We spent several very enjoyable hours checking out wines, cheeses, dips, smallgoods, coffee—you name it, it was there for the sampling. The show merchandise was very clever too. Upon entry, if you wanted to sample wine, you had to buy a glass. We bought the wine glasses with neck straps—an excellent idea for keeping the hands free for picking up food samples and carrying purchases. After about an hour we’d bought so much that we then had to buy a trolley so we could wheel our purchases around instead of lugging them. If only they had cooler bags…

Going on Friday instead of over the weekend also meant that the crowds weren’t too bad and we never had to wait too long to be served.

A couple of downsides though…

Firstly the convention centre in Brisbane lacks any kind of style, which detracts from the overall atmosphere of the event. It’s rather soulless and very much likely wandering around a huge tin shed.

The second issue was that while there were ample food stalls to sample, the eating area serving lunch was expensive. Whatever happened to the gourmet sandwich or pizza, or what about a meze platter? We’re not particularly interested in paying $20+ a plate for lunch just because some ex-MasterChef contestant developed the dish…a real chef, maybe…

Overall, it is certainly a great way to try lots of different wines without having to commit to buying a whole bottle. I just think that the Brisbane Good Food and Wine Festival lacked the breezy vibe of Taste of Sydney (which we’ve just booked to attend again in 2012). Mind you, they are quite different events—the Sydney one focuses on restaurants serving samples from their menus, whereas this one focuses on food and wine producers showing off their wares.