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Good Food and Wine Show 2010

Organisers of the Sydney Good Food and Wine Show 2010 must be pleased. After an efficient line up to purchase tickets, visitors bounced between a sea of people, prams and the popular show trolley sporting the colourful logo. Attendance on Sunday was a little too close for comfort at times with only elbow room to move. People dived in front of stands to sample free food then didn’t move out of the way.

This was our first visit to the show and to be brutally honest, it was disappointing. We expected more emphasis on ‘good’ food, as the name of the event suggests with some echoes of the popular Taste of Sydney event. Instead, the bulk of items on display, tasting and sale would be more at home in a local supermarket tasting on a Saturday morning.

There were cooking demonstrations including pasta making from Masterchef’s Gary Mehigan who had no trouble holding a captive audience even when the pasta dough was uncooperative. He may have even let it slip when he asked the public who they would like to win this year’s Masterchef, “Claire or Adam”, and not naming anyone else.

In contrast, the Wine component of the show was impressive. Occupying a sizeable area of the floor, wineries from the Barossa valley, Clare Valley and the Canberra region among others, showcased their vintages and varietals.  We tried some wines from Chile, Vodka from Italy and some favourites such as Cassegrain and Grant Burge.

Not all stalls were food and wine related. Exhibitors included Miracle Shammy, World Vision, Hyper Vibe and Free Eye Instant Lift.

The Sydney Good Food and Wine Show 2010 was held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. Tickets were $28.50. The event ran from July 16 to July 18.

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Good Food and Wine Show memorabilia including the popular tasting glass holders

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Gary Mehigan from Masterchef demonstrating pasta making

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Gary giving an ode to olive oil… or was it George Colombaris

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Lyndey Milan cooking demonstration

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Spanish olive oil tasting

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Fehlbergs Pickled tastings

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

The pantry, with tasting dishes from chefs including Gary Mehigan, George Colombaris and Tobie Puttock

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Goan sauces from Goan Cuisine

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

We would have liked to see more fresh produce. This was at the Italian Gardener stand.

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Playboy bunny reclaims a Playboy Energy drink from a taster. They’re not for tasting.

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Then yells no photography allowed. Was there a point to this stand?

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Yellow Tail lighting at the bar

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Tempus Two winery knows how to glam it up.

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

South African Biltong tastings

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Tastings at Clare Valley wine region

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Nugan Estate tastings

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Omni had a striking stand and a range of bubbly on taste

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Keglevich Italian Vodka and Limoncello

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

The Bud Naked stand

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Sence perfume? No, it’s a sweet rose nectar drink.

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Or female Daleks, if you’re a Dr Who fan

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Baileys Coffee Tasting

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Hot chocolate on a stick

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Wine tasting reflections on a retro SMEG fridge

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

A Taste of the Bush products

Good Food and  Wine Show 2010

Kikkoman food demonstrations

The Good Food and Wine Show runs annually in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.

About the author

Corinne Mossati

Corinne Mossati is a drinks writer, author of GROW YOUR OWN COCKTAIL GARDEN, SHRUBS & BOTANICAL SODAS and founder/editor of Gourmantic, Cocktails & Bars and The Gourmantic Garden. She has been writing extensively about spirits, cocktails, bars and cocktail gardening in more recent years. She is a spirits and cocktail competition judge, Icons of Whisky Australia nominee, contributor to Diageo Bar Academy, cocktail developer and is named in Australian Bartender Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential List. Her cocktail garden was featured on ABC TV’s Gardening Australia and has won several awards. She is a contributor to Real World Gardener radio program and is featured in several publications including Pip Magazine, Organic Gardener, Australian Bartender and Breathe (UK). Read the full bio here.

9 Comments

  • Well it’s disappointing that you were disappointed – those shows can really go either way I think. You would expect that a “good food” event would highlight more gourmet products and not.. errr.. Playboy energy drinks. Conor over at Holdthebeef.com was similarly amused at the Perth version of the show by the bunnies! Glad to know that the wine portion made up for it slightly!

    • To be honest, we didn’t have high expectations but we thought it would have a more unusual range of products. I’ll go check Conor’s blog. Those bunnies weren’t playing nice.

  • Geez, sorry to hear that you were disappointed – by the title I was expecting a tale of you leaving stuffed! I do love good wine though and have done a few tastings now at different wineries so it’s neat to get a taste for the comparison!

    • Shannon, had it been more market and less supermarket, we would have loved it!

  • I snorted at the photo of the bunny! Take that stooopid bunny! I am pleased that the South Australian wine compensated somewhat for the lacklustre showing elsewhere at the event. 😉

    • Dudley, bunny wasn’t playing nice at all! Ah, the South Australian wine representation would certainly make Dudley proud 🙂

  • Thanks goodness for South Australian Wine! But no real surprises,…all the best things come from Down Under!