Cairns Food and Wine Fest bringing wine sipping knowledge to Cairns foodies

Munro Martin Parklands will transform into a foodie heaven this weekend, with a wine list fit for Bacchus himself. Find out what’s planned here.

Munro Martin Parklands will transform into a foodie heaven this weekend, with a wine list fit for Bacchus himself.

The annual Cairns Food and Wine Festival returns this weekend, incorporating some of the best food in Cairns and comprising a number of events including the seafood feast on Friday night, and the pairing dinner and festival in the centre of town on Saturday.

New to the festival will be the tasting and pairing tent, a chance for punters to savour wine from local reps from across Australia and New Zealand while learning about the tasting process.

“Guests will be able to learn about the notes to look for in wine whether it’s floral or woody and learn about the producers as well,” Cairns Food and Wine Festival president Nathan Lee Long said.

Following the success of last year's inaugural event, the Cairns Food and Wine Festival will this year run over two days, with a Seafood Feast held at Ochre Restaurant on Friday, and the main event held in Munro Martin Parklands on Saturday. Event co-ordinator Narelle Phipps and president Nathan Lee Long are ready to serve up good food, wine and live entertainment to over 1500 people. Picture: Brendan Radke

Saturday’s main festival event at the parklands will provide a delightful experience including a wide range of food vendors from the Cairns community and a fantastic selection of wines from Australia and New Zealand.

Festival-goers can reserve tables of six or 10 on the parklands’ terraces with wine tasting and pre-ordered food and wine packages, or just pay for general access to vendors and entertainment.

General access tickets are $32 online, and a full ticket schedule including prices for the wine pavilion and pairing dinner can be found www.cairnsfoodandwine.com/.

Gates open at 4pm Saturday with continuing entertainment until 10pm.

The entertainment will be headlined by American Soul Sensation, Lisa Hunt.

Other bands include Bernie’s Jazz, Big Noise and Roz Pappalardo’s 88mph 80s show.

“Local chef Craig Squire will be producing a five course pairing dinner highlighting local and native produce for the Saturday festival,” Mr Lee Long said.

$1 from every ticket sold will be donated to Cairns Organisation United for Cancer Health (COUCH) in support of their work in the Cairns community.

On entry, ticket holders will be greeted by COUCH volunteers and provided a unique non-breakable stemless wine glass for use throughout the event and a tin water cup.

The festival kicks off at 4pm on Saturday and tickets are available at https://cairnsfoodandwine.com/

List of food and wine vendors

Food

Tropic Spirit / Ochre Restaurant

BBQ Brothers

Tony’s Pizza

East Coast Paella

Frying Dutchies

Citrus Life

Kaz’s Cookies

The Loaded Spud

The Big Souvlaki

and Watermelon Fiesta

Wine

Grant Burge

Mud House

Tatachilla

Stonier

House of Arras

Originally published as Cairns Food and Wine Fest bringing wine sipping knowledge to Cairns foodies