30 Of Australia's Best Wine And Beer Festivals

Whether it’s red or white, craft beer or crisp cider, this regional wine and drinks festival guide will have your ‘poison’ covered (and keep your calendar full throughout the year). Happy travels and cheers!

Crush Festival, Adelaide Hills, January

Why? Celebrates local wines but also branches out comprehensively into cuisine, fashion and art shows in intimate Hills’ venues. See: Crush Festival

The Harvest Festival, McLaren Vale, January

Why? South Australian epicurean delights (‘Joys of the Fleurieu’) blended with a relaxed outdoor Australian summer ambiance. See: Harvest Festival

Cellar Door Wine Festival, Adelaide

Why? Sample a wide range of drops from Barossa, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley et al and then maybe plan a trip afterwards to visit your favourite. See: Cellar Door Festival

Wine Time, NSW Southern Highlands

Why? Check out crisp cool climate wines in around 15 boutique cellar doors dotted around the chocolate-box picturesque highlands. See: Wine Time

Wine Harvest Festival, Canberra

Why? Visit the harvest of one of Australia’s most underrated wine regions, featuring a solid variety of drops from 140 vineyards and 33 wineries (all within 35 minutes of the capital)

Grampians Grape Escape, Victoria

Why? As far as regional wine fares go, it doesn’t get more indulgent than this, with around 100 of Western Victoria’s wine and food artisans vying for your palate in a suitably dramatic national park setting.

Noosa Food & Wine Festival

Why? Okay, so this one is famous for its food, but wine is certainly not ignored either. And it doesn’t get any bigger than this on Sunshine Coast’s social scene. Great for celeb-chef spotting!

Food, Wine & A Taste of Port (Douglas)

Why? We love an open-air tropical vino-fest and this one unfolds under the stars (and illuminated palm fronds) on Port Douglas’s foreshore.

Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend

Why? A fabulously relaxed wine region, a grape pip’s throw from Adelaide, which knows how to execute seriously international standard Riesling. Why wouldn’t you?

High Country Harvest, Victoria

Why? An alpine twist on your usual wine and food events with energetic activities thrown in, from horse-riding to bee-keeping classes, set in the sublime autumnal High Country landscape.

McLaren Vale Sea & Vines Food & Wine Festival

Why? A Mediterranean-style climate, a choice of 65 cellar doors, some of the most awe-inspiring coastal views in Australia and a long weekend… hmmm, tough one! See: Mc Laren Vale info

Glenrowan Wine Region Trails, Tastings & Tales Food & Wine Festival

Why? Intimate but comprehensive festival with plenty of quirky hands-on highlights, such as Muscat blending workshops, in a region that knows its way around a full-bodied red.

UnWINEd, Riverina

Why? Combine a long-weekend roadtrip to this region, full of family-owned vineyards, that claims to produce one in every four bottles of wine sold in Australia. Prepare your for farm-fresh produce too.

Caxton Street Seafood & Wine Festival, Brisbane

Why? For the delectable challenge of matching Queensland wines with juicy seafood from 20 Brisbane food outlets on a lively thoroughfare – it draws the long-weekend crowds! See: Caxton Street Seafood & Wine Festival

Winter Reds, Adelaide Hills

Why? Flamboyant and hearty reds, misty mornings, blazing open fires, and the aroma of baking food – it all feels a little Continental. Rug up and go forth! See: Adelaide Hills Wine

Mudgee Wine & Food Festival, NSW

Why? Tree-changers’ paradise and honey capital Mudgee has blossomed into a wine region in its own right. If for some reason the wine is not to your taste, the rolling landscape and gourmet produce may be.

Heathcote Wine & Food Festival, Vic

Why? Within striking distance of Bendigo and Melbourne (by shuttle), ‘Shiraz Heaven’ offers a fine blend of tasting seminars and master-classes for the budding aficionado. See: Heathcote Wine Growers

Hunter Valley Wine & Food Festival, NSW

Why? Around 30 wineries get involve this Hunter festival, reborn in 2013. There’s also a wide variety of beer, cider and, of course, food on the menu at this Crowne Plaza hosted event. See: Hunter Valley Wine Festival

Orange Wine Week, NSW

Why? A charming higher altitude, cool climate wine region festival set in the crisp spring of NSW’s Central West. Keep an eye out for the week night market and terroir tour. See: Taste Orange

Toast to the Coast

Why? Why not take a Monday sickie and combine this cool climate wine weekend with a Melbourne Cup soiree, just up the Princes Highway, on the Tuesday. Oh, there are impressive wine, food and music circulating too. See: Toast to the Coast

Margaret River Gourmet Escape

Why? There are plenty of smaller scale events on this world-class wine region’s calender, but the Escape is the go-to festival that most of the wineries and vineyards rally around. A comprehensive program!

Taste of Tasmania, Hobart

Why? The best of Tassie wine (and produce) enjoyed over summer with the hoopla and energy of the Sydney to Hobart crowd.

