Melbourne Food & Wine Festival

Melbourne Food & Wine Festival Australia’s favourite celebration of food, drink and culture.
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Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is a statewide celebration of Victoria’s food and wine industry that attracts more than 150,000 attendees to a diverse program of hundreds of events. Run by a small not-for-profit organisation, the Festival has grown from grassroots beginnings with only a handful of events in 1993, to now being recognised as Australia’s pre-eminent food and wine festival.

11/09/2026

Annie Smithers thinks Victorian agriculture is special. And anyone who has dined at du Fermier, the MFWF Legend’s Trentham restaurant, or has otherwise had the pleasure of tasting the produce she grows at her property down the road is likely to agree.

Victoria is the food bowl of Australia, and our agriculture is unlike anywhere else. Hospitality is inextricably bound up with the land, and that, Annie says, is part of what makes the Victorian story unique. We couldn’t agree more.

Produced in partnership with the Victorian Government and Agriculture Victoria.

10/09/2026

We’re hiring. Food + Drink Victoria is looking for a Partnerships and Activations Coordinator to join the team on a fixed-term maternity leave contract, supporting Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and our year-round program of events, campaigns and industry initiatives.

Working across more than 30 commercial, government, brand and industry partnerships, you’ll help bring campaigns and activations to life, keep deliverables moving, and work closely with our partnerships, marketing, events and programming teams. It’s a fast-moving role for someone highly organised, detail-oriented and very good with people.

If you’ve got experience across partnerships, sponsorship, events, sales or marketing, and you’re equal parts proactive, energetic and unflappable when things get busy, we’d love to hear from you.

Read the position description and apply now via this link.
https://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/work-with-us/

Inna Kersman and Igor Revenko, the Ukrainian husband-and-wife team behind Recollection Spirits grew up knowing how good ...
09/09/2026

Inna Kersman and Igor Revenko, the Ukrainian husband-and-wife team behind Recollection Spirits grew up knowing how good nalyvka can be. Now, they're bringing the traditional Ukrainian fruit spirit to Melbourne.⁠
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Their new release, 4am Sky, is a blackcurrant nalyvka – crushed fruit and sugar, macerated for weeks until the colour turns a deep, velvety purple. "Proper ripe blackcurrant, not the cordial version you might be picturing," says Kersman. "It tastes like fresh fruit, bright and vivid, nothing cooked or jammy about it." Neat, over ice, in a spritz with prosecco, or – Igor's move – stirred through hot chocolate.⁠
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Follow the link for the full story on Recollection Spirits.
https://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/drink-victorian/the-pitch-recollection-spirits-blackcurrant-nalyvka/

Samesyn started life much like any other restaurant, albeit one that quickly earned acclaim from its Surf Coast home. Ev...
07/09/2026

Samesyn started life much like any other restaurant, albeit one that quickly earned acclaim from its Surf Coast home. Eventually, however, the restaurant's name – meaning "togetherness" in Afrikaans – took on a deeper significance when founder and chef Graham Jefferies discovered the scale of food insecurity in the region.⁠
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"It was learning the fact that 30 per cent of all our food ends up in landfill, and there's people down the road that can't afford to eat. To me, that's just bananas. So I just wanted to try and do something to help." Reborn in 2024 with a profit-for-purpose model, Samesyn 2.0 diverts its profits to Feed Me, a local charity that intercepts good food from landfill and cooks around 6,000 meals a week for people in need.⁠
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The kitchen now has a strict no-waste policy that extends to being entirely bin-free. Everything that passes through the door is used, composted or redeployed. Plastic is verboten.⁠
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Despite the radical change, it remains a restaurant that commands attention for what’s on the plate. Deprivation? No, you’ll eat like a lord. The retired dairy cow with garum butter – a plate of full flavoured, dry-aged brilliance – is the standard bearer for a restaurant where ethics are threaded through every facet of the operation. ⁠
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"He's quietly and unobtrusively trying to make his corner of the world a better place, and his approach is so inspirational," says Matt Preston. "But doing it without compromising the deliciousness of the meal you'll eat at Samesyn is a whole other box of slow-roasted, chewy caramel-reclaimed carrots – with lovage and pumpkin glaze, natch."⁠
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Congratulations to Graham Jefferies, Legend winner of the Sustainability Champion category at MF&W's 2026 Legends and Trailblazers awards, proudly presented by OpenTable Australia. Read more via the link.
https://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/industry/legends-awards-2026-sustainability/

