Festival is a great excuse to visit Tasmania this winter

The Dark MOFO festival and the Festival of Voices are compelling reasons to venture to Tasmania this winter, along with a fun rural event that draws huge crowds to the southernmost region of Australia.

The Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival, hosted by cider producers Willie Smith's, is one of  Australia’s most quirky festival experiences launches. 

In the depths of winter and on the chilliest of days, festival-goers will join in waking up winter when the fifth festival runs from July 13-15 at Willie Smith’s Apple Shed, south of Hobart.

The three-day program of pagan-inspired celebration is expected to attract close to 20,000 visitors. 

“It’s an other-worldly event that’s based around the ancient pagan ritual of bringing good luck for the upcoming harvest in the hope of great crop.” explains festival director Sam Reid.

“Last year we had 15,000 people flock to the festival and have such a great time enjoying a perfect melding of irresistible local food, wine, beer and, of course, cider, warming bonfires, mesmerising folk music, dancing and storytelling.” 

Many festivalgoers wear traditional pagan outfits, which involve ‘tatters’, painted faces and top hats, dating back to the 1500s when dancers in the Welsh borders used to dress up and cover their faces so neighbours wouldn’t recognise them as they begged for money on the streets.

The festival starts on the Friday night with a traditional welcome ceremony, produced by Nayri Niara, uniting Aboriginal traditions and contemporary innovations for optimistic action and healing incorporating the burning of a 15-metre-tall effigy to collectively let go of negative energy and make way for the new.

Saturday kicks of with a bang with the giant bonfire and the main event, the traditional ‘wassail’ - the purpose of which is to awake the cider apple trees and to scare away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest of fruit in the Autumn. 

“This is a traditional pagan ceremony originating from the apple growing region of the south-west of England which is celebrated to this day," said Reid. "The focus of the wassail is to wake up the dormant apple trees in the hope of a good harvest in the coming season and signifies the days lengthening and the sun getting stronger as we transition from winter to autumn."

This year the Sunday Family Fun day is ramping up with a range of children’s entertainment including the kids wassail, kids maypole dancing, kids yoga, a secret kids HIDEOUT and flower crown workshops. The day will also feature Sydney children’s band The Vegetable Plot who are touring their new album. 

“The festival has transformed the Huon Valley at a traditionally quiet time and this year we are expecting even more people to come and see what the festival is all about because we have attracted some awesome interstate performers," said Reid.

For more details and ticketing head to the website: www.huonvalleymidwinterfest.com.au/

A spectacular sporting event and world-class food

It is one of the most spectacular settings for a sports event anywhere in the world.

Hong Kong's iconic Central Harbourfront and Victoria Harbour will be hosting over 160 teams from around the world with three days of festivities from June 22-24 to celebrate the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) in conjunction with the Hong Kong China Dragon Boat Association (HKCDBA), will welcome more than 160 teams from around the globe for the ninth festival to be held in Asia's cosmopolitan hub, Hong Kong.

 

Six teams from Australia and New Zealand are among the 4,500 athletes competing in the ninth carnival. 

On-shore entertainment includes a mega party at the Central Harbourfront, featuring an artificial sand beach, allowing spectators to soak up the excitement with sand between their toes. 

Live music performances will take the festivities into the evening, whilst food trucks will serve local delicacies and refreshments.

Additional dragon boat races will be staged in various districts throughout Hong Kong, including Stanley, Tai Po, Sha Tin, Tuen Mun, Sai Kung and Aberdeen, further extending the festive ambience beyond the city. 

Gourmets will be well catered for with rice dumplings called zongzi (above), a traditional delicacy synonymous with the festival and a "must-try".

The traditional method of making rice dumplings involves a sophisticated process of boiling bamboo leaves, pre-soaking glutinous rice, slicing and seasoning pork belly, wrapping and string-tying, and finally steaming the dumplings. Salty and sweet variations are available.

For more information visit www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/see-do/events-festivals/highlight-events/dragon-boat-carnival.jsp

Let's catch the train from London for lunch in Bordeaux

Fancy catching the train from London to Bordeaux, having a quick lunch at the legendary La Tupina, maybe a wine tasting, and then back to England in time for dinner? 

A direct high speed train that would take passengers from London to Bordeaux in under five hours could be in operation by 2020, according to the chief executive of the HS1 rail network, interviewed by Drinks Business.

Anyone travelling by rail from London to Bordeaux at the moment has to change trains in Paris. The London-Bordeaux route takes around 5 1/2 hours and the return journey six hours.