Beer & cider

Schützenfest, Adelaide

Why? This annual Adelaide event, based on a traditional German festival, meaning Shooting Festival’, is more about celebrating beer than tracing the heritage of its roots. Like a mini-Oktoberfest, German food, beverages, dances and music abound.

Ballarat Beer Festival

Why? For craft beer and cider connoisseurs that like hearty ‘dude food’ and plenty of entertainment (and a kids’ zone to give you a rest), these two are for you.

South West Craft Beer Festival, Busselton

Why? Proof that wine Mecca Margaret River has even more to offer indulgence. Sample the region’s finest beers and ciders from boutique producers such as Cheeky Monkey and Custard Apple Cider.

Great Australian Beer Festival, Geelong

Why? This one is b-i-g, claiming Australia’s largest ‘al fresco beer garden’ and featuring around 150 craft brews of many persuasions. See: gabfgeelong.com.au

BrewsVegas, Brisbane

Why? This craft beer carnival is only in its first year, but there are 35 venues already involved and around 90 beer-focussed events happening across Queensland’s capital.

Bitter & Twisted Int Boutique Beer Festival, Maitland Gaol, NSW

Why? Live music, craft beer and cider, Hunter Valley wines for sampling, all in the ground of an old gaol. Organise a tour of the facilities in the unlikely event that the rest of the action hasn’t taken of you.

Makers, bakers, artists, chefs, crafters – Ballarat and its surrounds are overflowing with creative spirits. All dedicated to keeping traditional skills alive for a city that is humming with artful energy.

Modern makers: a new generation of artists and artisans

“Keeping craft alive is a noble cause,” says Jess Cameron-Wootten, a charming and passionate master leathercrafter and cordwainer, who handmakes traditional leather boots and shoes in Ballarat’s old Gun Cotton Goods Store.

Ballarat was recognised in 2019 as a UNESCO Creative City of Craft and Folk Art, and today it’s a place where craft traditions converge with contemporary needs. Nothing quite captures this convergence as a visit to Wootten , the workshop and store of Jess Cameron-Wootten and his partner Krystina Menegazzo.

heritage buildings in Ballarat — Ballarat’s streets are lined with heritage buildings. (Image: Matt Dunne)

Jess’s father was an artisan bootmaker, or cordwainer. Now Jess and Krys and their small team of artisans continue the tradition, but with a modern spin. The company’s boots and shoes, made completely from scratch, are renowned for their quality and longevity. Wootten also craft shoes, bags, belts, leather aprons, wallets and more.

Cosy beanies, gloves, alpaca socks, “unbreakable” shoelaces and various other goods – many from local craftspeople and small-scale makers – fill the shop’s shelves. “We’re always happy to support a mate,” says Jess. “People love to see the workshop and where things are made. Our clients care about quality and sustainability,” Krys comments. The company slogan ‘Made for generations’ says it all.

Ruby Pilven’s ceramics at Ross Creek Gallery. (Image: Tara Moore)

For Ruby Pilven, craft is also in the DNA – both her parents were potters and with her latest porcelain ceramics, Ruby’s young daughter has been helping add colour to the glazes. “I grew up watching my parents in the workshop – I’ve always been doing ceramics,” she says, although her Visual Arts degree was in printmaking. That printmaking training comes through particularly in the rich layering of pattern. Her audacious colour, unexpected shapes and sudden pops of 12-carat gold are contemporary, quirky – and joyful.

You can see Ruby’s handcrafted ceramics, and work by other local and regional artists, at Ross Creek Gallery , a light-filled space surrounded by serene bushland, across from the mudbrick house her parents built in the 1980s. A 10-minute drive from Ballarat, it’s a tangible link to the region’s well-established craft traditions.

How Ballarat is preserving the past

artisans making crafts at the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades, Ballarat — The Centre for Rare Arts & Forgotten Trades holds workshops to preserve crafts and skills.

While tradition is ongoing, there’s a danger that many of these specific type of skills and knowledge are fading as an older generation passes on. Step forward the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades .

The seven purpose-built studios occupy a fabulous modern building adjacent to Sovereign Hill, with state-of-the-art facilities, enormous windows and landscape views across to Warrenheip and Wadawurrung Country.

artisanal works at the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades, Ballarat — Check out artisanal works at the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades.

Practising artisans run hands-on workshops. Fancy making your own medieval armour? Or trying your hand at blacksmithing, spinning wool, plaiting leather, weaving cane or craft a knife? Book a class and learn how. “It’s about creating awareness and also sharing knowledge and skills before they are lost,” explains Deborah Klein, the centre manager.

A city steeped in food and flavours

Chef José Fernandez preparing American streetfood at Pancho — Chef José Fernandez creates vibrant South American street food at Pancho. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)

One skill that hasn’t been lost is that of cooking. Ballarat’s burgeoning gastronomy scene runs the gamut from an artisan bakery (the atmospheric 1816 Bakehouse) to cool coffee shops, speakeasy cocktail bars and distilleries to fine-dining venues. But I’m still surprised to find Pancho , José Fernandez’s South American street food restaurant, serving fried cheese tequeños, fiery fish tacos, Argentinian grilled chicken.

