I like wine festivals. Why do I like them so much? Well here are some reasons:
1) I like that you can taste lots of different wines without having to drive from estate to estate. Having so many wines on offer allows me to try all sorts of tasting strategies, eg. trying wines only from one area (normally a lesser known area), or trying only one varietal across estates or even areas.
2) I like having the winemakers or other knowledgeable people on hand to answer my questions and tell me interesting things.
3) I like being able to taste lots of different wines in a relatively short space of time and for a relatively small price (compared to going to the estates or actually buying the wines).
4) I like having lots of people around, it creates a cool vibe especially as the event wears on and everyone becomes more friendly as they taste more.
5) I like having a selection of tasty snacks to choose from in between tastes.
I’m sure I can think of more reasons, but I think those are enough justification for me liking wine festivals. On Friday night I went to Winex at the ICC and had a very enjoyable evening.
I tasted some great wines, and bumped into a million people I knew. I haven’t been to Winex for about 2 years so I was pleasantly surprised at how well supported it was. The last time I went it was relatively quiet.
I took the opportunity to investigate the Wellington region a bit as I don’t know it well and am going to be there for Pinotage on Tap at the end of this month. Apparently Diemersfontein is not the only Wellington estate to win awards for their Pinotage, although that Diemersfontein Pinotage is really something special (I think it’s the Bacon Kips on the nose that steals my heart).
The Leopard’s Leap stand stole the show. Instead of the usual boring stand, they had a full bar and instead of offering only wine for tasting, you could also have a cocktail. On top of that there were snacks at Leopard’s Leap which was a major drawcard as Winex has a very low food to wine stand ratio (see point 5 above).
It was a great evening, I look forward to going again next year.