Cellar Door Wine Festival win two national awards for excellence

The Cellar Door Wine Festival, established and run by the Adelaide Convention Centre (ACC), to showcase the best South Australian wines and local produce to visitors, has been recognised with two national awards for excellence by the Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia (EEAA).

The Festival was announced as the winner of the Best Consumer Show under 10,000 square metres and overall winner of the best Australian Show at the Association’s annual awards ceremony, held last night in Melbourne.

The awards follow the Festival recently being shortlisted for a national tourism award after it won the 2012 South Australian Tourism Award (SATA) in the Festival and Events category.

In 2012, the Festival which is only in its second year, attracted more than 6,500 visitors, and provided an opportunity for visitors to sample free tastings from 150+ wineries across 12 iconic South Australian regions, and all under one roof in the heart of Adelaide.

Managed by the ACC, the Festival is now the largest consumer wine event in the country, showcasing two of South Australia’s key tourism drawcards – premium wine and food.

Adelaide Convention Centre Chief Executive Alec Gilbert said the awards are well deserved recognition for the hard working team at the Adelaide Convention Centre who came up with the idea for the Festival and who’ve managed it so well.

“The concept for the Festival came about when discussing ideas to maximise occupancy at the Centre, particularly during periods like January and February where the conference industry tends to slow down,” said Mr Gilbert.

“This has led the Centre to creating the Cellar Door Wine Festival and The Big Slapple - an official Adelaide Fringe Festival event which next year will feature 53 performances by 17 artists in two specially created venues within the Centre.”

“Originally, we tried to find an event management company to run the Cellar Door Wine Festival or to share the risk with us but couldn’t find anyone willing or able to take on the event and decided to run it ourselves.

“In just two years, we’ve established the Cellar Door Wine Festival as a major consumer event in Australia and have now added a wine trade component to help put the spotlight on South Australia’s premium wine and food producers.

“The Festival is already starting to attract international interest, particularly from China, where we’ve been actively marketing the event to local wine buyers.”

The 2013 Festival (February 22-24) has attracted 30 new wineries to the annual event bringing the number of participating exhibitors to 170, with thousands of wines to showcased from 13 iconic South Australian regions.

The event will also incorporate a series of wine Master Classes including an “SA Seafood and White Wine Showcase” and “Emerging Trends” - a journey through the newest and most exciting varietals to hit the shelves.

Next year’s Festival will put a greater emphasis on South Australian food with a Tastes of SA Demonstration Stage and a new food producer’s area, supported by Event Major Sponsor, Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA).

For more information on what’s on offer at the next Cellar Door Wine Festival please visit www.cellardoorfestival.com

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