ONE of the main regional events of this year’s Melbourne Food and Wine Festival will be ‘The Village Feast’ at The Glade, right in the centre of Inverloch on Saturday, November 18.
And it’s set to be “an absolute ripper”, according to one of the local contributors, Marcus Satchell, of Dirty Three Wines.
“Yeah, it’s pretty exciting, fantastic for the town and for the whole region. They’ve had a couple of them before, at Jindivick and Thorpdale, which have been really building up,” said Marcus.
“But I think they’re ready to take it to the next level now, with the added attraction of Inverloch, that we’ve got the accommodation that can handle a crowd.
“And going by the activity on social media, everyone is really jumping on.”
Dirty Three Wines will have a bar set up at The Glade, while their cellar door in Cashin Street will also be open all weekend. And they’ve got a new wine they’ve just launched, called ‘Magic Dirt’, shaping up as a superb Pinot from a specially selected location at Corinella.
They’ll be one of a number of local producers included in The Village Feast, a fenced off, ticketed event for visitors to come and graze around on the magnificent food, wine, creese and other produce on offer while enjoying demonstrations and meet/greets with some of the giants in the state’s culinary sector.
The Cook Up’s Adam Liaw leads the charge of personalities getting together to make the deliciousness.
He’s teaming up with chef Thi Le of Anchovy, Jeow and Ca Com fame.
Paul Carmichael, the culinary wizard who led Momofuku Seiobo’s celebration of Caribbean food to world acclaim, is working with local-boy-made-good Nick Mahlook and his Sodafish crew, author.
MasterChef winner and patissiere extraordinaire Emelia Jackson is joining forces with social network sensation that is The Invy Baker.
Little Picket legend Jo Barrett is working with the Hogget team, Mod Dining chef Clayton Wells is collaborating with Paynesville heroes Sardine Dining, there’s a meeting of town and country pizza thought-leaders in the form of Leonardo’s team-up with Trulli, as well as taco action from Raph Rashid and the Taco Truck with special guests Ricos Tacos, plus Gippsland Jersey rocking ice-cream sundaes and more, you’ll have fine Gippsland cheese from Udder & Hoe, and, for all your cacao-related needs, Cuvée Chocolate.
Phew… can you keep up?
Catch them on the pans across 10 food stalls, or talking shop, up close, personal and informal, in the Chef Shack, hosted by The Seasoned Traveller herself, Sofia Levin.
And drinks?
Drinks? They’ve got you covered. There are seven festival bars, run by leading producers Patrick Sullivan and William Downie, Momento Mori and Bandicoot Run, Dirty Three Wines, Sailors Grave, Good Land Brewing, Gurneys Cider and Loch Brewery and Distillery, and if that isn’t dazzling enough there’s another 14 top-drawer winemakers offering free tastings at the Wine Gippsland Cellar.
If you want to get a little more structured in your drinks learning, there’s chats in the Drinks Shack, hosted by Dan Sims and Shanteh Wale, and all the drinks are available to buy so you can load up your cellar for the summer silly season ahead.
Things to see and do
Bands, DJs and sea shanty singalongs provide the soundtrack, while The Village Market is the place to go if you want to buy local produce, gifts and artisanal wares. Painter Lucy Hersey's popular art workshops are back, while the new Kids’ Zone is dedicated to activities and games for the younger enthusiasts, with cupcake decorating, sandcastle-making competitions plus the ever-irresistible face-painting.
Playing live at the Village Feast
- Alex Lloyd
- Kim Churchill
- Cool Out Sun
- Maddy May
- Invy Horn Jam
- Ozone
Make a weekend of it
For those who are making a weekend of it, there’s plenty to do on Friday night, through into Sunday; whether it’s wine, cheese and music with William Downie and Rachel Needoba at Guendulain Farm, a Georgian feast with Gray & Gray and Momento Mori at The Borough, blending pinot with Fleet Wines at their new cellar door or a Gippsland cheese and dairy masterclass hosted by Mould Cheese at the Kongwak Butter Factory.
You can kick on at Dirty Three Wines on Sunday where they’ll have laid-back music, food by Trulli and of course, Lisa Sartori and Marcus Satchell with a great selection of their wines.
Follow this link for details and tickets: Melbourne Food and Wine