Cellar Door Fest: An Ultimate Guide for Wine-Lovers

Adding to the excitement of ‘Mad March’, this bold and flavourful food, wine and spirits festival offers three days of gourmet fun in the heart of the city thanks to a winning blend of wineries, breweries, distilleries and food producers.

“We’re thrilled to be returning for our ninth consecutive year and to continue to provide a platform for SA producers to showcase their amazing wares,” festival director Alex Bradford says. “Since its inception, Cellar Door Fest has been committed to celebrating the best of SA. This year’s event will be no exception as we welcome more than 150 producers from across 17 regions. It’s important to note that Cellar Door Fest is only as successful as the brilliant producers that get behind it each year and all those who support it via attendance. We’re grateful for each and every one of you and can’t wait to welcome you back to the Convention Centre mid-March.”

For the wine lovers amongst us, this year’s Festival program features two informative and interactive wine-themed master classes: an exclusive ‘Pinot Noir Wine Blending’ class led by Randal Tomich of Tomich Wines, along with a ‘Cheese + Wine’ session hosted by award-winning queen of cheese Sheree Sullivan and wine writer and educator Rhys Howlett. Both sessions are scheduled for Sunday, March 17. In the ‘hands-on’ wine blending session, guests will learn how winemakers blend batches behind the scenes along with the importance of fermentation and oak ageing while they unlock the secret behind some of Adelaide Hills’ best rated wines and blend their own Pinot Noir from different barrel samples. The ‘Cheese + Wine’ session is as much for cheese lovers as it is for those who love a good drop, offering a lesson in cheese, its history and what to consider when pairing cheese and wine. As part of the class, guests will be treated to a delicious selection of handmade Udder Delights Cheese carefully matched to fine local South Australian wines.

The Fest’s educational aspect extends to Riedel Sensory Workshops, focusing on how the size and shape of glassware can impact your enjoyment of wine. In these interactive sessions, guests will learn how to increase flavour and aroma and bring even more enjoyment to their favourite bottles, along with tips and tricks on glassware, wine temperature and wine and food matching. Tickets to this session include a four pack of glasses from Riedels’ new ‘Extreme’ range to take home, valued at $120 each.

If long table dining is more your style, the Festival kicks off on the Friday (15 March) with an intimate, three-course Jacob’s Creek Long Table Dinner. Hosted by Ben Thoman, the Barossa winery’s Red Winemaker, guests will be treated to a menu crafted by Jacob’s Creek’s Head Chef, Nik Tucker, featuring the best of local produce and expertly matched to the winery’s Limited Release Range and exclusive Cellar Door Wines.

In addition, this year’s event sees the return of some past Festival favourites, including the Emerging Winemakers Zone, shining a spotlight on a new wave of winemakers (those who have been in the industry for only three years of less), along with PIRSA’s Great Wine Capitals Discovery Space, which will present a host of free master classes featuring some of the latest Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism award winners (think Chapel Hill Winery; Whistling Kite Wines; Penfolds; d’Arenberg; Elderton; and Hentley Farm Wines).

Cellar Door Fest is not just about wine of course. There’s also the Wintulichs Beer Garden showcasing some of SA’s best breweries and cideries, along with The Distillery district, celebrating some of our State’s distilleries including Never Never Distilling Co., who were recently awarded World’s Best Classic Gin at the World Gin Awards in London.

And if that’s not enough, guests can also jump aboard the double-decker Festival Bus and enjoy an hour of exclusive hospitality, including a shared cheese plate and glass of Glen Ewin Wine or Coopers Beer while you take in a birds-eye view of the Festival and decide which region to visit next.

Cellar Door Festival is on at the Adelaide Convention Centre, 15 – 17 March. For further information and tickets, visit cellardoorfestival.com.

* This content is brought to you by Cellar Door Fest