The Urban Wine Walk is landing in Newcastle for the very first time on Saturday, September 3.
The idea behind the event is a simple and fun one. Gather your wine-loving friends, partner, or family, take a self-guided stroll through the city to a handful of chosen venues, and enjoy wine tastings from a range of Australian producers on a Saturday afternoon.
"We wanted to create events that allowed people to socialise locally and give them the opportunity to support local venues and suppliers at the same time," says Josh Starick, the founder and director of Neighbourhood Events Co., which is behind the event.
Running from 12pm to 4pm, the Newcastle instalment includes 10 diverse venues.
Among the Newcastle venues:
- Bar Mellow (Mercer Wines)
- Saints (Dirt Candy Wine)
- Customs House Hotel (Scarborough Wine)
- Good Brother Espresso (Yarrh Wines)
- The Lucky Hotel (Thomas Wines)
- Blue Kahunas (Agitate Wines)
- Babylon (Mayfield Vineyard)
- The Great Northern Hotel (Margan)
- Clarendon Hotel (Hart & Hunter)
- The Star Hotel (Toppers Mountain Wines)
Each venue will host tastings from NSW-based winemakers alongside their own food offerings.
The Urban Wine Walk is self-guided with attendees choosing the venue they'd like to start at, alongside moving between (or staying at) venues at their leisure.
"The event itself is designed to replicate the experience that you would traditionally have at a good food and wine festival, where you go to one location and the experience is moving around from stall to stall. In the instance of the Urban Wine Walk, winemakers show their wares as a part of that experience but across multiple venues," Starick says.
"The experience continues to change from venue to venue. Every venue has their own atmosphere - whether that's the style of music, decor, location - providing people with the opportunity to choose their own adventure."
Starick established Neighbourhood Events Co. back in 2016, with the first Urban Wine Walk being held in their home city of Perth.
Six years on, the Urban Wine Walk is now held in many capital and regional cities across Australia and New Zealand.
They also produce sister events - the Urban Craft Beer Crawl, Urban Cocktail Trail, and the newly-launched Good Spirits Stroll - which they hope to eventually introduce to further cities.
When an event is held in a new city for the first time - such as the Urban Wine Walk in Newcastle - Starick says the "first and most important part of a piece of the puzzle" is finding a dense number of suitable venues within walking distance of each other.
After which they seek out and approach the venues to gauge their interest and availability, then undertake "research, speak with trusted people, and visit locations to do walkthroughs, just to ensure that the locations and the spaces are right."
Starick says they hope to make the Urban Wine Walk a regular addition to the Newcastle social calendar.
"Our intention is to hold it annually," he reveals.
Urban Wine Walk tickets cost $75 and include complimentary tastings at each venue (one per variety per person), a $10 food voucher to use at your starting venue, a $25 voucher to order wine on the day (six pack minimum), a wristband and tasting glass.
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