We were lucky enough to get some complementary tickets to the Good Food and Wine Show, and were happy to accept the invitation to check it out. Being the first time attending, we really had nothing to compare it to, but there were some highlights as well as some down falls.
Let’s start with the highlights. This is probably one of the best shows in terms of having the best vendors all under one roof. From all across Melbourne (some interstate) you have the opportunity to sample and see what producers have to offer. This is the type of event where you won’t find all the best restaurants and bars at. This is more for the microbreweries, vineyards, and local producers to showcase their specialties. The opportunity is also there to purchase some of their products to bring home and enjoy as well.
And now for the down falls. It was massively over crowded to say the least and almost impossible to check out any of the vendors since there was a crowd around almost every stall. Obviously great for the vendors, however not so good for the customers. As for free sampling, this was almost non existent. From what I’ve heard from others was the show use to have only free samples, you didn’t need to bring any money along. This year however, things were a bit different. Almost all vendors required you to pay for a sample and for the ones who did offer a small free sample, good luck trying to get anything with the massive crowd around it.
Overall, I would much rather prefer to pay a higher price for entry and have less people at the show to make it more exclusive where you could actually enjoy day. We only stayed for maybe an hour as we got frustrated by not being able to check out the vendors and speak with them.
Below are a few snaps from the show.
