination saw us stopping by up-and-coming winery, The Cutting, also located in the Barossa Valley for a tasting and tour of their vineyard.

The visit started with a word from Cellar Door Fest Wine Ambassador and one of Australia’s leading wine marketers, Paul Henry, who spoke about the importance of supporting our emerging winemakers as well as wine’s place in the current world.

“Curiously, no one needs to be told what they like to eat. I often find that when you sit down and when you cook for someone or you give someone a restaurant experience, they’re pretty clear about what you’ve given them and whether they like it or not. I find wine is something that we almost feel that we need an endorsement or we need a degree of knowledge. I think we’re predicated on this idea that we need to understand it in order to enjoy it. I don’t subscribe to that view. I think the world of wine is full on endless possibilities. It is gloriously and unapologetically subjective – it’s about what you like and what speaks to you,” says Paul.

The Cutting owners (and husband and wife team), Daniel McDonald and Belinda van Eyssen, along with Daniel’s parents, Rob and Judy, who play an active role at the vineyard, then took us on a guided tour of the property to show us all the behind the scenes secrets involved when making a bottle of wine.

“What’s really great about our grapes and our resulting wine, we think, is the vineyard; that’s the unique thing about this site. We do the simple things well. We’re also very lucky, we’re in a great wine-growing region in the Barossa Valley. We’re also in, arguably, one of the best sub-regions in the Barossa – the Stonewell sub-region,” says Daniel.

Daniel and Belinda will be busily preparing to debut their 2016 Shiraz at the Cellar Door Fest next weekend so make sure to head on down to be one of the first to own a bottle of The Cutting wine!

The 2018 Cellar Door Fest begins with a bang at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Friday 2nd March 5pm-9pm with the Food, Booze + Dancing Shoes event, over Saturday 3rd 11am-6pm, and finishes up on Sunday 4th 11am-6pm. Tickets can be purchased at the door but we recommend pre-purchasing online to avoid disappointment!

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