This year's AGM was held at Greenhill Wines in the Adelaide Hills. Once the business part of the AGM was concluded, Paul Henschke was our host, sharing his love for wine making and especially the cool climate wines of the Piccadilly Valley. Lunch, 2-course Mediterranean-inspired, was provided by Penny Henschke.

The Clare Valley weekend include a wine tasting with Bourke & Travers at Clare Valley Visitor Centre on Friday evening; visits to Wines by KT, Lunch at Uppside Restaurant with a wine tasting by Claymore Wines and a Wine and Cheese Tasting Experience with Adam Eggins, chief winemaker at Taylors Wines on Saturday; plus a wine tasting and heritage trail at Sevenhill Cellars and lunch at Sevenhill Hotel with a wine tasting by Andrew Kenny of Kenny Wine on Sunday.

Technical visit to The University of Adelaide’s winery, located at the Waite Campus (WC), Urrbrae. Established in 1924, WC has 15 complementary organisations and Centres engaged in world-class research and development in plant, agricultural, food, wine and natural resources science. It has one of the highest concentration of wine education and teaching expertise, and oenological and viticultural researchers in the world.
The event included technical visit, wine tasting and lunch.

The February visit was to Oxenberry Farm Wines in McLaren Vale. Oxenberry Farm has a rich history, being settled in 1840, the oldest establishment in McLaren Vale. The visit commenced with a wine tasting, guided by Matteo Scarpantoni with an introduction to the Scarpantoni family’s history and wine making philosophy. Wine tasted was from both Oxenberry
Farm and the ‘parent’, Scarpantoni Estate Wines, situated in McLaren Flat.

The Christmas function at the Adelaide Royal Coach was a fun afternoon with traditional style Christmas lunch options, Krap Kringle, a cunning quiz and much socialising and merriment.

Uleybury Winery is a family owned and operated boutique winery that produces only premium quality wines that have distinguishing varietal characteristics and flavours that are inviting to the palate. Owned and operated by highly experienced wine maker Harry Mantzarapis and his family.
The visit included a video 'tour' of the surrounding winery, a guided wine tasting, antipasto platter and wood fired pizzas.

This year's AGM was held at Mount Osmond Golf Club. During the AGM Pete Rawlins and Pauline Longford were presented with Life Membership of the Wine Guild of SA in recognition of their outstanding and meritorious service to the Guild over the years.
Kirsten Harvey from Paisley Wines was the guest speaker and provided us with a range of wines for tasting plus a door prize of a wine tasting experience for 4 people at Paisley Wines vineyard in Angaston.

The Wine Guild were fortunate to have the opportunity to be the first group to have an event in the newly built Winery Shed at Mt Bera Vineyards in Gumeracha. Great food and wine surrounded by barrels and other working winery equipment made for a very enjoyable and educational experience.

The Riverland tour was based in Barmera. Places visited included Salena Estate, Riverland Wine Centre, Banrock Station, Bassham Winery, Mallee Fowl Restaurant, Angove's Family Winery and Distillery, Mallee Estate winery, Woolshed Brewery, plus a River Murray boat trip.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Wine Guild of SA, a picnic themed lunch was held in the historic Coulthard Barn in Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley. The purpose of the event was to share memories of the Wine Guild over the years and included presentations from past presidents Andrew Yap, Roger King, Pete Rawlins and Jeremy Begg.
On display were a number of items of memorabilia from over the years supplied by Guild archivist Phil Harris for members to inspect.

Our recent function was a delightful afternoon spent with Father and Son winemakers, Kevin and Charlie O’Brien, comparing their different styles of winemaking.
Kevin and wife Helen began their adventure purchasing a vineyard on Kangarilla Road in 1997 with the first wines produced under the Kangarilla Road label in 1998.
Charlie O’Brien grew up on the vineyard learning the craft from a very early age and now produces wines under his own label Silent Noise.
Kevin and Charlie presented a selection of wines from both Kangarilla Road & Silent Noise, created in their own unique styles, including Sparkling, Fiano, Chardonnay, Primitivo, Shiraz etc.

Fifty members came to lunch at Lemongrass Thai Bistro on Goodwood Road to celebrate the end of the year and to welcome new President-in-waiting, Mr Paul Sumsion.

The restaurant provided a plentiful array of delicious Thai food, and the Guild provided some sparkling wine and a selection of games and quizzes to test members' wine knowledge.

To commence the 2022/23 year, the Committee decided to give members the opportunity to enhance their sensory experience with a tasting of super-premium wines from various wineries. As an added bonus, the superb wines from Cooper Burns winery, which is located in the Barossa Valley, were available for tasting.

The AGM for 2022 was held at Paracombe Wines. Many of you will be familiar with the premium wines produced by Paul and Kathy Drogemuller but you may not have had the
opportunity to visit their expansive cellar door, which is rarely open to the public.
The Paracombe story began after the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires when Paul and Kathy took over a burnt-out dairy farm with the aim of growing grapes and making wine.
As well as AGM business, the visit included a winery tour & tasting and lunch.

It was very pleasing to see over 40 members in attendance at the Magpie and Stump Hotel in Mintaro for a tasting of “Sussex Squire” wines, presented by owner/winemaker Mark Bollen. Members enjoyed and a la carte lunch after-woods in a cozy atmosphere.

Just suppose that the Wine Guild programmed an event that didn’t involve any alcohol… would the members still come? Well, the Guild programmed exactly such an event and the answer was a resounding “yes”!
The occasion: a structured tasting of non-alcoholic wines led by Dan Murphy’s Wine Merchant Bruce Gordon. Sometimes described as “de-alcoholised”, “0% alcohol”, “zero” or “alcohol removed” these wines are filling a rapidly expanding market for the wine industry. Currently, there are more wines than ever before in this area and the quality is certainly improving… but are they improving enough? This was the question we set ourselves to resolve at our April function.

A beautiful sunny Sunday gave us the opportunity to take in the passers-by, down below on O’Connell Street, as we toasted the day with our glass of bubbly while chatting and catching up with one another on the upstairs balcony.

We visited Gomersal Wines in Lyndoch Road, Gomersal for a wine tasting of award winning white and red wines and lunch in their Barrel Room.
A boutique winery was established in the small township of Gomersal in 1887 and over a century later it is now home to Gomersal Wines.
We tasted 9 varieties including Brut Cuvee, Reisling, Rose, Grenache Shiraz Mataro, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Shiraz Mataro and Vintage Fortified Shiraz.
Lunch was served in the Barrel Room catered by Owen Andrews Catering.

Once again the AGM was held at the beautiful Mount Osmond Golf Club. A brief meeting saw most of the committee re-elected with the addition of Annette Paarmen and Helen Glasson retiring. Covid regulations once again saw restrictions to numbers, but a beautiful sunny day and good food.

Two years to come to fruition due to covid but the wait was worth it. We were treated to a Winemaker's Masterclass. Rebecca and Lucy gave us an educational insight into many aspects of winemaking besides the actual winemaking process.
What a day it was, good food, an education and great company in the new cellar door surroundings.