RESTRUCTURING of the Orange Wine Festival timetable and boosts to marketing have drawn in a specialist Sydney crowd that festival organisers crave, according to FOOD Week president James Sweetapple.
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This year’s festival was launched with the Orange Wine Show trophy dinner held at Phillip Shaw winery last Friday night. This was followed by the tasting and masterclass night on Saturday, which Mr Sweetapple said attracted over 370 people.
“Sixty to 70 per cent were out-of-towners. It’s a boost to regional tourism and that’s what we want,” he said.
“The people I speak to are having a positive experience with Orange.
“It’s quite a younger crowd and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.”
He said the program tweak of having the trophy dinner on Friday instead of Thursday and the tasting on Saturday made it easier for tourists and those in the industry.
“In the past you’d go home and have a shower and a shave and get into your suits and frocks after the tastings in order to get to the dinner,” he said. “This way it absolutely gets a lot more Sydney people to come to the tastings.”
He said having the patronage from Sydney consumers was important, as it set a standard for the local wine industry.
“Someone tells someone and they tell someone else ... it might be 10 months until they come, but they do visit, and every business benefits,” Mr Sweetapple said.
He said 90 per cent of cellar doors, including his own Cargo Road winery, were opening throughout the week when they normally wouldn’t to complement the activities that run before the main events, Wine in the Vines on Saturday and the night markets on Friday, October 30.
