Good Food & Wine Show – Perth 2017

It’s been a number of years since I’ve been to the Good Food & Wine Show (GFWS), 4 years in fact. It’s that festival that’s notorious for being extremely crowded (on the Saturday) and used as a pre-drinking spot before heading to town. However with a bit of patience and a plan of attack, you’re bound to have an awesome time!

We were lucky enough to win tickets through Fifth Estate who were running a number of competitions in the lead up to the event. This year we decided to attend the Friday night session (5:30pm-9:30pm). Despite the line to get in, it was actually not too hectic inside. As it’s the shortest session over the weekend, only 4 hours, it means we were limited as to what we could taste and do however Mr. Spittoon and I still came across a number of gems I wanted to share with you in case you go along today or tomorrow. Or if you get the chance to try them outside the show of course!

Glass that Glitters

Now please note you can BYO glass to the event or you can buy your normal stumpy tasting glass for $6 (not advised), a Riedel glass for $15 OR you can glitz up your day (and the conversation around you!) with a glass from the lovely Lara at Glass that Glitters. She’s at stand H35 which is pretty much straight ahead at the back to the left. If you head here first you can grab possibly the most talked about glass of the day.

Mr. Spittoon’s ‘I don’t give a sip’ wine tumbler and my hot glittery pink wine glass were the talks of the show on Friday night! A massive thanks to Lara for equipping us with her hand-made works of wine-tasting-art. Prices start at only $15.

Vinomofo

You won’t miss the Vinomofo stand, it kicks off the wine section (which is to the right as you walk in) of the show with a bit of a laugh and ‘scream’!

Yep that’s right folks they are giving out free samples of wine ice cream or as they like to call it ‘wine-scream’. The Riesling Sorbet was delicious but it wasn’t as wine-y as other wine Sorbet I’ve had. The highlight for both Mr. Spittoon and myself was definitely the Orgy GSM red wine ice cream. Oh my it was good, and I totally scoffed it, giving Mr. Spittoon only the tiniest of tastes… oops!

Check out the pic of Vinomofo wine-scream here.

Schild Estate

This was a fantastic way to kick off our tasting on the night. We did a full tasting of the entire range with Judy Schild who runs the business with her family. What an experience it was! We heard all about the inception of the brand to the story behind the labels and had in-depth discussions about all the wines. I was in wine geek heaven – not to mention, I’ve fallen mouth over glass for this range. Superb wines, wonderful people and I am shortly about to crack one of the bottles of sparkling Shiraz we bought from them. Or as Judy put it ‘Barossa Berocca’ as apparently it’s great any time of day and is the ultimate pick-me-up.

Judy will be doing an in-store tasting next Friday at Your Shout Liquor on Guildford Road in Mt Lawley so if you miss out at the show you can always catch her there or buy Schild Estate wines there alongside a number of independent liquor outlets in Perth – look out for the labels, they are quite distinctive after all!

Freehand Wines

We only saw Freehand Wines a couple of months ago at the Albany Wine & Food Festival. However I heard there were some new releases so we stopped by to see Matt and Dani who run Freehand. Firstly their stall is a work of art with graffitied wine barrels, a gorgeous wood tasting bench and even arty skateboards – so many colours!

Freehand are organic and preservative free so definitely one to try if you’re trying to avoid preservatives and such. It was the Pink Pet Nat that had my tongue wagging – this gorgeous pinky-red slightly bubbly tipple was simply oozing flavours of raspberries and herbs for me. Definitely one to try! The cane-cut dessert wine also went down a treat.

Fifth Estate

Of course we had to pop by Fifth Estate to say thanks for our tickets and to revisit the much-loved Chardy and Sparkling Shiraz which I seem to taste every time I see them! Just to remind my palate how good they are of course!

Fifth Estate have just released their 2017 Rosé so we made a point of trying this and naturally ended up walking away with a bottle for $19. Stay tuned for my tasting note!

Zarephath

Another Great Southern favourite which I’ll be sure to visit on our next trip south. I am so eager to explore the Porongurups as unfortunately on our last trip we didn’t have the time. The Chardy and Rosé from Zarephath went down an absolute treat last night!

Latitude 34 Wine Co

Again another familiar wine face! I simply loved how these guys were pouring their tastings out of magical looking barrels in the sides of their stand. Unique touch!

It was the St John Brooks 2014 Margaret River Chardonnay that had me weak at the knees. These guys won’t be exhibiting on Sunday as it’s company policy to not work on Sunday’s – you’ve gotta love that company rule!

Angove Wines

It’d be rude not to have a sip of Mclaren Vale while they were in Perth right? Firstly the Angove guy we chatted to on the stand was super lovely, and unlike some of the exhibitors who were obviously very tired from a long day (aka were a bit grumpy) he was upbeat and not judgy (i.e. thinking we just wanted to get absolutely sloshed off his wines which was also an impression I got from a few exhibitors). It was the Wild Olive Organic 2016 Chardonnay which I loved from these guys.

Big Easy Radio Wines

It’s hard not to miss this stand! They have some sweet tunes playing, a guy that looks a little bit like Zach Galifianakis (check out the third pic below) and some interesting wines. Big Easy Radio is a new  name on the scene which has come to fruition thanks to Justin Lane (Alpha Box & Dice) and winemaker Matt Head. Definitely worth a taste!

The Food

Surprisingly for us, we actually made time to sit down and have some food. Actually let me correct that – stand up and try to eat without getting it all over ourselves. It’s a bit of a shame there wasn’t some random seating around the place. But not to worry, we still really enjoyed our pizza from 400 Gradi, pies from Boscastle (they are always a highlight and their tag line is 100% correct – “Seriously Good Pies”) and our curry-wurst and cheese-kranski from Andy’s Bratwurst Hut was the perfect way to end the night!

All up we enjoyed the evening, but we definitely found the short Friday night session a bit too short as I would have loved to of tasted and chatted to more of the winos there! Not to worry, there is always next year!

Did you go to the show? What were your highlights?