Man from Cambridge Road talking about his wines to a crowdI like any event centered around wine, so I’m really excited about Bud­burst, com­ing up on Novem­ber 11 – the country’s only nat­ur­al wine fest­iv­al.

Nat­ur­al wines, you say? What exactly does that mean? Well let’s cut’n paste from the press release

His­tor­ic­ally, the term nat­ur­al wine is without a single defin­i­tion. For the Bud­burst nat­ur­al wine fest­iv­al we con­sol­id­ated a series of gen­er­ally held  cri­ter­ia includ­ing hand har­vest­ing of organ­ic­ally or bio­dy­nam­ic­ally grown grapes and lim­ited inter­ven­tions in the winery – wild fer­ment­a­tion, min­im­al use of new oak, restric­tions on the per­mit­ted total sul­fur and strict guidelines on addi­tions, fin­ing and fil­tra­tion are all included in our fest­iv­al stand­ards. Leav­ing as much as pos­sible to nature is the key.

One ques­tion a lot of nat­ur­al wine pro­du­cers get asked (nor­mally by me, three glasses in) is if not using sul­phur means no hangover. It does not mean no hangover. Don’t ask that ques­tion. But DO ask oth­er ques­tions! The event is all about learn­ing. From the press release again:
The pro­du­cers who come along and the wines they show all sub­scribe to five main prin­ciples:

  • Wine starts in the vine­yard: The fest­iv­al organ­isers believe that nat­ur­al wine can­not be made from  con­ven­tion­ally farmed fruit so requires all par­ti­cip­at­ing pro­du­cers to veri­fy that they grow their grapes organ­ic­ally or bio­dy­nam­ic­ally

  • Let the time and place shine through: In the winery, they ask for min­im­al inter­ven­tion, let­ting the qual­ity of the fruit, site and sea­son speak for them­selves. Min­im­al inter­ven­tion cov­ers all aspects of the wine­mak­ing pro­cess so these wines are all vegan, for example.

  • Nat­ur­ally deli­cious: We love deli­cious, well-made wines. Weird for weird’s sake is not our bag, the wine also has to be good. Nat­ur­al is the philo­sophy, qual­ity is the aim.

  • Always learn­ing, always curi­ous: Edu­ca­tion is at the heart of everything they do, the fest­iv­al is designed to pique your curi­os­ity

  • It’s all for the love of wine: Bud­burst is a not-for-profit fest­iv­al run by a pas­sion­ate group of volun­teers

What this might mean in your glass is that things might be tangi­er than you’re used to. They may be a little cloudy. Your wines might taste even a little like ciders. There’ll def­in­itely be orange wine – no, that’s not wine made from oranges. Don’t worry - the pro­gramme includes book­able mas­ter classes so you can learn all about it.

The great thing about Bud­burst is that all tastes are included in your $50 entry fee. This means you can try all kinds of things and get some new favour­ites. Egmont Street Eat­ery is doing the cater­ing, but I strongly advise mak­ing sure you have a sol­id meal before­hand, and don’t be afraid to tip out wines you don’t like. I mean, don’t be a jerk about it, but wine makers know that not everything is to every­one’s tastes, and that you might want to be sens­ible with your tast­ings.

Here’s their video from 2016 so you can get a feel for things.

https://youtu.be/M‑xJBFS-hLY

Now remem­ber how I said we have a giveaway? I asked Bud­burst if we could give away some tick­ets, and they very kindly gave me a double pass worth $100 to give away. We’ll keep it pretty simple – all you gotta do is be over 18, of course, and leave us a com­ment say­ing what your favour­ite wine is, and why. Get your com­ment in by 5pm Wed­nes­day Septem­ber 26.