The proposed new direct service would cut journey times to well under five hours in both directions, through a direct route and security controls located in Bordeaux. 

The proposed route bypasses Paris and takes advantage of a newly completed 302-kilometre French high-speed rail line linking the Loire Valley town of Tours with Bordeaux.

“As we’ve seen with the recent introduction of the Eurostar London-Amsterdam service, there’s a real demand for international train services to provide a comfortable and better-connected service, especially for leisure journeys,” said Dyan Crowther, chief executive of HS1 Ltd.

“This is the first time that railway operators have collaborated in this way and saves the train operator having to do a lot of legwork. The route is almost ready for a train operator to turn up and turn the key as soon as the UK and French Governments agree on border controls.

“With the right commitment, we could be looking at new services in the next couple of years. The service will take passengers direct from city centre to city centre, taking the hassle out of travel to south-west France.”

Frankland Estate takes to the road to celebrate 30th birthday

It is 30 years since Judi Cullam and Barrie Smith planted the Isolation Ridge vineyard in what was then the unknown Frankland River wine region in remote Western Australia.



To mark the milestone, the Frankland state team will be doing a string of trade and consumer events around Australia’s capital cities dueing May to unveil several new releases.

Today, of course, while Frankland Estate is one of Australia’s most isolated sites, it has built a global reputation for quality.

The region grows riesling effortlessly well, but shiraz, too, has made a impact and the business is now run by the founders' son Hunter Smith.

The new releases include the Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Vineyard Riesling 2017 ($40), Frankland Estate Poison Hill Vineyard Riesling 2017 ($40), Frankland Estate Smith Cullam Riesling 2017 ($60), Frankland Estate Chardonnay 2016 ($28). Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Vineyard Shiraz 2015 ($40) and Frankland Estate Olmo's Reward 2015 ($85).

These wines and a selection of wines from the past 30 years will be part of trade tasting masterclass events in Melbourne (May 22), Brisbane (May 23) and Sydney (May 29).

There will also be events for Frankophiles club members. See www.franklandestate.com.au.

Two new hotels in one building for downtown Melbourne

The IHG hotel group has announced plans to open a dual-branded Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn in the heart of Melbourne's shopping district. 

IHG plans to open Hotel Indigo Melbourne Little Collins and Holiday Inn Melbourne Bourke Street Mall, in the heart of the CBD, by 2020.

Currently trading as The Walk Arcade, the property will front onto Bourke Street Mall on one side and Little Collins Street on the other. 

The $200 million mixed-use development will include international retail flagship stores and a combined 453-room hotel (181 in Hotel Indigo and 272 in Holiday Inn), which will feature food and beverage outlets, a gym, meeting spaces and a unique guest lobby and room experience for each brand.

 

The development will enjoy shared back-of-house services and facilities.

"This long-term deal means Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn will have presence in the heart of Melbourne CBD for many years to come,” said Abhijay Sandilya, IHG's Senior Director of Development in Australasia. 

Hotel Indigo Melbourne Little Collins is the second Hotel Indigo to be signed in Melbourne and the fourth in Australia, following Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, Sydney's Central Precinct and Melbourne's Docklands.

Holiday Inn Melbourne Bourke Street Mall complements the 16 Holiday Inn hotels already open across Australasia. 

IHG currently has 47 hotels operating under four brands in Australasia, including: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, with another 17 in the pipeline, including Hotel Indigo Brisbane Fortitude Valley and Hotel Indigo Melbourne Docklands.

Tangled up in booze. Now Bob Dylan is selling his "own" bourbon.

Singer-singwriter Bob Dylan, the voice of his generation, is launching his "own" brand of Tennessee whiskey called Heaven’s Door, named after his 1973 hit Knocking on Heaven's Door. 

The 76-year-old singer and Nobel literature laureate has teamed up with whiskey entrepreneur Marc Bushala, who is the co-founder and CEO of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Angel’s Envy, to release his own line of whiskies, set to be released later this month, Drinks Business reports.

The new company has been named Heaven’s Door Spirits and will produce a bourbon, a double barrel whiskey and a straight rye whiskey at a distillery house in a de-consecrated church in Tennessee.

Each bottle will feature Dylan’s distinctive welded iron gates created in his metalworking studio – Black Buffalo Ironworks.

“You don’t always find inspiration,” the singer said in a press release announcing the venture. “Sometimes it finds you. We wanted to create a collection of American whiskeys that would each tell a story.”

Speaking to The Guardian, Bushala defended the singer against claims that the move amounted to “selling out”, with some branding the project a “vanity project”.

Maybe Bob needs the money. As he once said: "People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent."