The new executive director of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region, Kerry Treuel, hopes to attract more than 20,000 visitors to the Hills for the three-day event starting on Australia Day, whose numbers were hampered in 2017 due to extreme weather.
“In previous years we’ve had up to 23,000 people so it would be great if we could grow the event to around 25,000 visitors every year and increase interstate and intrastate tourism to the Hills,” Treuel says.
“We’re lucky to have three days for this Crush Festival with it falling on the Australia Day Long Weekend. We’re sticking with the ‘Play it Cool’ theme for another year showcasing the refreshing cool wines that the Adelaide Hills is famous for: Sparkling, Chardonnay, Grüner and the wine of the moment, Rosé.
“One of the best things about the Hills in summer is that it is a few degrees cooler,” she says of the ‘Play it Cool’ theme. “It is nice and shady [up here] and you can get out of the hot concrete jungle of the city. [The theme] matches well with our cool climate wines and refreshing, fun and relaxed attitude we have up here in the Hills.”
To continue with the cool theme, the three-day event (involving more than 30 Adelaide Hills wineries) will feature beach and gelati parties at Glen Ewin Estate and Hahndorf respectively while some of Adelaide’s best chefs will be on the pans for special events. Chefs include Nu (Lantern by Nu), Duncan Welgemoed (Africola), Shannon Fleming (ex-Orana) and Ali Seedsman (ex-Magill Estate).
On the entertainment side and one of the UK’s most respected DJs in Norman Jay will be out for Longview Vineyard’s popular Piece Project and local DJs such as Madness (Bird in Hand) and Driller (Magill Estate) will also be delivering funk, soul and disco tunes perfect for relaxing and drinking in summer.
It is the ticketed events with aforementioned chefs that are the weekend’s most anticipated. Former Orana head chef Shannon Fleming will helm the Hidden Treasures dinner at Ngeringa that will showcase the culinary landscape of the area and Ngeringa wine while Adelaide’s premier Thai chef Nu Suandokmai will match his menu with Shaw + Smith wines at the Balhannah home of the winery and Duncan Welgemoed will join The Lane’s executive chef James Brinklow for an Australia Day long lunch at The Lane.
Crush Festival
Friday, January 26 to Sunday, January 28
crushfestival.com.au
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