A Vintage Weekend in the Swan Valley – March 2016

It’s that time of year again! The 2016 wines are starting to make their way from vine to bottle and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty good about 2016! Vintage is possibly one of the busiest times of the year for winemakers and winery workers – there is so much going on and it really is a brilliant time to visit a wine region to see everything in action. The Swan Valley is well under way with the 2016 vintage and to celebrate the wineries are putting on a ton of awesome events over the weekend of the 11th, 12th and 13th of March 2016. Check out the full program below and what you can look forward to.

If you keep up with the blog you will know that the Swan Valley started picking the grapes for the 2016 vintage fairly early this year, on the 2nd of January 2016 in fact. And signs are pointing to a pretty good vintage too – which is what us wine drinkers want to hear!

There are a number of events happening over the weekend, here are a few to get your taste buds tingling:

Sittella’s New Wine Bar – The Nest – Opening

I have been closely watching the construction of new wine bar at Sittella and I was super excited to hear it’ll be opening on Sunday 13th of March from 10am-4pm as part of the vintage weekend. The ‘new Sittella style’ will include sharing plates and live music.

Riverbank Food & Wine Experiences

Riverbank Estate have a couple of events happening over the vintage weekend including a ‘Meet the Winemaker Winery Experience’ with a behind the scenes tour including tasting wines straight from the barrel/tank. This event will occur on the 11th,12th and 13th. Plus Riverbank will be holding a not to be missed degustation dinner – the ultimate food and wine matching experience. There is no doubt Riverbank serve up some of the tastiest morsels in the Valley, you definitely won’t be disappointed.

Chilli Festival & Post Vintage Events at Harris Organic

Harris Organic will be celebrating the vintage weekend at the Fremantle Chilli Festival with their tasty chilli infused wine. Harris will also be holding numerous events throughout March including a sundowner on Friday 18th of March, a Breakfast Crush Club on Sunday 20th of March and a Grape Picker’s Lunch on Sunday 20th of March.

Sunriser Wine Experience at Olive Farm Wines

Beat the heat and start off the weekend with an awesome 8-10:30am experience on Saturday 12th of March at Olive Farm Wines. See the grape crushing machine at work and try the freshly crushed grape juice before it becomes wine. You’ll meet winemaker Anthony and team and then enjoy a decadent ‘High Cheese’ morning tea on the deck of The Cheese Barrel. Having joined OFW during a vintage morning in 2013, I can assure you it’s an experience not to be missed!

Twilight Concert at Upper Reach Winery

This is such a brilliant night! if you love going on a picnic, enjoying awesome wine and live music then you must head along to the Twilight Concert at Upper Reach on Saturday 12th of March. Hornography will be playing taking you back to the soul train era and if it’s anything like the Upper Reach Twilight Concert we went to in 2014, everyone will be up dancing by the end of the night!

Paella at Pinelli Estate

Pinelli Estate is one of the closest wineries to the city and if you’re after awesome hospitality then you cannot go past this event. After all the hard work, the winemaking team are inviting us to share an evening of great wine, food and music with them on Saturday 12th of March. There’ll be delicious Paella to chow down on, Pinelli wines to indulge in and classical guitarist Amy Nordsvan to soothe the air.

Demon Frutimer Festival at Pandemonium Estate

The newest cellar door in the Swan Valley, Pandemonium Estate, specialises in Spanish style wines and will be celebrating vintage weekend with a ‘Frutimer Festival’. On Saturday 12th of March enjoy Pandemonium wines with music and Spanish food as you soak in the beautiful views of the Darling Range.

3 Small Wineries Poker Run

Now this is a totally unique event and it involves some of my favourite small wineries in the Swan Valley! On Saturday 12th of March from 11am-4pm Ugly Duckling Wines, Tyler’s Vineyard and Entopia Wines are inviting you to pop in for a tasting. Upon purchasing wines you’ll receive a poker card which will put you in the running for prizes. The more cards you collect and the better your poker hand (ranked by American Poker rules) the better your luck! Who doesn’t love a bit of gambling, especially when wine is involved 😉

For the full list of events over vintage weekend in the Swan Valley please view the PDF here.