The Rosé Rumble and Shiraz Showdown (as voted by you!) edition of the Adelaide Wine Markets was held on Saturday at the Freemasons Hall. If you’re a wine lover, or simply would like to know more about the types of wine that you enjoy, then the Adelaide Wine Markets is definitely for you. During the evening, couples, friends, mothers and daughters and first daters strolled between the stalls hosted by some of our state’s best wine producers sampling the competition wines. The winners of the competition were the Arno Wine Co Rose and the Lienert Shiraz. The winners of life were those in attendance because it really was a lovely, well planned evening with great food, drink and entertainment. Big tick!

MAAN Wines (runner up for the rosé and shiraz competition) hosted a ‘wine master class’ which we couldn’t miss out on (tickets for the class were $25). During the master class, the men from MAAN wines introduced us to a few of their friends. One was a Flirty MAAN (fiano), one was a Sailor MAAN (rosé) and my favourite was the Handy MAAN which was a delightful GSM. During the class we tried several wines from the MAAN collection as well as their apple cider. I adore a winery made apple cider as they’re generally less sweet and taste more like real apples and this one was no exception! The host educated the class on wine making processes (fact: apparently stressed vines produce sweeter grapes) and gave us hints and tips for what to look for in each glass.

There really are few things better than hunks of glorious cheese to accompany a wine tasting. To make the class even more enjoyable, Cheese-A-Holics provided us with platters for two. The standout cheese on the board was the Snowdonia cheddar with crystallised ginger imported all the way from Wales (fact: the Welsh cows reportedly fill their four tummies with wild flowers). It was sweet, spicy, totally unexpected and all around wonderful. If you’re looking for a point of difference on your cheese platters, this is definitely one to try!

Outside of the class, we found some new favourite drops (and great gifts). We were magnetically attracted to the Grancari of McLaren Vale certified organic wine stall. Having tried everything on offer (twice) we went home with a couple of bottles of their fantastic sparkling grenache (one for mum and one for me!).

Apparently sparkling red wine is a very Australian creation and is practically non-existent overseas (fact: word on the vine is that California is now adopting this bubbly and well chilled stroke of genius).
Another standout producer was the Henley Wine Co, McLaren Vale purveyors of natural shiraz. This group of four wine lovers started making natural wine for their personal enjoyment. Their friends, family and then their wider network were pestering them to buy bottles and so they were forced to make more and more. Their natural wine is sulphate and preservative free and is not fined or filtered. Whilst being better for the insides, it was also wonderful for the pallet. A couple of bottles of their fruitier 2018 shiraz found its way into my bag for enjoyment at a later date (one for dad and one for me!).

With the many points of reference that the Adelaide Wine Markets offers it’s easy to find yourself on the way to becoming a wine connoisseur (or at least inebriated and maybe a little overconfident in your use of descriptors…). The Adelaide Wine Markets are held every couple of months (keep up to date via social media) and are a great opportunity to get to know your own tastes a little bit better. See you at the next one!

Words by Vanessa De Chellis