Unwined Western Australia

The sun was shining and spring was in the air….. how to take advantage of these ideal conditions? Enter the Unwined Western Australia Festival – brought to Subiaco by the team from CMS events. Set up in Market Square Subiaco, the picturesque park with Subi Centro on one side and Subi Oval on the other, gathered in a series of little white tents were an impressive collection of West Australian wine producers along with a series of tasty food vans set up around the outter edge. I’d seen photos on facebook of the Saturday and they had pulled some impressive crowds, but because of prior commitments GG and I decided we’d leave our run until Sunday.

For $25 pre-bought or $30 at the door you were presented with an etched ‘Unwined’ wine glass and with your weapon in hand it was time to taste!

As we cast our eyes around the numerous producers it was hard to know where to start! Our first stop was Plantagent to sample some of the Omrah range.

It was a solid start. After our first series of tastings it became apparent that perhaps we should eat a little something first. So we wandered to where the food vans were set up and made the tricky decision of what to have.

I’d wanted to try the wares of Red Hot Spatula for ages so I was very pleased when I saw them in attendance. We decided we’d start the food side of proceedings with one of the Asian Tasting Plates they had available. For $10 you got a pulled pork steam bun, chilli squid and a mixed mushroom pancake. It presented beautifully in its little bamboo plate! Lovely flavours in all items, but the steam bun was the favourite for me.

We were still a little peckish so we kept wandering and couldn’t go past the paella. Something completely impressive about the two large pans they had on the go – one a mushroom paella and the other full of mussells, prawns and chorizo. They looks amazing and the smell!

We ordered a serve of the mushroom paella, complete with truffle oil, parmesan, a wedge of lemon and a sprinkling of parsley. It looked great and its ricey goodness definitely made us feel a little more prepared for a few more wine tastings.

From here we wandered around the many different wineries, focusing on the ones we hadn’t heard of before. A few of my new favourites were Duke’s Winery from down in the Porongorups, After Hours from Margaret River, Silkwood from Pemberton and also Chalice Bridge. The added bonus for me with Chalice Bridge was that they had a new type of wine that I’d never tried called Savagnin – it was great! So as well as these newbies there were also some old favourites to revisit – Picardy, Wise, Fermoy, etc. It was a really impressive line up and all the producers were so friendly. We were feeling a little merry by the time we’d done a loop – and the rain had not detered us. The thunder and lightning added some extra magic to the day – a sky show of sorts.

There were also a few food stalls set up amongst the wineries – including some spicy work from Habaneros 4 Gringos, sweet treats from Gidge Gourmet Fudge and also some lovely olive oil and balsamic vinegars from Pukara Estate Oils & Vinegars. Delightful!

After snacking on the samples and partaking in many a tipple of vino we decided to complete proceedings with a something a little more substantial. Someone else on my wishlist had been Snags & Sons so we decided we’d finish by splitting one of their tasty hot dogs. It really was amazing and reminded me that I really had to get their flagship store in Leederville at some time soon.

It had been a brilliant afternoon and really highlighted what a talented swag of producer we have in the West. There’s a lot to be said of the distinct wonder of WA wine. My thanks to the organisers for their invitation to this excellent event. Cannot wait until next year’s!