It isn't always easy being green. As Cam Hines, Rob Brimblecombe and Bert Cross have found in their quest to establish A...
07/09/2026

It isn't always easy being green. As Cam Hines, Rob Brimblecombe and Bert Cross have found in their quest to establish Australia's first commercial kelp farm, sometimes it's bloody difficult. But these pioneering sea farmers are ahead of the Antipodean curve. Globally, the industry is worth an estimated $28 billion. Philosophically, they believe it's time Australia stepped up to the regenerative aquaculture plate. Practically, they're doing it.⁠
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Based on the Mornington Peninsula, Southern Seagreens | Australian seaweed for humans cultivates native giant kelp within the Flinders Aquaculture Reserve. It also harvests wild-growing wakame – a fast-growing invasive species that crowds out indigenous kelp – and turns it into dried superfoods and seasonings. Densely nutritious, it’s great for humans and equally beneficial for the environment.⁠
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"What we're doing is really new for Australia. We're learning how to breed kelp and farm it at sea, which hasn't been done commercially before here," says Hines. "It's like a massive research and development project that we've been working on for four years."⁠
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"They’re amazing. They’re doing hard and important work with the best mode of communication: food," says Trailblazer and zero-waste champion Jo Barrett. "I feel very grateful to have them in Victoria – and from a chef's perspective, to have access to hand-dived Australian ingredients."⁠
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Congratulations to Southern Seagreens, Trailblazer winners of the Sustainability Champions category at MF&W's 2026 Legends and Trailblazers awards, proudly presented by OpenTable Australia. Read more via the link in our bio.

Do you get a kick out of our content? Are you first in line for festival tickets? We want to hear from you. Tell us what...
07/09/2026

Do you get a kick out of our content? Are you first in line for festival tickets? We want to hear from you.

Tell us what you love (or don’t) about Melbourne Food & Wine and you’ll go in the draw to win a $300 dining voucher to Côte Basque, Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann’s first restaurant since opening Gimlet six years ago. There are three vouchers up for grabs. Your responses are anonymous, and the survey only takes a few minutes to complete.

Entries close Friday, 13 September 2026. Take the short survey via the link below.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QQ3L823

Newcomers to Melbourne inevitably discover the city has an Italian heart. If they’re really lucky, they’ll soon realise ...
06/09/2026

Newcomers to Melbourne inevitably discover the city has an Italian heart. If they’re really lucky, they’ll soon realise that it has a name: Toscano’s. The family-run grocer celebrated its 75th birthday last year, giving a moment to reflect on what their steadfast commitment to the fundamentals of good eating brings to Melbourne’s home cooks. It begins in their wheelhouse of fresh produce that’s always unimpeachable in its quality, often molto Italiano in its focus – here is the place to broaden your horizons five kinds of radicchio or two different rosemaries, or connect with your heritage with fresh borlotti beans or purple sprouting broccoli. ⁠
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Italian as it may be, Toscano’s is also very Melbourne, which means alongside the cumquats and bergamots you’ll find yuzu from orchards in the High Country. Tom Sarafian’s hummus shares fridge space with Con Christopolous’s taramasalata, there’s Jock’s ice-cream in the freezer, and Baker Bleu in the bread basket. Put simply, there’s a strong case to be made that this is the finest greengrocer in Australia. ⁠
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Pat Nourse, creative director of MFWF, is a fan, and says that even in a city where fresh food markets and specialist grocers are in no short supply, Toscano’s has few rivals. “Just like they say you can’t make old friends, could you even make a new Toscano’s if you tried? So much of what makes it great stems from its history, the knowledge of produce and Victoria and relationships with growers and suppliers and customers. Auguri, Toscano’s, and bravo, famiglia Toscano. Melbourne is so much the better for your efforts.” ⁠
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Congratulations to the Toscano family, Legend winners of the Local Heroes category at MF&W’s 2026 Legends and Trailblazers awards, proudly presented by OpenTable Australia. Read more via the link in our bio.

