Taste Great Southern 2015 – Perth Launch Event

As most of you probably know, I fell in love with the Great Southern wine region of WA on my recent trip south (I’m actually still getting through my blog posts from the 4 day trip!) which is why I was extremely excited to be invited to the Perth launch of the IGA Taste Great Southern Festival during the week at The Terrace Hotel in Perth City by the lovely Melissa from Cork & Cheese Marketing & Public Relations.

I wish I could head back to the region to attend some of the fabulous events occurring over the 5 weeks of the Taste festival in Albany, Denmark and surrounds. The Perth launch event was absolutely delectable so if that’s anything to go by, I am sure anyone who can attend the festival will love it! I am definitely going to be spending the next few weeks living through all the #TGS2015 social media posts and no doubt whilst doing that, I’ll be drinking through the wines I brought on my recent trip (keep tuned to my tasting notes on Facebook).
So what was so good about this event? Well… where do I start. There was a wide selection of Great Southern whites and reds to try at the event. Obviously I didn’t have the time, nor stamina to try them all on this particular Thursday night but some of the stand outs for me were:

• Galafrey 2014 Riesling
• Estate 807 2013 Riesling
• Zarephath 2013 Chardonnay
• Shepherd’s Hut 2013 Sauvignon Blanc
• Galafrey 2009 Dry Grown Cabernet Sauvignon
• Castelli 2012 Shiraz

Haha so maybe I did get through a few 😉 You really can’t blame me with quality wines like those though!

To balance out the wine consumption, we were also treated to tasty morsels by some fabulous Great Southern chefs.

Chef Don Hancey was cooking up a storm with Linley Valley pork skewers and sausages, while Chef Kenny McHardy of Due South, Albany was making the most delicious bites to eat with Over the Moon chevre, Bathgate Farm heirloom tomatoes and Eden Gate micro herbs (yes I was that lady who felt a bit like a stalker, I just didn’t want to leave the table as they were truly delicious!) and Chef Peter Manifis of Incontro was frying up the most mouth-watering Esperance Scallops.

It really was the perfect ‘taste’ of the Great Southern. So I thought it would be fun for me to ‘pretend’ I was planning a trip down and choose some events to go too. Here are 6 of the events I would most definitely want to attend if I could (and hey if I win lotto tonight, well I just might be attending them!):

1. Porongurup Wine Festival and One Wok Wonder – Sunday 1^st March
2. Degustation Dinner – 50 Years of Winemaking in the Great Southern – Monday 2nd March
3. Rockcliffe Night Harvest Market – Friday 6th March
4. Degustation Dinner With Todd Stuart, Petite Morte Chef & Matched to Singlefile Wines – Saturday 7^th March
5. Tutored Wine Tasting At Galafrey – Sunday 8^th, 15^th & 22^nd March
6. Black Tie In The Barrel Room – Saturday 21^st March

For a full list of the IGA Taste Great Southern 2015 events please click here and make sure to follow the festival on Facebook and Twitter too!

To see all my other Great Southern blog posts, please click here.