How better to celebrate the arrival of spring, than with some tasty eats, locally-crafted drinks and a healthy serve of sunshine. Across Australia, this season blooms with great food and wine festivals, each delivering a snapshot of some of our country’s culinary finest. Grab that calendar and prepare your taste buds – here’s our pick of Australia’s best spring food festivals.
NSW
Good Food Month – October
In terms of sheer size, the iconic Good Food Month leaves the country’s other food festivals for dead, setting up shop for a month at a time in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra. Come October, it’s Sydney’s turn to host this broad-ranging culinary extravaganza, as always promising a diverse program of dinners, talks, tastings, degustations and general food-related indulgences. Enjoy feasts prepared by some of Australia’s top chefs, get acquainted with foreign cuisines, experience a taste of what’s hot on the local booze scene and, of course, take a bite out of the hawker-style festivities at the festival’s crown jewel, The Night Noodle Markets.
Mudgee Food & Wine Festival – September 9 – October 2
As one of NSW’s longest-running food festivals, The Mudgee Food & Wine Festival has certainly nailed a winning formula, with crowds flocking from all over each year for a taste of the month-long culinary program. Featuring a hefty lineup of tastings, tours, feasts and entertainment, this one’s well and truly worth leaving the big smoke for. Highlights include the Flavours of Mudgee street festival (September 23), where you’ll have the opportunity to sample artisan treats from across the region, and a series of themed Wednesday night wine education sessions.
QLD
Good Food & Wine Show – October 27-29
The Good Food & Wine Show marches into Brisbane this October, for three days of vinous exploration and foodie fanfare. Here, punters can sample the latest and greatest goodies from hundreds of food and drink exhibitors, catch top chefs and restaurateurs as they whip up drool-worthy recipes on stage, and pick up plenty of new knowledge through a broad program of beer and booze masterclasses. Wine-lovers are also in excellent hands, as the Wine Selectors’ informative Cellar Door Sessions explore some of the country’s most exciting wineries and the good folks at Riedel share their smarts at a series of free wine tasting classes.
WA
BeauVine Food & Wine Festival – October 20-22
Perth’s popular Beaufort Street Festival might have been given the axe, but its spin-off BeauVine Food & Wine Festival does a pretty solid job of filling the hole left behind. It returns to Birdwood Square this October for another three days of eating, drinking and springtime revelry, promising a diverse lineup to tempt all palates. Showing off their wares will be a collection of over 60 breweries, wineries and distilleries, and some of Perth’s favourite culinary hits. Tickets to each session include four hours of tastings, to enjoy alongside a broad spread of art, live tunes and what’s being hailed as WA’s first pop-up dodgeball arena.
VIC
Peninsula VineHop Festival – November 18-19
This November marks the debut outing for the Peninsula VineHop Festival – the region’s first dedicated beer, wine and cider festival. Across one spring weekend, this roving event will showcase some of the Mornington Peninsula’s finest drops, as visitors explore the breweries and wineries where they were crafted. Each venue will play host to a lineup of food trucks, live music and DJ sets, setting a blissful backdrop to a day spent quaffing locally-made liquid treats. Shuttle busses between venues will ensure you get to experience as many of these great Peninsula venues as possible.
Image Source: Luky Studio, Eventfinda, Good Food & Wine Show, Mudgee Food and Wine Festival.