Our hand-picked selection of wine and drinks news from Australia and around the world.
Australia’s first ‘circular wine’
Canberra’s Four Winds Vineyard has released Australia’s first ‘circular wine’ in collaboration with the Hyatt Regency Sydney and food waste innovator Goterra.
The initiative sees organic waste from the Hyatt’s kitchens going directly into Goterra’s specially built unit in the hotel’s basement. The size of a single car space, it is filled
with millions of black soldier fly larvae that eat their way through the food scraps, excreting nutrient-rich frass.
Four Winds Vineyard uses the frass to nourish its vines and the resulting wine is returned to the hotel in the form of Four Winds’ Circular Vintage series. The inaugural wine, Four Winds Circular Vintage Shiraz, was poured last month in the Hyatt Regency’s restaurant and lounge bar. A Circular Vintage Riesling will be introduced to hotel patrons in September.
Hyatt Regency Sydney Executive Assistant Manager Nitin Kumar said Four Winds Vineyard stood out as a producer that shared the hotel’s commitment to quality and innovation. The winery won the prestigious Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for its 2023 Shiraz in the 2024 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards.
More than 1000 wines for tasting
Every one of the 1,085 entries in the National Wine Show of Australia will be up for tasting when the National Wine Festival returns to the nation’s capital later this week. The festival offers a rare opportunity to sample the very best wines from across the country all in one place.
Held at Hyatt Hotel Canberra on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 June, the festival’s centrepiece Wine Tasting & Expo provides an opportunity to explore every wine entered in the show, including the top trophy winners, over three hours.
Other festival highlights include curated tasting experiences, the Trophy Presentation dinner at the National Press Club on Thursday 11 and a Terroir Wine Pairing Dinner at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra on Friday 12.
For tickets visit www.nationalwineshow.com.au
Cosy up in Coonawarra
Coonawarra Vignerons are inviting people to slow down, rug up and savour some special food and wine throughout July. Coonawarra Cellar Dwellers is a month-long calendar of tastings, dinners and one-off events with an opportunity to experience some rare and aged treasures.
Among the highlights is the Cellar Dwellers Back Vintage dinner on July 17 where you can taste wines from 15 Coonawarra producers in one location, at Parker Estate. There’s also The Three Stooges on July 11 where Raidis Estate, Patrick of Coonawarra, and Redman Wines will come together at one very entertaining long table dinner.
Cosy up with winter-warming events such as Majella Wines’ Brandy Behind The Scenes (July 17), Parker Estate’s French Pear & Tawny Tart (all July), and Patrick of Coonawarra’s Chocolate & Wine Experience (all July).
Step into a crisp Coonawarra winter evening with Constellations and Cluny at Zema Estate on July 3, where you can enjoy a warming bowl of soup and a glass of Cluny before being guided through the night sky by local astronomy storyteller and photographer Ockert Le Roux. His captivating photography will be on display in the Zema Estate cellar door throughout July.
Download the full program of events here.
Rouge Homme returns home
Meanwhile, one of Coonawarra’s iconic brands, Rouge Homme, has been returned to its original owners. First bottled by the Redman family in 1952, the label grew an Australian and international following for its distinctive Coonawarra wines, including a Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz blend and clarets.
Lindemans bought the winery, label and vineyard in 1965, with the Rouge Homme brand eventually coming under the Treasury Wine Estates umbrella.
Redman Wines, launched in 1966, is still owned by the Redman family, who plan to make a small premium release of Rouge Homme alongside their current line-up. TWE officially handed over the brand in May, with Redman acquiring a small quantity of back vintage wine that came with its purchase.
Raffles’ colonial charm
With rich wood panelling, colourful ceiling frescoes, historic photographs and classic wicker chairs and leather sofas set beneath high French windows and arched colonnades, the Elephant Bar at Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, exudes timeless colonial charm.
The bar boasts an impressive gin collection, with more than 200 labels on offer including the legendary Sipsmith Raffles 1915 and the hotel’s own locally crafted Elephant Bar Gin. Guests can partake in an Elephant Bar Gin Experience offering two hours of unlimited gin cocktails and a gin tasting.
For more than nine decades, the hotel has welcomed luminaries including Charlie Chaplin, Charles de Gaulle and Jacqueline Kennedy, who sipped the first “Femme Fatale” cocktail during her 1967 visit to Phnom Penh. That signature drink remains on the menu today.
