Over 140 visitors attended the first Small Winemakers Showcase on Saturday 12th April 2019, which featured five of the smallest wine producers of the Riverland. The event attracted visitors from Adelaide, Melbourne, Mildura, Switzerland and Spain, as well as a large number of the local community.

Visitors were delighted with the quality of the wines in the showcase and intimacy of the setting which enabled them to meet the producers and hear their stories. The diversity of the varieties on offer meant visitors got to find new favourites as well as rediscover old ones.

Rob Cordy of Mundoo Ridge Wines felt it was a really positive event: “it was great networking opportunity, and this created an atmosphere of collaboration and being able to grow tourism and business opportunities. There’s strength in working together and pooling ideas and resources. Everyone had something different to offer, and this created some real excitement for the visitors.”

Chris Byrne of Riverland Wine remarked it was heartening to see so many of the community come out to support our up and coming smaller producers.

“This illustrates just how many superb wines this region is producing. Mingling in the crowd, it was encouraging to hear the comments from visitors from near and far remarking about the diversity, quality, and enjoyment attributed to our Riverland small producers. Special thanks to Eric & Jenny Semmler of 919 Wines for this great initiative. Let’s hope that Riverland wineries can use this to build local pride, and a springboard for a new era. The Riverland is truly on the verge of greatness.”

The participating wineries were 919 Wines, Junnare Wines, Mundoo Ridge, Spook Hill and top Block, each typically producing less than 20 tonnes per year.