This is your opportunity to taste over 100 cutting-edge, thought-provoking and hard-to-find Australian wines. Mental Notes is a one-day festival where passionate winemakers and drinkers from across the country convene to nerd out, and this year it's being held at the Lansdowne.
Joel Amos, founder of natural wine retailer DRNKS, and the Mary’s/Unicorn/Lansdowne boys Kenny Graham and Jake Smyth have invited 40 winemakers to the festival, from the Adelaide Hills to Tamar Valley and even as far as Denmark (in Western Australia) to show off their wares on September 23.
The list is heavy on new, experimental winemaking techniques, so arrive with an adventurous spirit. There’ll be an abundance of natural, minimal-intervention and biodynamic drops on show as well as more traditionally-crafted wines, with names such as Ochota, Stoney Rise, Momento Mori, Krinklewood and Chapter Wines making an appearance.
The legends down at the Lansdowne will be serving meals, snacks and palate cleansers throughout the day, ensuring your stomach is well-lined for a boozy (but educational) afternoon. At the bar, a rotating wine list will switch things up every hour, and DRNKS is setting up a bottle shop so you can purchase anything that captures your heart on the day.
It’s $50 (plus booking fee) for a ticket, which for any wine fanatic is a certified bargain considering you’d need a plane ticket to sample many of the barrier-pushing drops that’ll be on show.