Humans of Barossa, Ryan Edwards
Chef Ryan Edwards admits that growing up on a vineyard in Barossa bred a certain complacency towards the region’s food culture. There was nothing special about the Corella pear in your school lunchbox and oh, the repetitious drudgery of the season, broad beans – again? Read more
All hail the mighty wine judge
I would have dearly loved for this to be a story of a wine media cadet who, completely inexperienced in the ways of wine show judging, walked into a room filled with International Master of Wine students and blitzed the Advanced Wine Assessment Course… Alas, it’s more a story of awe and deep respect for the Australian Wine Show circuit. Read more
James Halliday – the state of play of wine in China
It’s very easy to be a little in awe of a man who has built himself from lawyer to winemaker to one of the most recognised and respected names in the Australian wine industry today. In China his reputation even outstrips that at home, such that the crowd vying for selfies and autographs at his exit from his sold-out masterclasses rival that of the backstage rockstar. Read more
Hong Kong – a wine media cadet’s journey down the rabbit hole.
I guess it’s easy to feel perhaps a little smug about food and wine when you have grown up in one of the best wine regions of the world… But then you take your sheltered little self off to Hong Kong.
Bam! What a city! Read more
Adelaide – it’s not just patriotism.
We are a patriotic bunch, us South Aussies. Of course we have our good- natured regional rivalries (the title of ‘best Grenache’ is a hotly contested one in particular) but when it comes to state-wide pride we’ve got it in spades, and rightly so.
Adelaide has a lot to be proud of and to add further proof our fair city was named a Great Wine Capital of the World in 2016. This is a huge moment in our history, aligning us with the likes of Bordeaux, Napa, Rioja… Becoming just the 9th city globally to be awarded this title. Read more
Behind the medals – life in the back room of the Royal Adelaide Wine Show
I expected glasses, thousands of glasses to polish. And a room full of elite judges who would treat us stewards like, well, servants. The wine show version of Downton Abbey. One of these things lived up to my expectations. The other did not. Read more