We have a lot of wine events in Adelaide, as we are the wine state and boy we like to day drink.
For the most part, wine events fall into the following categories:
- The Shiraz-heavy baby-boomer fest, where your palate is spent after tasting two wines and you can’t smell anything anyway because the air is thick with the pungent aroma of old-lady-perfume (seriously is there an age where you start to think ‘I want people to smell me coming from at least a block away’??).
- The big old booze fest, where the excuse of day drinking because it is a ‘tasting’ usually becomes redundant because you are wasted an hour in and could probably drink the contents of a spittoon and have no idea. Guaranteed throughout the day to see at least one punch up, and at least one girl fall ass-over-tits (that person is often me so no judgement).
However, The Fruitful Pursuit is in a brand new category: the hipster’s paradise, the blending of knowledge, drinking and quality graphic design. This is the event where it is perfectly acceptable to be a little looser than what is generally socially acceptable, as long as you are really into what you are drinking and you can explain why.
Now, the term hipster usually brings up images of someone who cant afford to buy a house because of a daily avo-on-toast-addiction, but that’s not really why I am using it. What it means to me is the boundary pushers, the youth-orientated producers that redefine what it is to drink wine. They shun rules, they treat taste as an art and they have the passion to back it up.
Spread across all three levels of The Henry Austin and spilling out in the carpark (yes there is a carpark), The Fruitful Pursuit Autumn ’17 event featured 24 innovative winemakers from across Australia, in addition to cheese, gin, vermouth, chocolate and coffee producers.
A series of master classes and open forums were conducted during the day for those who need a bit more schooling to justify the day drinking. We attended the chocolate and wine pairing masterclass featuring Steven ter Horst chocolates made with wine from Mt Gambier’s Good Intentions Wine Co. and Sanglier Wines. Steven’s chocolates speak for themselves, glossy at to look at with that snap of quality at first bite, transitioning to melt-in-your-mouth creaminess. The addition of the wines in the recipe, and then matched wines to complement each individual chocolate was executed flawlessly. This masterclass left us feeling lightheaded and not just from the wine.
There were so many producers to try with each tasting was accompanied by a full backstory and rundown of production methods.
Here are a few of my highlights from the rest of the day:
Section 28 Artisan Cheeses (SA)
These guys make some seriously fantastic, Italian style hard cheeses. With most artisanal cheese producers favouring the soft varietals, it is nice to see a really good, locally made hard cheese.
Clo Wines (NSW)
This producer is from Tumbarumba (how fun is that to say). I am honestly not a rosé person, for me rosé is not for all day, it is for no day. This producer came close to changing my mind. The rosé was a blend of pinot gris and pinot meuniere, and was acidic, tannic and completely devoid of that usual candied/floral/this will give you a hangover smell that rosés usually have.
Ephermera (VIC)
Located in the Mornington Peninsular, this winery was a little more sophisticated than others on the day. Producing a polished product in clean and chic packaging, their 2016 Chardonnay was a standout, showing age beyond it’s years. Beautifully polished, lightly oaked, it was actually amazing.
If you are sad that you missed out on The Fruitful Pursiut’s Autumn ’17 event, don’t stress. City-based events like these are organised on a seasonal basis, with the odd few in-between. Those in the know will have already been on one of their legendary wine tours however, taking intimate groups of people to little-known, but revolutionary wineries all over SA. These events are held every couple of weeks and sell out quickly, so make sure you like The Fruitful Pursuit on Facebook to keep up to date with all their events and happenings. Until then, brush up on your wine vernacular and embrace The Fruitful Pursuit for what it truly is: a celebration of drinkable art.