TWO major changes are in store for the National Cool Climate Wine Show when it returns to Bathurst in October.
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The first of the changes is the introduction of early bird tickets for the public wine tasting.
Publicity officer Michelle Kerr said people are always eager to sample the wide variety of cool climate wines entered in the show.
“They will only be available during July,” she said. “Because the public tasting was so popular last year we thought it would be good to have early bird tickets.”
The pubic wine tasting will be held on October 28.
It is not only a chance for members of the public to judge the wines themselves, but also a night that celebrates delicious food and local entertainment.
People who purchase early bird tickets will save $5 on the regular ticket price.
The other major change for the wine show is moving the event from the week following the Bathurst 1000 to two weeks after the major racing festival.
Ms Kerr said it made sense to give people the chance to recover from the hectic nature of race week before they have to prepare for the descent of the vignerons and wine lovers.
“We moved the wine show dates to after the Bathurst 1000 because we’ve found that the town gets fatigued,” she said.
The show will be held from October 25 to October 28 at Bathurst Showground.
Entries for the Cool Climate Wine Show opened just a short time ago, but vignerons have already started to submit their best wines for judging in October.
The judging will be conducted by a panel of wine experts, who will award gold, silver and bronze awards to the wines that excel in their categories based on a 20-point system.
Ms Kerr said it was good to see that some of the entries already received have come from winemakers that have never been associated with the show before.
It is just another sign of the growth of the Cool Climate Wine Show, which is entering its 18th year.
“We stand alone because people can benchmark their cool climate wines against other cool climate wines,” she said.
“Ours is the largest cool climate wine show in Australia; the only other [major] one is the International Cool Climate Wine Show, which is down in Melbourne.”
Entries for the Bathurst show close on September 16.
Visit www.coolwines.com.au/ for more information on what’s coming up or to download an entry form.
Wine makers can also following the show on Instagram and help promote their own brands by using the hashtags #coolwines, #nccws and #wearecool.