After originally being scheduled for late October 2021, the annual Grapevine Gathering, which pairs music acts with some of Australia’s best wines, has been postponed until 2022. The celebration of wine and music takes place across three of Australia’s top wineries in Western Australia (WA), New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria (VIC). However, the ongoing crisis of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic that continues around the world has reappeared in Australia, forcing large parts of the country back into lockdown and putting a spanner in the works for hopes that the festival would be held this year.
Fortunately, festival goers will not have to wait too long for their fill of wine and music. The organisers of the festival, the Inspired Unemployed, have released a statement to apologise for the delay and confirm that the line-up for the event will remain unchanged. In a reschedule statement on their website they thanks attendees for their patience and add: “We know everything feels pretty doom and gloom at the moment but we’re feeling positive Australia is going to be in a much better position by January and these new summer dates give us all something to look forward to!”
The new schedule for the festival will start on Saturday January 8th at the Sandalford Estate in WA, before continuing the following Saturday January 15th at the Roche Estate in NSW. The last iteration of the festival will be at Rochford Wines in VIC on Saturday January 22nd. The organisers are offering refunds for anyone unable to make the rescheduled dates. For those in need of childcare in order to attend, child care five dock can assist those in the NSW area.
Highlights from the wide ranging line-up of indie, electronic and alternative music acts include Peking Duk, The Jungle Giants, Vera Blue, The Veronicas, San Cisco, CC:Disco!, King Stingray and Rest For The Wicked. Music is served alongside a delightful variety of culinary feats and feasts. Slow-cooked and smoked meat treats feature prominently on the menu, as do gourmet stacked burgers and wood-fired pizzas, all paired with a mouthwatering and thirst quenching selection of wines and beers.
Australia’s entertainment industry has suffered greatly in the past year and a half due to the pandemic, and many were hopeful for a post-pandemic recovery. New developments as a result of the highly transmissible Delta variant however have put the industry once again, which has been devastating news for the industry and its customers alike. It is a widespread consensus in the industry that government aid has been lacking.
The Grapevine Gathering festival has yet to announce if it will be following the ‘no jab, no jive’ policy seen at other events as part of covid protection measures. The Big Red Bash and Mundi Mundi Bash, both organised by the Outback Music Festival Group, are two examples of events that will require proof of vaccination from attendees in order for them to enter. With all the events mentioned, as well as many more, rescheduled for next year, Australians can only continue to stay home in an effort to combat the virus.
