This June we’ll all celebrate the first King’s Birthday public holiday in (most of) our living memory – what better moment to line up a royally good time and make the most of the long weekend with a visit to Heathcote on Show? The region, just an hour out from Melbourne, is pulling out all the stops, with music, fun, festivities, food and of course plenty of tastings of incredible wine and other great local drinks at over 25 different locations over three big days.
Highlights? Where do we start? Wren Estate is all about the Chinese food, doing three courses of Peking duck (duck spring rolls, pancakes and san choi bao), plus char siu and dumplings. Munari Wines is putting on a hootenanny on Saturday night, and is going the extra mile running shuttle buses to and from Bendigo and Heathcote. If you’re feeling hands-on, meanwhile, you can pick your own olives and have them turned into freshly pressed oil before your very eyes at Apulia Grove, or learn how to cure them yourself with a natural ferment.
Wine flows through the whole weekend, whether it’s new releases, treasures pulled from the cool depths of the region’s cellars, or tastings right in the barrel room. The famously red Cambrian soils of Heathcote produce world-beating shiraz, but the region also produces excellent tempranillo, sangiovese, cab sav, petit Verdot, merlot, riesling and viognier. Heathcote on Show is the perfect time to dive deep, too, and seek out the lesser-known delights of the region’s fortified shiraz, its sparkling viognier and more from big-name producers and emerging vignerons alike. And if you’re in the mood for something a little stronger, too, distillers such as Envy and Domaine Asmara have you covered.
Hungry? Good: there’s plenty of good eating waiting for you. Will it be slow-cooked free-range pork with braised fennel, or Tuscan lamb stew with black olives at Heathcote II? Wood-fired pizza at Sanguine Estate, or a porchetta party at Vinea Marson courtesy of celebrated Melbourne ristorante Ladro?
How do you get there? If you’re thinking about making the most of that wine, you’ll be pleased to hear that Heathcote on Show has also sorted out some shuttle buses which will run four routes across 15 of the weekend’s events, designed so you can hop on and off and get in as many tastings as you like, and this is also complemented by a Bendigo to Heathcote on Show express service.
There’s lots going on. How do you make the most of it all? Hope onto the site and book in a few adventures and make a weekend of it, secure yourself a night in one of the region’s best places to stay, sign up for a Rambling Wine Tour, or take advantage of the no-bookings events and rock up on the day and see where your nose takes you. It’s Heathcote on Show: explore, taste and enjoy – you’re going to love it.
Heathcote on Show, King’s Birthday Weekend, 10-12 June 2024, heathcoteonshow.com.au
This piece was produced by MFWF in partnership with Heathcote on Show.