Horizontal Festival expands its offering

Horizontal Festival has unveiled the full program for its 2026 return to Centennial Vineyards in the New South Wales Southern Highlands. 

The three-day event brings together chefs, winemakers, producers, musicians and makers for a long weekend celebrating the state's food and wine culture.

Running from October 2-4, the spring festival invites guests to move beyond the traditional food and wine festival experience with a program of tastings, conversations, immersive culinary experiences, live music, art and community events set among the vineyards of Bowral.

Named after the wine world's concept of a horizontal tasting, where different wines of the same vintage are explored side by side, Horizontal Festival is built around discovery. 

Throughout the weekend, guests will be encouraged to compare, question and connect, exploring the people, places and stories that shape every glass, every plate and every conversation.

Festival Creator and Director Amanda Fry said this year's program reflects the festival's ambition to create experiences that bring people closer to the food they eat, the wine they drink and the people behind them.

"The idea behind Horizontal Festival has always been simple: slow down, gather together and discover something new," Fry says. "We want people to taste wines they've never tried, meet producers they've never heard of and sit around tables where conversations happen naturally.

"This year's program is our most ambitious yet. It celebrates the extraordinary diversity of New South Wales through food, wine, music and shared experiences, but above all it's about creating moments of connection that people will remember long after the weekend is over."

New to the festival this year is Wine & Conversation, hosted by wine writer Nick Ryan. 

Across the festival hub, more than 80 wineries, distilleries, breweries and artisan producers will attend, including Bimbadgen, Lerida Estate, Dawning Day, Bilpin Cider, Bread & Brewery, Ester Spirits, Millsheds Distillery, Black Gate Distillery and Nine Circles Distillery, alongside gourmet food experiences from Amigos Food Truck, Fire 2 Flare, The Pines Gelato, Artisan Delish Salami, Sacred Sydney Honey, The Oyster Experience, Berry Donut Van and PhycoHealth.

Food luminaries include Matt Moran, Mark Best, Lyndey Milan and Argentine grill master Francis Mallmann. 

Tickets and full details at www.horizontalfestival.com.au 

Where to find global insider tips on where to eat

Tip  

Surely the last thing the world needs in another restaurant app?

Well, yes and no.

World of Mouth has just launched WoM Concierge - a new restaurant discovery tool that aims to help food-loving travellers find restaurants recommended by more than 800 chefs, food writers, restaurateurs and sommeliers around the world.

Instead of relying on anonymous ratings or popularity rankings compiled by diners with dubious tastes, Concierge is deisgned to let users describe what they are looking for and receive recommendations backed by named experts whose taste they can trust.

The expert network includes names such as Albert Adrià, Massimo Bottura, Will Guidara and Ana Roš. Impressive.

It came up a little short when I asked for seafood dining in Hobart, but it did come up with my long-time favourite Juveniles as an option when I asked for a Paris wine bar choice, and it named the excellent Saint Peter for a fish dinner recommendation in Sydney.

World of Mouth boasts that it starts from a different place: the person behind the recommendation
matters.

WoM Concierge is a restaurant discovery chat built on recommendations from more than 800 experts - food writers, chefs, restaurateurs and sommeliers around the world. 

"Twenty years ago, when you landed in a new city, you called the one person who knew where to eat," says Kenneth Nars, creative director and co-founder of World of Mouth. 

"We wanted to re-create that on a global scale. The technology is new, but the behaviour is ancient." 

So ask where to eat pizza in Naples (just about anywhere is the right answer), and the Concierge might point you to 10 Diego Vitagliano - one of Massimo Bottura's favourite pizzerias, and tell you why it stands out. 

Ask for a natural wine bar near Tokyo Station or a traditional spot in Lisbon, and you'll get considered recommendations. 

"Asking WoM Concierge where to eat feels surprisingly personal - it's like asking a chef friend who knows all the best places," says Santiago Lastra, chef patron at KOL in London.

The core idea is simple: some of the world's leading voices in food are now one question away. But looking at bigger cities get better answers right now.

"We've been building our expert community for years, and it's based on a shared mission," says CEO says Saku Tuominen. "We want to give visibility to places that deserve to be seen, not to the ones that pay for it.

"With Concierge, we can now do that in a far more personal and useful way."

At launch, Concierge is free to try in a web browser and works anywhere in the world. Check out www.worldofmouth.app

Australians continue their love affair with Hong Kong

Australian travellers have long had a love affair with Hong Kong - and it shows no signs of ending. 

Australian arrivals to Hong Kong have continued to grow year-on-year with the latest Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) statistics for January-June 2026 showing a 20% lift. 

A total of 267,000 Aussies headed to Honkers. 

January 2026 saw the biggest increase of 32% with 71,000 Australian visitors heading to Hong Kong in that month alone, continuing the momentum of late 2025. 

The Hong Kong Sevens and Easter break saw a strong-performing April with 55,000 Australian travellers; June was also a highlight month for market growth with a 24% jump.

HKTB director for Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific, Karen Macmillan, said: “After seeing a double-digit increase year-on-year in 2025 for Australian and New Zealand visitors to Hong Kong, it’s really pleasing to see this growth continue from such a competitive base.

“Known as ‘Asia’s World City’, Hong Kong’s year-round event calendar, as well as HKTB’s positioning of the destination as a diverse hub for extended stopovers and longer stays, saw overnight arrivals from Australia increase by 17% over the same period, and 11% from New Zealand.

“Hong Kong is already known for its world-class dining, shopping and accommodating offering, but we’ve also been working to communicate its breadth of outdoor experiences such as hiking trails and island hopping, as well as its incredible cultural offering and unique festivals.” 

