State Building unveils five-day celebration of wine

From the Greatest Wine Dinner of All Time for pinot noir lovers to a sparkling Sunday session sampling bubbly beverages ranging from pet nats and method Champenoise drops, to beers and ciders, this year’s State of Wine is an oenophile’s dream.

Curated by the State Building’s award-winning director of wines Emma Farrelly, the 2023 instalment features eight events at the city drinking and dining precinct from July 19-23.

Some run throughout the festival of the grape, including Magnums, which simply sees the Wine Merchant crew pouring straight from the magnum — and methuselah, jeroboam and demijohn — for the first four days of State of Wine.

Then there’s Georgian Wine, a celebration of the “cradle of wine” hosted by the only importer of Georgian wines in Australia, Tim Stock, at Wine Merchant and Italiano Americano Dinner, which will see superstar Sydney sommelier Matt Dunne pairing Italian and American drops during an Italian dinner at Post. Both those events happen on July 19.

The Greatest Wine Dinner of All Time sees three esteemed pinot noir producers — two from Victoria, one from New Zealand — go up against the finest Burgundies from State Buildings’ cellar during a long table event at Wildflower on July 20.

Put on your wine wonk hat at PYCM, a vertical tasting of nine, rare 2017 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chardonnays with expert Paul McArdle. Another long table experience, this time at Post on July 21.

New age French wines get their moment in the sun at Modern French at Wine Merchant on July 22 with Halle aux Vins premium wine import, Ludovic Deloche.

Wines that Thai is more than a punny name. This event will see winemaker Japo Dalli Cani rise to the challenge of finding the right tipples to pair with the spicy Thai tucker at Long Chim on July 22.

And finally, Fizzy Rascal at Beer Corner offers a fun, fizzy finale to the festival with bubbles during a 90-minute tasting of pet nats, sparkling wines, beer and cider on July 23 from 11am.

For more information and tickets, visit statebuildings.com.