- Another week, another writer professing love for the Adelaide Hills and her wine makers. This time it’s Jon Bonné for Punch. Read part one (the overview) and part two (looking at six rising stars). The Adelaide Hot 100 is also announced next week (1 December). I love the sound of this event: a delicious combo of wine, food, music and culture.
- Come see what all this Adelaide Hills fuss is about, at least on the wine front, by coming down to the drink their wares at Rootstock this weekend. Many of their vignerons will be there, alongside the best natural wine makers from all around Australia - not to mention those flying in from the corners of the globe. I don’t know if I need a disclaimer for a not-for-profit but here’s mine anyway; I help out with the RS communications each year. Obviously I volunteer my time - I do it because I love the boys and think all they do is incredible, but more than that, I do it because the event is brilliant, it stands for so many things I think are fundamental to a good life. It brings together all the delights mentioned above (art, music, wine, food), but it also runs a hard line on the environment - it's intelligent and it's so much fun. I’ll be there all weekend. Can. Not. Wait.
- In other thoughtful food events, the Symposium of Australian Gastronomy is held next weekend in Melbourne. The brain-child of chefs including Gay Bilson, Phillip Searle, Stephanie Alexander and Duré Dara, who joined forces with writers Marion Halligan and Alan Davidson, winemaker Max Lake, food scholars Barbara Santich and Michael Symons and politician Don Dunstan, to create a conversation about Australian gastronomy. It was 1984 (it was also, incidentally, in Adelaide) and their hope was to change how we thought about food in Australia (oh, to be a fly on that wall!!). The 21st symposium will be held in Melbourne next weekend, the topic is Utopian Appetites. If you are south of the border, you may want to check it out.
- This week Melbourne Food and Wine released their masterclass line up for 2017. There are some great names on the list, but every one of them is connected to a penis. Again. What the?? Apparently there is still one name to come, but I’m not holding my breath. You can find other festival highlights here. Do keep in mind Melbourne Food and Wine has been timed around the 50 Best, so there will be a plethora of excellent chefs in the ’hood.
- On topic, The 50 Best have launched a little series of “show us your flavour” vids … Pynty was the most recent, with Estela before him (I loved their idea of “Goldilocks dishes”) and the wonderful Dominque Crenn before them (who was in WA this week talking about feeling at odds with the idea of winning Best Female Chef).
- And so, I do not even know where to begin with this article. Women, apparently, are eating out more. It comes as part of the, actually quite interesting, study from Dimmi on how to mine dining data and how they are now using LinkedIn to dig deeper. Read about it here, or you could read on in the Fin (link above) for insightful comments such as “... women were "social animals" who were no longer opting for coffee catch ups and were more educated in their dining choices than ever before.” FFS.