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 

Major milestone for Australia's original wine and gourmet celebration

It was Australia's first food and wine festival: and many would say it remains the benchmark. 

The Clare Valley SCA Gourmet Week - held in one of Australia's most beautiful wine regions - is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and has announced its 2024 program, which features more than 85 events,

The 10-day festival can be enjoyed in three parts; Festival Weekend (May 17-19), Breathe It In (May 20-24) and Land of the Long Lunch (May 25-26) and kicks off with new events, including Fire and Wines at Skillogalee Estate with Africola ace Duncan Welgemoed cooking over fire. 

Another debutant is Sip, Savour, Celebrate: A Homage to 40 Years of Clare Valley Gourmet at Pikes Wines’ Slate Restaurant - a culinary journey over five courses and a walk down memory lane with a re-creation of dishes over the four decades of Gourmet. 

The official 50th birthday party for Knappstein Wines will be the VinoVibe Fest, which will include a fusion of flavours, melodies and festive good times. 

Guests can round out each day with The Sailing Club – the Unofficial Afterparty at the Clare Showgrounds. 

The team from Mitchell Wines (above) will be marking their 50th birthday during the event. 

Crowd favourites returning including the Cellars without Doors Degustation Dinner on the Friday night, where wines from winemakers who do not have cellar doors are matched with a six-course degustation dinner by state Chef of the Year Nicola Palmer at the stunning Watervale Hotel. 

Many of the region’s favourite cellar doors will open in collaboration with pop-up restaurants, food vans and live music with shuttle buses operating on constant loops, linking the valley over the weekends.

At the Sevenhill Cellars' new event space, winemaker Will Shields will showcase 2024 vintage samples while guests sitting around a campfire. 

Shiraz will star at Explore Kilikanoon Shiraz, where guests can compare different bottles of shiraz across the Kilikanoon range. 

Returning to the program is Wines by KT Clare Valley Gourmet Sips From the Cellar, which will feature tastings of museum wine flights as well as current release wines.

The event wraps up with The Land of the Long Lunch, featuring events in both unique locations and well-loved venues. 

Some of Clare’s most celebrated Clare Valley “wine industry” women, Ali Paulett, Kerri Thompson and Marnie Roberts, will host a tasting matched with light plates to highlight the diversity of people, wine and the Clare Valley environment at Navigating Diversity. 

Gourmet ambassador Nick Ryan - one of Australia’s leading wine writers - said the festival is the original and the best.

“I spend my life travelling to the greatest wine regions across the globe, and there is only one that I choose to call home," he said. 

"The Clare Valley is quintessentially Australian and a special part of the world. The wineries here consistently deliver phenomenal wine and Gourmet Week is a great opportunity to experience everything this region has to offer, and I can guarantee you will have a great time doing it.” 

# To mark the 40th anniversary, a special Clare Valley Wine Hall of Fame Gala Dinner and Awards Presentation will be held at O’Leary Walker Wines on the evening of Friday, May 24. 

Clare Valley SCA Gourmet Week is presented by the Clare Valley Wine & Grape Association and sponsored by Southern Cross Austereo. 

For details see clarevalleygourmet.com.au. 

Images: Matt Turner images