Remember the pandemic? Alex Dekker certainly does. Those lean years transformed him from a 19-year-old university studen...
06/09/2026

Remember the pandemic? Alex Dekker certainly does. Those lean years transformed him from a 19-year-old university student into the leader of a not-for-profit powerhouse reimagining traditional approaches to food relief. It began with a tray of lasagne baked for his sister, an emergency doctor in a COVID ward. Alex Makes Meals quickly snowballed into a volunteer-staffed production line making meals for frontline workers. Now powered by nine full-time staff and 100 volunteers, it provides 230,000 meals each year to people in need from its Preston kitchen. ⁠
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“We focus on getting high–quality food access inside of community organisations themselves, so they can run their own food programs,” Dekker says. “It’s allowing other organisations that are doing direct community involvement to integrate food programs into their offering. That means we might go to neighbourhood housing and help them run their own community dinners. Or to a domestic violence program where women can frequently go to pick up take-home meals for their kids. That allows us to draw more people into those programs and into the arms of social workers. It makes a very big follow-on impact. Every meal that someone eats isn’t just a meal; it’s the start of a relationship with someone who can help.” ⁠
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Now 26, Alex Dekker has proven to have the kind of daring that has won him a legion of admirers including restaurateur Legend Duré Dara: “At his age, to be such a veteran of feeding people and encouraging us all to think about food security… he’s a legend ahead of his time.” ⁠
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Congratulations to Alex Dekker, Trailblazer winner of the Local Hero category at MF&W's 2026 Legends and Trailblazers awards, proudly presented by OpenTable Australia. Read more via the link in our bio.

It's impossible to tell the story of Australia's artisan cheese scene without Alison Lansley. The late co-founder of Lon...
05/09/2026

It's impossible to tell the story of Australia's artisan cheese scene without Alison Lansley. The late co-founder of Long Paddock Cheese alongside celebrated French affineur Ivan Larcher, Lansley helped redefine what Australian cheese could be. In only five years of operation, they reset the benchmark for excellence as they successfully married European tradition with the diverse terroir of Australian milk. Their success can be measured not only in the international awards they collected, but also in their presence on the menus of top restaurants around the country. ⁠
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Just as important to Lansley was The Cheese School, where under her enthusiastic guidance amateur and professional cheesemakers could hone their skills while delving into the science behind their craft. ⁠
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Beyond her Castlemaine HQ, Lansley was also a champion of artisan producers through the Australian Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association and president of Melbourne Farmers Markets for more than a decade. Tributes have flown since she passed away earlier this year. ⁠
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Those closest to her have vowed that her legacy will live on. “She was an incredible person. She had so many different lives and approached each one with passion, kindness and generosity,” said her Long Paddock co-director Gaetan Chapon. “The reason why we will keep pushing is because Long Paddock was her dream. It was her passion project, and we feel like we owe it to her to carry on the flame.” ⁠
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We’re honoured to name Alison Lansley the Legend winner in the Food Producer, Retailer, Advocate category at MF&W’s 2026 Legends and Trailblazers awards, proudly presented by OpenTable Australia. Read more via the link in our bio.

Organic is a central theme of Paul Miragliotta's life and career. Most obviously, it's core to Day’s Walk Farm. But how ...
05/09/2026

Organic is a central theme of Paul Miragliotta's life and career. Most obviously, it's core to Day’s Walk Farm. But how he came to establish an organic, regenerative farm supplying produce to around 50 restaurants across Melbourne's inner-north and CBD also follows its own organic logic. ⁠
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While Miragliotta cites his interest in nature from an early age, he began his working life as a radiologist. A stint in Italy as a "WWOOFer" set him on a different path. The "enjoyment of food and cooking and care for the environment" he experienced in Italy struck a chord and so he left radiology to pursue organic farming. ⁠
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“Initially, supplying restaurants was just part of the mix,” says Miragliotta. “But then I made a conscious decision to become a restaurant farm. It informed what we would grow and the fact that we’re just 22km from the city meant we could do all the distribution ourselves and get produce to chefs the day it came out of the ground.” ⁠
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Chef Tom Sarafian uses Day's Walk produce at his restaurant Zareh and lauds not just the "amazing quality of the beautiful organic produce" but how the variety of heirloom vegetables "inspire many chefs and their menus across Melbourne". The only way it could be fresher, says Tom Sarafian, is if you grew it yourself. ⁠
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Congratulations to Paul Miragliotta, Trailblazer winner of the Food Producer category at MF&W's 2026 Legends and Trailblazers awards, proudly presented by OpenTable Australia. Read more via the link in our bio.

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Level 4, 99 King Street
Melbourne, VIC
3000

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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