2012 Cellar Door Wine Festival sets new records

The second Cellar Door Wine Festival has set new records with more than 6500 visitors attending and 153 wineries showcasing their wines to the public during the 3-day Festival (February 24 - 26) at the Adelaide Convention Centre (ACC).

Visitor numbers increased by 30 percent compared to last year’s inaugural Festival and participating wineries increased by over 40 percent.
 
In response, the ACC increased the footprint of the Festival by an additional 2,000 square metres to accommodate the growing numbers.
 
More than 30,000 bottles of wine were either consumed for tastings or sold over the counter to visitors during the Festival. Wineries also reported a significant number of orders were placed for home delivery.
 
ACC Exhibition Manager Alex Tietgen said the Cellar Door Wine Festival received strong support from locals but has also been embraced a growing number of interstate visitors.
 
“Hosting the Festival as part of the annual Adelaide Fringe is certainly creating additional traction and it nicely complements other artistic and cultural events being held in the city during this time.”
 
“There’s nothing like the Cellar Door Wine Festival in Australia and we’ve created a unique event which will continue to be hosted in Adelaide but attract people from across the country, said Ms Tietgen.
 
“The Festival makes it easy for people to sample the best of SA wine and local produce including many boutique producers that don’t have a traditional cellar door and therefore don’t normally enjoy this level of exposure.
 
“The Festival is very entertaining, but it’s also about giving people a high-level, informed wine experience.”
 
“An exciting component of the festival is the mix of smaller wine producers alongside famous and well known brands.”

 During the Festival a series of 22 Food and Wine Master Classes also were held with all tickets selling out and more than 660 people attending.
 
The Regional Farmers Market also increased its presence at the Festival with boutique food as well as beer and cider producers showcasing their products.
 
Digital and Social Media were used as new marketing tools during the weeks leading up to the Festival with a dedicated website, digital campaigns, Facebook and Twitter pages. A projected TwitterFall was also used in the Festival itself so all visitors could see, respond and interact on site.
 
The Cellar Door Wine Festival hashtag (#cdwf) was used in almost than 1,500 separate tweets during the event and became a top 10 trending tweet in Adelaide for the weekend. Tweets mentioning the Festival reached over 98,000 people on Twitter with over one million impressions.
 
This year’s Cellar Door Wine Festival was also part of a new Fringe hub in the West End - The Big Slapple.
 
The Big Slapple is hosted on the banks of the River Torrens at the Adelaide Convention Centre throughout the Fringe and brings together Fringe acts, nightly free entertainment, food and wine and local art. For more information on The Big Slapple please visit www.thebigslapple.com
 
For more information on the Cellar Door Wine Festival please visit www.cellardoorfestival.com

ISSUED BY HUGHES PUBLIC RELATIONS: Please contact Simon Hatcher on (08) 8412 4100 or simon@hughespr.com.au