The room is as lively as the food – a whirl of colour filled with gifted and thrifted paintings, photos, tchotchkes (trinkets), plants. There’s a Mexican abuela aesthetic going on here. Even before the music and mezcal kick in, it’s fun. Heads up on the drinks menu – an authentic selection of mezcal, tequila, South American wines and Mexican cerveza.

a cocktail at Itinerant Spirits, Ballarat — Enjoy a cocktail at Itinerant Spirits. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)

The spirit is willing, so after lunch we head towards the gold rush-era Ballarat train station and across the line to the old 1860s Goods Shed for Itinerant Spirits . At one end, a massive German copper still looms behind a wall of glass. The fit-out embraces deep olive-green tones, original bluestone walls, steamer trunks as coffee tables, heritage timber floors, oversized lamp shades and cognac-hued modernist leather seating.

the Itinerant Spirits Distillery & Cocktail Bar, Ballarat — The distillery operates from an old goods shed. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)

Gallivanter Gin, Vansetter Vodka and Wayfarer Whiskey – the key spirits distilled – star at the bar. The spirits are crafted using grains from the Wimmera Mallee region, and native botanicals foraged in the Grampians. Seasonal cocktails are inspired by local people and places (I loved The Headland, inspired by Sovereign Hill and flavoured with old-fashioned raspberry drops). Sample the spirits, and join a cocktail masterclass or a distillery tour. It’s a seductive setting – you’ll likely find yourself ordering a charcuterie platter or pizza as the evening progresses.

The Ballarat stay combining history and luxury

one of the rooms at Hotel Vera, Ballarat — The rooms at Hotel Vera have a contemporary style. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)

New lives for old buildings keeps history alive. Vera, Ballarat’s boutique five-star hotel, has taken it to the next level: it’s a palimpsest, a subtle layering of early 1900s and 1930s Art Deco architecture with a sleek new wing. There are seven spacious suites, each a dramatically different colour, with designer chairs, blissful bathrooms. High-end pottery and hand-picked artworks imbue the spaces with personality.

Vera’s intimate, award-winning restaurant, Babae, is subtly theatrical with sheer drapes and gallery lighting, its bespoke timber furniture and brass-edged marble bench setting the stage for food with a sharp regional focus. “We have goat’s cheese from a local supplier, handmade granola from local Vegas & Rose, truffles from nearby Black Cat Truffles, fresh food from our garden, and regional wines,” says joint owner David Cook-Doulton.

Celebrating the local makers, bakers, growers and producers, and the master chefs who work their magic is all part of the rich tapestry that links Ballarat’s history to its vibrant present.

A traveller’s checklist

Getting there

It’s 90 minutes from Melbourne, either on the Western Freeway, or hop on a V/Line train from Southern Cross Station.

Staying there

Hotel Vera is a centrally located Art Deco boutique hotel. Consider Hotel Provincial , which feels like a sleek country house, but with its own restaurant, Lola.

a contemporary room at Hotel Provincial, Ballarat — Hotel Provincial has country house vibes.

Eating there

dining at Mr Jones, Ballarat — The table is set at Mr Jones. (Image: Tony Evans/ Visit Victoria)

Culinary whiz Damien Jones helms Chef’s Hat winner Mr Jones Dining with quiet assurance. His modern Asian food is deceptively simple with deep, intense flavours. Low-key, laid-back ambience, lovely staff, thoughtful wine list.

Cocktails are definitely a thing in Ballarat. Reynard (fox in French) is foxy indeed, a clubby space with top-notch cocktails and small bites. Grainery Lane is extravagantly OTT with its massive 1880s bar, myriad chandeliers, brass gin still, Asian-inspired food and lavish cocktails.

dining at Grainery Lane, Ballarat — Dining at Grainery Lane.

Playing there

a laneway filled with artworks in Ballarat — An artful laneway in the city. (Image: Ballarat Tourism)

Check out local design legend Travis Price’s wall murals in Hop Lane with its colourful canopy of brollies, or in Main Street. The Art Gallery of Ballarat’s off-site Backspace Gallery showcases early-career artists in a stylish, contemporary space. First Nations-owned and run Perridak Arts connects people to place, bringing together art and crafts in this gallery/shop.

a woman admiring artworks at Perridak Arts Gallery — Perridak Arts is a First Nations-run gallery. (Image: Tony Evans)

The wineries of the Pyrenees are close at hand with their welcoming cellar doors and robust reds. Join a behind-the-scenes tour at the Centre for Gold Rush Collections .

Don’t forget the giant bluestone Kryal Castle , ‘the land of adventure’, for a little medieval magic, and not just for the kids: get ready for Highland-style feasting, jousting, even overnight stays.