Grampians wineries gathered in Halls Gap to launch the 2016 Seriously Shiraz festival on Friday.
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The event has taken a number of forms in the past four years, but has been expanded to run for four days across the Melbourne Cup weekend this year, making it the biggest festival yet.
Representatives from Mount Langi Ghiran, Grampians Estate and Best’s Wines gathered in Halls Gap for free wine tasting at the launch.
Grampians Estate owner Sarah Guthrie said it was the first time Seriously Shiraz had run as a four day event.
“It developed into an opportunity, with people in Melbourne taking a four day weekend, to develop during the Melbourne Cup,” she said.
“This is the first time it has gone into a much more event focus with all the cellar doors putting something on as attractions, and everyone embracing the event.”
Grampians Estate is offering a Sparkling Shiraz masterclasses on Saturday and Sunday and a Streeton Reserve Shiraz masterclass on Monday and Tuesday.
Mrs Guthrie said it was an opportunity to sample wines that are no longer available to buy.
“We are doing vertical tastings of our Rutherford Sparkling Shiraz, and vertical tastings of our flagship wine Streeton Reserve Shiraz,” she said.
“It is opportunity for people to try different vintages of wines that ordinarily you would not be able to try because there are barely any of them left.”
Best’s Wines Cellar Door supervisor Hamish Thomson said the event would help create more interest in Grampians wine.
“It is about getting our area out to a wider audience and bringing people here who are really interested in shiraz,” he said.
“We are a small area, when you compare us to the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula or Coonawarra even, the number of wines we have for our area is really quite small.
“So people have got to have a desire to come here.
“Shiraz is really popular in Australia so let's jump on that and say, ‘this is what we do well’, and open it up to more people.”
Mount Langi Ghiran Winery will host members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a performance among the vines on Monday.
Wine lovers will have the opportunity to have lunch while the orchestra performs.
Mount Langi Ghiran’s James Brady said the orchestra had been a popular item during last year’s Seriously Shiraz festival.
“Some of their members will come up on Monday to play some music and people can have a lunch in the vineyards,” he said.
“We did it last year and it was great, quite a lot of people come from different regions to stay up here or visit from Melbourne for the day to be part of it.”
Events at the weekend include:
- Grampians Estate Sparkling Shiraz masterclass, Saturday, 11am-noon, $21.
- Barangaroo Boutique Wines Local Produce on the Deck, 12pm-3pm, $135.
- Best’s Wines Vintage Tasting, 2pm-3pm $21.
- Mount Langi Ghiran MSO Performance for Epicureans, 12pm-3pm, $85.
For more information and a full schedule of events visit the Seriously Shiraz Facebook page.