Tasting Australia is heading into its 10th year, bringing with it all the food, wine and excess that we love. Last week we were invited to the launch of the 2017 program at Mothervine – and what a program it will be! Carefully constructed by a creative team containing Maggie Beer, Simon Bryant and Jock Zonfrillo with events being held across all of the food and wine regions of the state, there is really something special to suit everyone’s neck of the woods.
The ambassadors for this year’s festival originate from three of SA’s most famous regions: Taras Ochota; winemaker and head honcho at Ochota Barrels from the basket ranges in the Adelaide Hills, Karena Armstrong; owner and head chef of The Salopian Inn in McLaren Vale and Sharon Romeo; resident big personality at FINO in the Barossa Valley. Each ambassador brings a different perspective to the enjoyment of food and wine.
Tasting Australia VIP launch at Mothervine
While there are less events in the program from previous years, the focus has changed to improve the substance of some events, putting emphasis on quality over quantity. Some of the events we’re most excited for include:
- 4th May: Heroines Table at the Salopian Inn, McLaren Vale – 3 course dinner with local beverages celebrating women in food and wine. Be gone the times where commercial kitchens and wine cellars were the domain of men, step in skilled, strong women.
- 6th May: East End Cellars Masterclass: Grange experience – the opportunity to taste 6 decades of Penfold’s Grange. This is sure to be a once in a lifetime experience, especially at $950 a ticket!
- 6th May: Fresh Wine Disco – it’s disco, it’s wine tasting, it’s all the things we like. Located at the Uraidla Show Hall in the Adelaide Hills, it is an event you may need to Uber to.
- 7th May: Food, Booze and Dancing Shoes – who doesn’t like a spot of day drinking, especially when it is Alpha Box and Dice wines, Mismatch Beers and Prohibition Gin. Food is by Masterchef Jessie Spiby. Located at Plant 4 Bowden, only a short walk from the free tram!
Tasting Australia VIP launch at Mothervine
You don’t have to buy a ticket to an event to be part of the fun, as the hub of the festival will be set up in its usual Victoria Square spot. Visiting the ‘Town Square’ – as they have aptly named it – will play home to the festival restaurant Glasshouse Kitchen as well as bars and special talks and demonstrations. The Glasshouse Kitchen will feature special dinners prepared by world-class chefs such as recently titled world’s best female chef Ana Ros, Jock Zonfrillo and Marco Pierre White.
We love Tasting Australia, because it’s the festival that makes you feel like you fell in to the pages of Delicious Magazine where you have an excuse to eat two dinners and drink a few too many on a Monday. It is the festival of experimentation, of new experiences and of forming a relationship with what you eat!
