Monday, 23 July 2018

How sweet it is: new wine symposium announced for Margaret River


Australia’s first Sweet Wine Symposium will be in the Margaret River region of Western Australia on October 20-21. 

The event aims to celebrate the diversity of sweeter style wine varieties being produced Down Under. 

The inaugural event will take place at Happs Wines and the launch event will feature 20 sweet wine category stations located throughout the winery for tasting, including sparkling,rosé, Late Harvest and Botrytis styles, as well as port styles, moscato, liqueurs and vermouth. 

A strong contingent of wines from across Australia is expected at the event and the entry cost of $30 for members of the public will include branded glassware, a ‘People's Choice’ vote for each category and variuous prizes. 

Winemakers and marketing experts will hold a masterclass on the Sunday studying the evolution of sweet wines in Australia. The weekend program will be rounded off with sweet wine-paired lunch. 

Happs Wines manager Leah Clearwater says the event is inspired by the need to increase the awareness and acceptance of sweet wines to the wine community.

“Surprisingly, there is no other event like it in Australia yet the enjoyment of sweet wines is celebrated daily around the world," she said. "I believe this will bring sweet-wine-lovers out in numbers and we look forward to joining with other Aussie producers to reveal some of the incredible sweet wines being produced out there.”

Wineries such as De Bortoli, All Saints, Brown Brothers, Gramps, Seppeltsfield and Morris have helped forge Australian’s long and distinguished history in sweet wine production. 

Katherine Brown, assistant winemaker and brand ambassador for Brown Brothers, said: “I think this is a great initiative as we need to ensure that sweet wines are taken seriously. 

"Of course, we can still drink them for the good fun that they are but [consumers need to] understand that it takes a lot of time and skill to make this style of wine."

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