Let’s have a chat! Since launching in 2018, Farm Chats has been a hit, and a great opportunity to gather with community and a panel, and discuss all things food and farming, with a different focus each month.
Why do we do this? We’ve found ourselves surrounded by a community of passionate and active humans who want to hear more in-depth discussion about food in Australia, and what better place to hold this than our urban farm in Camperdown. We believe that real-life interaction, conversations and local Australian stories will allow us to take discussion and action to the next level. So get on board, come to a Farm Chat to be well watered and filled with ideas.
August Farm Chats we are focusing on wine. We’ll introduce you to a panel of folk working in wine, from grape growing, to producing and selling. There is a lot of discussion about local, natural, and organic wines - join the chat to hear from a few people who are working in the field, along with the triumphs, challenges and stories of growing and making wine.
When: Wednesday August 7th, at 6pm. Panel will finish by 8pm and beers & chats are welcome to continue.
Cost: $25
Provided: Your first drink, thanks to our brewing mates Young Henrys + a hearty mug of soup from the farm and crusty sourdough bread from the fine folk at Brickfields.
Bring: Coins for beer donations. All donations go directly to our education programs.
THE PANEL
LOU DOWLING of P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants cut her teeth in the hospitality industry at Kuleto’s, and has worked her way through Sydney’s bar-scene. She landed a gig with the Mary’s Group where she open and ran several venue for Sydney heavyweights Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham. She saw a need for a bottle shop that sold what she wanted to drink - not just out but at home. With P&V in Enmore, Lou has helped create a space that is part retail shop, part community hangout - a meeting place where people can start their evenings, come for solid advice '(which tinny for the walk home?), education or just a chat.
ELLA STENING of DRNKS and LOOSE ENDS has a motley array of well-wined experience and the energy to advocate for darn good wine and the processes behind it. Somelier, natural wine enthusiast, sometimes wine maker and stellar wine notes writer, she has an all-hats off approach to wine. Ella’s work celebrates the soil, the grower, the winemaker, the science of it all and the drinkers alike in her work. She’s made wine in Africa, Burgundy and the Adelaide Hills with plans for many more.
SAM STATHAM of ROSNAY ORGANICS grows olives, grapes and figs using organic & biodynamic principles as well as Yeoman’s planning processes. Situated in Canowindra, Sam has a background in Environmental Geography and experience on farms around the world, where he eventually came back to the family farm that is named after his great grandfather, a grape grower and wine maker from Lyon, France. He’s one of Australia’s sustainability standard bearers, having won multiple awards that recognise his commitment to organic farming in NSW and Australia. Sam has been experimenting with his ‘garage wines’ since 2014. Inspired by a great wine made by his cousin in a garage in France, Sam is having lots of fun with small batch wines in addition to their established Rosnay brand.
ALEX RETIEF OF URBAN WINERY SYDNEY fell into winemaking in the mid 1990’s whilst visiting his parents who had decided to plant grapes on their 250 hectare property. He studied Wine Science at Charles Sturt University and then became a trainee at University Vineyard under Greg Gallagher. Alex worked on vintages in the Hunter Valley (NSW), Sonoma Valley (California) and Languedoc between 2002-2005 culminating with his appointment as a winemaker at Chateau de Lagarde in Bordeaux. Returning to Australia, Alex created the A. Retief label in 2008 with grapes sources from the Hilltops and Tumbarumba wine regions, and Retief's family biodynamic vineyard in Gundagai. In 2016 Alex opened Urban Winery Sydney in the Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park - the first of its kind in Australia - with a winery, cellar door, wine bar, and event space.
SALLY RAINBOWS OF SALLY RAINBOWS WINE Sally Rainbows is that guy that convinced you to have a glass of Austrian gruner veltliner because it was like lasers pew-pew-ing down your throat.
In the night he is in charge of the drinking situation at Don Peppinos. In the day he shuffles around his micro cellar producing a few drinkable, affordable vinos without adding any-thing to them. Except for when he added edible glitter to a wine. That was pretty cool.
IN CONVERSATION WITH
BRENDAN HILFERTY OF SPARROW AND VINE is making wine in the Barossa Valley and in Marrickville in Sydney’s beautiful inner west. He’s been involved in the wine industry now for nearly 30 years, as a sommelier, retailer, wholesaler, writer, educator and enthusiastic consumer. He’s tried the great wines of the world – and the worst – and can usually tell them apart! His latest venture, Project B Mead, has taken a vinous approach to the oldest fermented beverage in the world, turning raw honey from urban beehives into a gently sparkling wine that transmits the “terroir” of the local flora in a true reflection of place.
OUR SPONSORS
Young Henrys is an eclectic group of passionate brewers, distillers, musicians and artists, united for the love of good beer and fine gin.
Brickfields baking heavenly pastry, cakes and crusty sourdough and serving up delicious treats at their corner bakery in Chippendale.