18 September 2022

Wine not? Wine Island festival to take over Queen Elizabeth II Island this summer

| Lottie Twyford
woman purchasing a glass of wine

Wine Island will land in Canberra (or should that be float) for the first weekend of December this year. Photo: Supplied.

Dust off your best festival hat and start polishing your wine glasses – a festival dedicated to the great drop is coming to Canberra for the first weekend of December.

The creators of the hugely popular Wine Island in Sydney are bringing their offering to Canberra’s very own Queen Elizabeth II Island in Lake Burley Griffin.

And while this island party won’t require you to rely on your sea legs (or even renew your passport for that matter) to get there, it is set to be a unique celebration of local wines as well as international experiences – Greek Beach Club, anyone?

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That club will offer wines, beer and ouzo from Drink Greek and DJ Charlie Villas will be pumping the tunes out all day long.

Winemakers from regions including the Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale, King Valley, Coonawarra, and Alpine Valley are also slated to attend the festival to share their drops with visitors.

You won’t miss out on your local loves either, with beloved Canberra favourites such as BentSpoke Brewing Co., Lark Hill, Big River Distilling Co., Contentious Character, Sholto Wines, and Mount Majura all on the line-up.

queen Elizabeth island

It’s Queen Elizabeth II Island – but like you’ve never seen it before – the island will transform into a wine festival for one weekend only. Image: Supplied.

But it’s not all about the wine, either.

There will be gourmet food such as cheese and charcuterie platters, tacos, and dessert will be available from Olleyville by Create. Grease Monkey will supply burgers and Olive at Hawker will bring the Mediterranean feast.

Organisers say more will be announced soon.

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Wine education masterclasses will put visitors’ wine detective skills to the test as they’re challenged to work out exactly what drop is on the tip of their tongue (literally).

Spots for these will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Festival organisers have also lined up plenty of other experiences such as yoga, gin master classes with Big River Gin and Pinot & Picasso art classes.

Some of these activities carry additional price tags while the Yoga & Unwined event and wine masterclasses are complimentary.

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VIP guests will be treated to exclusive access to the Oyster bar, the House of Bubbles bar as well as a massage. The latter is on a first-in, first-served basis.

Tickets are limited and start from $75.95 for the five-star package and $198.29 for the seven-star VIP package.

Multiple timeslots of brunch, afternoon and sunset will be open across the weekend.

The first pre-sale for Wine Island and Frontier Touring members opens next Monday (19 September) at midday, followed by general sale on Wednesday, 21 September at midday.

See Wine Island for more information and to book tickets.

Original Article published by Lottie Twyford on Riotact.

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