Globally, HKTB registered a year-on-year increase of 13%, with 26.7 million visitors for the first half of 2026.

To stay updated on what’s happening in Hong Kong, visit www.discoverhongkong.com

Image: Victoria Harbour Sunset, John Huang

Meet an in-depth guide to the Tasmanian wine industry

Want to know more about wines from Tasmania and the people who make them?

Who better as your guide than wine writer Mark Smith, who has been covering Tasmania and its producers for over 30 years.

Smith has recently launched his impressive labour of love wineintasmania.com, which is full of useful info for both serious wine lovers and those with a casual interest.

Smith says he was motivated to launch the free website by the increasing number of wine producers on the island, and the growing interest.

"I figured that if it’s getting hard for me to keep up with Tassie developments, it must be hard for media and industry folks more generally who are trying to keep up with the industry," Smith says.

"The industry has expanded so rapidly of late that few people have been able to keep up, even within the business."

So if you want to know the history of Small Wonder, or where Sailor Seeks Horse comes from then wineintasmania.com delivers.

Good news: The site has nothing to do with selling wine. No ads, endorsements, product placements, subscriptions.

The site features more than 450 pages of content and covers more than 180 Tasmanian wine producers.

For the more serious, there is site specific climate data for single vineyards, news/back stories about what’s going on at the moment and plenty of archival material, including vintage reports.

The site is fully navigable with a search box in the nav bar.

Want to know about Tasmania's only/first gruner veltliner, baco noir or chenin blanc? You'll find the info here.

There is still work to do. As Smith explains: "With 3rd and 4th generation ownership of vineyards, very few know the full story about how their vineyard came into being and evolved."

Still to come: distributor details, an events calendar, vineyard map locations and more.

I know that this is a site I will be referring to an a regular basis. Well worth bookmarking.  

Image: Mark Smith

Relais & Châteaux adds new members around the globe

In many parts of the world Relais & Châteaux is the "go to" guide for elegant accommodation.

The hospitality collection has just expanded its global portfolio with the addition of 10 new hotels, restaurants and a traditional Japanese ryokan in destinations across Europe, North America and Asia.

It says the latest members "reflect the association’s continued focus on exceptional hospitality, regional gastronomy and cultural heritage".The new additions span Portugal, France, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, Japan, Mexico and the US, news hub Travel Mole reports.

“Our association is committed to helping build a more respectful and sustainable world through hospitality and gastronomy,” said Laurent Gardinier, president of Relais & Châteaux. “It is an honour to welcome these new members, who share our values and passion for excellence.“

Among the newcomers is Verride Palácio de Santa Catarina (top image), in Lisbon, an 18-room boutique hotel housed in a restored 18th-century palace overlooking the Tagus River in the centre of the lovely Portuguese capital.

France gains two new members. La Maison des Cimes in Malbuisson is to open next month. It features eight guestrooms overlooking Lake Saint-Point with chef Matthias Marc returning to his native Jura region.

Megève Bois, meanwhile, offers an intimate alpine retreat with 13 rooms and suites, two restaurants, an extensive wine cellar and a mountain-inspired wellness spa.

Italy welcomes two additions. Masseria Aura Terrae in Puglia occupies an 18th-century estate surrounded by vineyards and olive groves overlooking the Adriatic Sea, while in Abruzzo, Relais Villa Corallo combines an 11-room country house with the Michelin-starred Zunica 1880 restaurant.

In Mexico City, the Quintonil Restaurant joins the collection while Japan’s historic Hiiragiya ryokan in Kyoto also becomes part of Relais & Châteaux. Family-owned since 1818, the 23-room property offers traditional kaiseki dining, tatami accommodations and authentic Japanese hospitality.

Other new members include Villa Florhof in Zurich, a restored 15th-century boutique hotel operated under the Lalique brand; Wilderness Reserve in Suffolk, England, offering luxury countryside villas, and The Nell New York, a 134-room luxury hotel scheduled to open in autumn 2027 at Rockefeller Plaza.

* Founded in 1954 in France, Relais & Chateaux is an international collection of independently owned luxury hotels and restaurants that now represents close to 600 properties across over 50 countries.

Vietnam gets set to open new international airport

Anyone flying into Ho Chi Minh City from December 1 might find themselves landing at a brand new airport.

Vietnamese authorities are preparing to open Long Thanh International Airport on December 1. 

This will set the stage for a gradual transfer of most international flights from Ho Chi Minh City’s overloaded Tan Son Nhat Airport, news hub Travel Mole reports.

The US$12.8 billion project is the largest and most expensive airport development in Vietnam’s history.

Located some 40km east of Ho Chi Minh City CBD in Dong Nai Province, Long Thanh is expected to become the country’s primary international gateway. 

State-owned Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), which is developing the airport, aims to establish Long Thanh as a regional transit hub capable of attracting long-haul connecting traffic that currently flows through airports such as Singapore Changi, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Kuala Lumpur International.

The airport will accommodate 25 million passengers annually during its first phase, with future expansions eventually increasing capacity to 100 million passengers per year. 

The first phase is primarily intended to relieve congestion at Tan Son Nhat Airport, which has operated beyond its designed capacity for years.

ACV has proposed a three-stage transition plan that would move more than 90% of Ho Chi Minh City’s international passenger traffic to Long Thanh in 2027.

From December, the airport will handle all long-haul international services, cargo operations, newly launched international routes and additional frequencies. 

Domestic operations will continue primarily from Tan Son Nhat.